However, you can also transfer licences from one iLok to another on different accounts for a fee of $25 per licence, which enables you to buy plug-in licences 'second-hand'. This service is free for any iLoks you own within one account on. You can transfer licences between different iLoks. PACE have also introduced a number of additional licence-management features aimed at helping us the end user to manage our iLok authorisations (for free) and protect our valuable iLoks (for a fee!) and it is these features we are going to look at in this workshop.

The web site also enables users to 'synchronise' their iLoks with for users to upload licence details from the licence cards that some Vendors supply, for example, with retail products. The user is then able to download these onto their iLok. This site enables the manufacturers and developers (who PACE call Vendors) to 'deposit' licences (sometimes called 'assets') into users' accounts. To assist software manufacturers and developers, PACE set up a 'central clearing house' and management web site called (below). It is also small, which makes it very easy to lose or steal. This makes the iLok a very valuable item as, in effect, it is worth the combined value of all the software plug-ins that are authorised on it - and each iLok can store up to 100 authorisations. Take the iLok away and the software is no longer authorised and won't function. The plug-in software checks for its presence, and if the iLok is detected and contains the correct authorisation, permits you to use that plug-in on that system. An iLok is a small key-shaped 'dongle' which you can plug into any USB port on a computer. Recognising this requirement, PACE Anti-Piracy went back to the drawing board and developed the iLok.

This has become more and more crucial as the Pro Tools Session format replaced the two-inch tape as arguably the universal format for moving recording sessions about the world. What was needed was a more portable key that would enable the user to work with their plug-ins on whichever machine they were in front of, whether then owned it or not. First it was those dreaded floppy key disks that became unreadable just at the wrong time - and when manufacturers recognised this and gave you a spare floppy key disk, they found that users installed another copy of the software on a second system and used the spare key for that! Next we had, and still have, authorisations that are computer- or drive-specific, which mean that plug-ins are only available to use on a specific computer, or you have to carry around a separate hard drive just to make your plug-in authorisations portable. However, plug-ins have always been susceptible to unauthorised copying, and software manufacturers and developers have felt the need to protect their investments by copy-protecting them. Plug-ins are one of the elements that make Pro Tools so versatile, and since Digidesign opened their TDM, RTAS and Audiosuite protocols up to third-party developers, we now have an enormous range to choose from. But did you know that you can insure, transfer and even buy and sell iLok plug-in licences electronically? There can't be many Pro Tools users left who haven't had to invest in an iLok key in order to run their favourite plug-ins.

Pro tools no ilok