OT. Sony & Registration

Serena wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:26 PM
Sony requires registration of its software to make it functional (quite right) but seems to care little for making the process easy. Of course this isn't the forum for such complaints, but how else can the message be delivered to them. Putting in an email to "technical support" does eventually get the needed response, but takes many days (I'm waiting).
Theirs is the only software in my experience where the "online registration" link was broken (Vegas 5). Searching the Sony website for registration got me the "thankyou for registering the product", but nothing more. So then to tech support to eventually get the activation codes. The "register from another computer" worked nicely until a short time ago but no longer. It is producing messages like:
"Register Software
Your e-mail address is either blank or incorrect. Please use an address such as myname@domain.com. Your address should not contain blank spaces and must contain an @ symbol and at least one period."

Which it isn't. The address is correct, has been acceptable previously and is not blank in the transmitted file. I also tried an alternative address whose format is very standard and got exactly the reponse.

Since the only way to directly communicate with Sony is through the "tech support" service, and they deal with all questions in strict rotation, then maybe this forum might be an alternative if undesirable path.

Why do they have to keep fiddling with the registration process without maintaining the old paths? Is this something they give as a test to all new chum freshman programmers that stroll within their walls? I'd suggest setting them to answering the "no brainer" tech questions (activation codes) and leave the software registration process alone.

Yep - not happy --. Probably will be fixed before you read this, but I've already waited 20 hours and am still getting the same response. Input from anybody who has worked through this problem will be most welcome. I note the same complaint on other forums, but no details of solutions.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:33 PM
They do accept calls at their toll-free number for installation and registration problems. While my online registration experiences have almost always gone flawlessly, i did have to call them once. I was transferred to a live support tech within 30 seconds and had my installation registered and activated within a minute.
Serena wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:38 PM
That sounds encouraging. When I tried that 10 months ago I was put on a promised 20 minute hold at international call rates (unfortunately free call is only free locally). Calling during US business hours from Australia is difficult because we're so far ahead (14 to 18 hours, depending on which side of the US we're calling.
Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:42 PM
Ah. Sorry about that. I didn't realize you were outside the USA.

*sits in the corner and pledges to put on his thinking cap next time ...*
Serena wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:45 PM
Ah, well, I hadn't said.... You gave good advice, just easier to do if you live in the USA!
JJKizak wrote on 5/25/2005, 4:47 PM
Actually the registration process is about the only thing I haven't complained about. I do remember some time back that there was a lot of problems with the fonts changing "1" to "l' or vice versa during the transmission of the "E" mails. But that's old news. Mine have worked flawlessly for Acid Pro, Forge, Vegas, and DVD3. But this was using a modem in each computer, not registering from another computer.

JJK
JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/25/2005, 5:54 PM
I must say that Sony’s process is better than most. I understand that Adobe Photoshop will require you to reactivate if it feels too many things have changed about you system! (same as Microsoft XP) At least once your Sony software is activated, it is activated for good and you are free to upgrade your system without reactivation.

Others companies like IK Multimedia lock the software to one computer and the license is not transferable. Meaning, you can NEVER sell the software. If you no longer use it, it is a door stop! i.e., They will not allow a new owner to get an activation code for their computer. Just throw it away (and their software ain’t cheap!)

I realize this doesn’t help your problem but you can use the software for 30 days without activating so that is plenty of time to resolve any issues. So, in the scheme of things, Sony is actually very good with their activation. It could be a lot worse.

~jr
apit34356 wrote on 5/25/2005, 6:05 PM
johnnyroy, adobe can be a real pain about hardware, ie drives. A quick solution is to delete the adobe files in the "C:\documents and settings" dirs.
Serena wrote on 5/25/2005, 9:21 PM
The 30 days doesn't appear to apply for DVDA: must be registered before it can be used. And since the plugins must also be registered separately, I seem to got myself into a bind because I didn't separately register the AC-3 plugin for DVDA v2. So I really do need to register things to progress!

I'm sure the Sony registration process is better than my "rave", but I have had a few unnecessary difficulties which this time seem to result from another change made by Sony. The same problem has been encountered by others for at least 10 days (I see by searching all the forums), so it is quite frustrating.
jetdv wrote on 5/25/2005, 9:41 PM
The MPEG2 and AC3 plug-in's do NOT need to be registered separately if DVDA is registered. They are all done with the DVDA registration.
BillyBoy wrote on 5/25/2005, 10:33 PM
Hold on... my experience with activation has been HORRIBLE. Once having got zero response to a email, I called. Silly me, I called a few minutes before lunch. You guessed it... for some odd reason the ENITRE CUSTOMER "SUPPORT" STAFF goes to lunch at the same time and in effect the whole department shuts down for a full hour. The person I was talking to actually hung-up... to go to lunch and I didn't get to finish activating till later that day. If anyone thinks that's good "service" I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can let you have real cheap, but act fast, this week only. This is a TRUE story and while I laugh about it now, I didn't think it was funny at the time. Neither would any of you.
Serena wrote on 5/26/2005, 12:15 AM
I believe that separate "registration" is required, because I've just done it and this was demanded by DVDA. It seems that Sony has fixed the online registration problem I encountered with Vegas 5 and DVDA-2 and upset the "by other computer" registration.
In the process of moving from film to video I originally had Vegas 5 and DVDA installed on my laptop so, I thought, perhaps I can work on that. So I copied the rendered audio and video files onto a data DVD and ran DVDA v2 on the laptop, which immediately required the AC-3 plugin to be registered. So I clicked "online" and "AC-3 activated" came back immediately. You'll remember that when originally installed I couldn't get the online registration to connect at all. Sony requires "notification", if you prefer, of mpeg and ac-3 employment because they have to keep records for the licence owners.

Once I decided to go the video way I bought a powerful desktop machine and have that exclusively for that work and it's not connected (ever) to the net. All downloads and registration are done through my laptop, but that system seems presently unworkable for desktop software registration. But I'll be delighted if somebody can show me an idiot-mistake I'm making!

Anyway, the immediate crisis has been averted by using the laptop to create the DVDs required.
Serena wrote on 5/26/2005, 12:21 AM
I'm with you on that, BillyBoy. One would think that making it easy for customers to register and activate relatively expensive software would be a high priority and much easier for Sony to get right than ensuring that the software itself is reliable. I'm sure I've unneccessarily maligned the clerical staff by suggesting that they set up the registration interface, but who knows.....

Serena
farss wrote on 5/26/2005, 1:25 AM
You're pretty safe connecting your editing machine to the net so long as it's behind a router / firewall. I physically connect my monster machine just long enough to do the registration thing and then unplug it. The connection is made through a router though.

I've tried many web sites that claim they can break into our computers but none ever get past the firewall.

Bob.
rsp wrote on 5/26/2005, 1:59 AM
>Your e-mail address is either blank or incorrect. Please use an address such as >myname@domain.com. Your address should not contain blank spaces and must >contain an @ symbol and at least one period."

I did get the same message and only got around it by retyping the same email address! However the next screens followed very slowly and sometimes almost 'hanged'. Same results for IE and Firefox. Was happy when i finished the registration!
Serena wrote on 5/27/2005, 4:54 AM
Sony have emailed the needed activation codes; all that business is solved -- thanks Sony guys. I haven't checked whether the website has become more friendly.

Incidentally, they included also the activation code required for the AC-3 plugin.