PACE copy protection

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:17 am

How many of you have had experience with this nasty stuff? Apparently many audio companies are using this technology now. Appears that it can wreak havoc on a computer.

Any comments good or bad or indifferent?

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:41 pm

Hmmmm... Prosoniq is dropping PACE protection from its whole line of products saying that sales haven't gone down due to piracy. There may be some underlying reason as well.

Finale 2004 is getting a lot of flaming due to their use of it, or something similar...

At first glance the key looks like the eMagic XSkey with which I have had no trouble at all. I would be careful of anything that could invade my system to the point of jamming it.

siberiansun · Post by **siberiansun** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 2:43 pm

.....i'm not saying anything

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 5:55 pm

But what is it anyway? Sorry for my ignorance? What's the matter about it?

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:17 pm

http://www.paceap.com/default.html

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:41 pm

As far as I know PACE do 2 types of protection - one is the challenge-response type (which leaves hidden stuff on your HD etc) and the other is called I-Lok (USB-based programmable dongle similar in concept to the Logic and Cubase/Nuendo dongles).

The challenge-response type has been VERY evil in the past (instability, conflicts, spontaneous reboots) - I've heard reports that it's much improved, but I don't buy anything that involves this shitty form of protection, full-stop.

The I-Lok I have had no experience with or heard anything about.

peace

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:13 am

How complicated that can be... uf... There more laws human beings build, the more there are those to brake them, the more they brake them, the more laws human beings build, the more they brake them, the more laws human beings build, the more they brake them, the more laws human beings build, the more they brake them, the more laws human beings build, the more they brake them, the more laws human beings build...

Finally, we are all into a terrible complication cos we are not able to be a little simpler... uffff

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:25 am

The reason I brought this subject up was that I was considering buying the Antares AutoTune plug-in for Sonar. I was this close to buying it.

Someone on the Cakewalk/Sonar forum was discussing the evils of PACE protection. I had never heard of it before. Apparently, Antares uses this copy protection scheme, along with a lot of other companies. People were reporting that it crashes their computer.

And then there's this link:

http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.n ... 7F0077FBA6

I was just wondering what kind of experiences you all had with this stuff. I would really like to get the Antares plug-in but I can't imagine any reason to do so knowing what I know. The problem is that there aren't many other alternatives out there (for this particular device) unless I wanted to buy the rack-mount version.

Anyway, I was just curious what you all thought about it.

I'll make another little observational comment: whatever annoyances I used to associate with Creamware's copy-protection schemes seem silly in comparison. I have no problem that these companies are trying to protect their technology from theft. But anything that could potentially hose my computer is a bad thing and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I certainly don't need my PC shutting down in the middle of a session. I can't risk the loss of business due to this kind of stuff. Just ain't worth it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: krizrox on 2003-12-05 08:32 ]</font>

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:10 am

Protection is great if it works. PACE challenge-response however does not. It is one of the most widely-cracked systems out there.. it's a surreal situation: PACE tells the world that they have the best, most widely used system, paranoid software companies think it must be good because so many people are using it, yet PACE cracks are widespread.. there even used to be a generic crack for it.

I've even heard stories of the PACE demo system being easily circumvented on the Mac: leading to people simply resetting their demos before they ran out.

Companies like this should not be allowed to project the illusion to small software companies that this protection is worth spending money on (the use of this kind of protection is not cheap by any means).

peace

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:18 pm

On 2003-12-05 11:10, dArKr3zIn wrote:
...I've even heard stories of the PACE demo system being easily circumvented on the Mac: leading to people simply resetting their demos before they ran out...

with the help of (now) M$'s VirtualPC (formerly a Connectix product) you can do that trick almost arbitrarily

Make a copy of the OS image right after installation and activate a copy of that image whenever you like.

I totally agree with your post. What a huge business to rip off cracker-paranoid companies

imho only protection on inividually programmed external (embedded) devices are a reliable way. Any checking within one single program (in regular machine code) is due to fail sooner or later.

The most important aspect is that people have to be convinced that a piece of software is a valuable investment and yields productive results.
The CW stuff does it for me, so I never considered the protection scheme annoying.

cheers, Tom