What SF is forcing you to do is to obtain a cracked version of your purchased software so you no longer need to keep going back to them. You're not renting it, you PURCHASED it, dammit!

Would Sonic Foundry ever consider using dongle keys? This is much less painless as having to re-register every time you reinstall your system. I also use Cubase, and I really don't mind having a dongle key. Of course, a serial number only setup would be the most convenient, but a dongle is probably the next less annoying copy protection method that I can think of.

-Dylan

You should be ashamed SF (phone techs). That is the most inane load of crap I've heard of.

You're right...you OWN IT...you're not RENTING it.

Who cares if there are cracked versions, whoever said it has boosted sales for their product is probably correct.

If I EVER get this response from an SF phone tech...I'm going to raise cain.
And screw the dongle. Are you kidding me? That's even worse. For the $ I've invested in SF products?

That said, Vegas is a great app (don't fuck this up SF).


joed

Ahem . . . I registered (have registered) several times, myself, for all of the reasons listed by the original poster.

The online thing where you get a register routine worked for me. I have since re-installed using that routine, and have experienced no problems.

I also mentioned to SF online reps my concern about how many registrations I might need (given my propensity to simply wipe/re-install the Win2k protion of my dual boot system when I encounter problems). Response was, not to worry, we'll see that you get as many registration authorizations as you need.

My question to the original poster, how many re-installs have you resorted to? I share your concern, but have never been denied registration priviledges. I'm curious as to how your situation compares to mine.

Thanks

Caruso

Get used to it folks! This is just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft has gone to a similar scheme with their new Office XP, and will be doing so with their upcoming OS Windows XP. Thats right - if you change a hard disk, or other piece of hardware, there is the potential that your OS will no longer work without going back to a Microsoft phone tech for an activation key!

However, I'm pretty sure that you can still use Vegas Video without "registering" it. Can't you just use it in Demo mode for the weekend? or is Demo mode restricted in some way?

I've registered and it's went smoothly, but this poster has a point...
If one of my clients work is on hold due to a phone techs response...then I don't care how many times I've registered...if you're holding back my income your going to make it up 2 fold.

That is my point.

This guy didn't sound like some teen software cracker, he has a right to post this.

To add, Win XP is going to bring on many more of these mails. I hope SF and MS are prepared to act on troubles like this at the drop of a dime.
My guess is they will.

Joed

Ahhh... it's nice to know I'm not the only one who constantly upgrades/re-installs Win2k and is completely annoyed by this aspect of the registration process. The online registration has always worked for me, except the one time that it came back with a message 'too many activations issued'. But once was enough to prompt an extremely angry letter written to Sonic Foundry. The worst part was, they never responded. I didn't get any response from two letters written to technical support requesting a code. Finally I posted a message on this forum and that's when I received a response and suddenly the customer service dept was very helpful.

It would be one thing if you always had your '7 days to register' buffer time. That gives you enough time to get your code if something goes wrong. But the fact is, you don't always get the 7 days, depending on your upgrade process. Tech support sent me a complicated process to get the 7 days back in these cases, but it didn't work.

I agree that it's counter productive for SF to force us to get cracks for the software that we paid for. They make enemies of their best customers by treating us like criminals.

I will say that there are even worse companies out there. Indigo Rose makes a product called Autoplay Menu Studio for making CDROM menus. They limit you to TWO INSTALLATIONS PER MONTH and then you have to contact them for a special registration key. AND there is no 7 day buffer. That is the worst I've seen. At least Sonic Foundry tries to appease their customers if something goes wrong. They sent me CD versions of both Vegas Audio and Video. (I had bought the download versions). This gives me a backup serial number in case I get caught on the weekend or something with no code. Indigo Rose did absolutely nothing. They said something about only hard-core hackers could get cracks for their software and everyone else would have to use their registration process... yeah... ok.

Please send your serial #s to tech support and tell them about your frequent reinstall scenario. We can bump up the number of allowed registrations, but we do it on a case by case basis.

It seems to me, considering your frequent re-installs, that a copy of Norton Ghost would be a wise investment.

So long as your hardware hasn't changed, you can have your entire system back to "fresh install" WITH registrations of SF products intact within 5-15 minutes.

I refresh my entire system from a Ghost image whenever I de-install a beta/demo program or encounter foreboding weirdnesses.

You'll quickly reimburse yourself the the $70-$80 in saved time.

We use ghost all the time in our testing department. Works great.