In case anyone hasn’t heard, Reason will no longer be able to be activated for offline use for older versions (pre v12) from September…
Kind of a bummer. As a sweetener they are offering a discount on the upgrade.
Useless to me as I can’t run Reason 12 on my system.
PS cheaper upgrade for Tolkein fans can be found at JRRshop with coupon ‘GROUP’.
Yeah, a lot of unhappy people over at ReasonTalk. I’m not sure there’s really a precedent for this: a company switching from an activation system they licensed from a third party (CodeMeter) to a home-grown solution, and then sunsetting the third-party one.
Reason Studios already courted some controversy a few weeks ago when they introduced the new activation system, which essentially makes all Reason 12 activations temporary, requiring an automatic check-in either every 30 days or, if you go through an optional setup, once a year. It’s all invisible and in most cases won’t mean anything different in practice… But if you go off to live on a desert island or Reason Studios shuts down or something, your Reason installation is technically no longer permanent.
There’s no issue here. If i were to go off and live on a deserted island, reason or any of my music making gear would not work regardless, so what’s the argument?
And if the company shuts down, then they will most likely make the program open source. I don’t think they will shut down any time soon, so, again, no issue.
Only just found out about about this now. Can’t say I’m too happy about it.
On the other hand 60% off for upgrading to R12 would be a pretty good deal IF my system could handle it (no idea if it can or not). Or maybe it’ll be that final push to upgrade to silicon mac.
Cynical me suspects the whole thing is a cash grab for the company to boost profits before the end of the quarter.
This is not working this way. Do we have any example of any company doing such things?
Not sure f it is still valid, but heard there’s a code to upgrade on JRRshop for 60 bucks or so.
Perhaps not open source, I do not know about that, not impossible though. OTOH, they would do somehting to lift the home phoning to log in so those who bought the program can use it until the systems no longer support running the program eventually. either way things will be fine if they go under. Most likely going to get bought out or merge with another brand, as is the theme du jour with NI and InMusic 
A lot of the people unhappy with this are a very small vocal minority and have very niche use cases using the older versions of the software. They will still be able to have their offline setups, but won’t be able to use Rack Extensions bought after the cutoff date or receive updates for those REs after the cutoff date without coming online. I think for most people that are sticking to earlier versions this shouldn’t affect them too much, and Reason Studios are offering a pretty decent upgrade price.
As an R12 user I’m pretty happy with how they’ve handled the authorization system. No more annoying login screen, it’s all handled in the background. Everytime you log in your computer is authorized for a month if you’re online. I can now take my computer somewhere without internet for 30 days without worrying about it. If I’m going to be away from the net longer than that I can authorize long term for a year.
This pretty much covers 99% of the people using this software. Anyone complaining about this over at ReasonTalk is definitely spending more of their time in a forum bitching than they are making music with Reason.
I only just got an e-mail about it. Saw the post on Reason Talk first nearly 2 weeks ago. They aren’t playing quite fair in my book.
This is ultimately one of those things I object to more in principle than in practice. Adobe has done far worse, effectively abandoning Lightroom activation for pre-subscription versions, so as long as Reason Studios is keeping some kind of option for legacy users, that’s something.
“Not as bad as Adobe” is hardly a ringing endorsement, but in my view, the important thing is that the latest version of Reason is still available subscription-free.
I haven’t used Reason since about, fuck, I don’t know when. But I had the very first release and used it for years. I’m undecided about whether to let it go bye bye or keep a foot in the door. The annual things sounds like a pain in the arse. I enjoy not being involved in software upgrades these last few years. I dont really have a point to make. Please don’t read this.
Too late, should have started with “please don’t read this” and not leave it at the very end to be read after having read the whole thing 
I have never tried to use Reason 10 offline so I don’t think this is relevant for me. The 60% off along with a promise of not releasing Reason 13 this year is nice. If I didn’t have my eyes set on the Push 3, I would have considered upgrading.
Well I cracked. New MBP and purchased the R12 upgrade.
I had planned to stick with R11 Studio for as long as possible but seeing how it needed Rosetta quickly sunk that battleship.
Still not happy about the need for repeat authorisations but it is what it is.
TBH I’m probably going to jump on the deal as well, but it will likely be the last time I spend money on Reason. Not at all keen on their current attitude towards long-term users.
Will it run on your system or time for a hefty upgrade?
My plan is to keep things as is once everything’s up and running - got more than enough now to keep me occupied til kingdom come. No need to give Props anymore $$$.
On the upside, R12.6 on the silicon mac is phenomenal (so far).
How much faster is 12 on your Mac hardware compared to 11?
I thought about getting a license just to try it, but observing Reason Studios from a distance, I really don’t like how they’ve been moving forward…the upgrade from Reason 11 to Reason 12 was underwhelming, the handling of Rack Extensions bought with Reason 11 Suite once Reason+ was released sort of sucks, and now this.
I’m glad I didn’t spend money on their software, I find this sort of stuff thoroughly off-putting.