Is it possible to sell a promo license that comes with a Presonus interface?

[Vocalpoint]

Saw an interesting Reddit thread recently where a user purchased a 1824C - like a year ago - finally got around to registering it and because of the current promo on right now at Presonus - gets a free perpetual license of Studio One 7.

Is it possible for him/her to sell that free license (at a profit) and effectively separate it from the hardware it was awarded with?

VP

 

[SwitchBack]

This used to be possible. At some point a transfer fee was put in place to stop the 'transfer every other day' craziness. Dunno how it is now.

 

[BobF]

The answer to this question in the past has been 'NO' as the license is tied to the hardware it was bundled with. That was the rule, not sure if/how it is enforced.

 

[Vocalpoint]

This used to be possible. At some point a transfer fee was put in place to stop the 'transfer every other day' craziness. Dunno how it is now.

Well - I do understand the fee structure for a legit transfer of a standalone license - that is standard fare.

What I do not understand is how/why Presonus would allow a customer to purchase an interface, get a free license because of that purchase and then be able to profit from that purchase by selling that license. I had always thought the license is bonded to the hardware?


VP

 

[SwitchBack]

Well - I do understand the fee structure for a legit transfer of a standalone license - that is standard fare.

What I do not understand is how/why Presonus would allow a customer to purchase an interface, get a free license because of that purchase and then be able to profit from that purchase by selling that license. I had always thought the license is bonded to the hardware?


VP

Giving away software licences with hardware costs the company maybe a potential licence sell, nothing else. And more Studio One users begets more Studio One users. By keeping the registration just like a separately sold licence is probably cheaper than trying to keep hardware and license together.

 

[Vocalpoint]

Giving away software licences with hardware costs the company maybe a potential licence sell, nothing else. And more Studio One users begets more Studio One users. By keeping the registration just like a separately sold licence is probably cheaper than trying to keep hardware and license together.

Fair enough.

But a well heeled customer could buy 20 interfaces and have a grand old time pocketing thousands from 20 copies of S1v7 - very odd that Presonus would not care about this.

VP

 

[SwitchBack]

That is true. He'd also be sitting on 20 of the more expensive interfaces, as AFAIK the perpetual licenses don't come with the cheaper stuff. If PreSonus worked out that giving away a license with an interface is profitable then seeing that license change hands won't change that. And the guy with the 20 interfaces now has to sell those licenses at a good price to have that grand old time. PreSonus may even offer him a job!

 

[SwitchBack]

The answer to this question in the past has been 'NO' as the license is tied to the hardware it was bundled with. That was the rule, not sure if/how it is enforced.

Not really, because registering a device as a second user never entitled you to the Studio One license too. That always stayed with the first user. Unless is was transferred as a separate item too (for a fee).

 

[Vocalpoint]

Not really, because registering a device as a second user never entitled you to the Studio One license too. That always stayed with the first user.

Noted - however - this Reddit user - claims he took the better part of a year to finally get around to registering his 1824C - and still got the license.

This would mean that anyone out there with an unregistered 1824C (or any other qualifying device) - could benefit.

Even a user who bought some original owners - unregistered device - and decided to register it.

VP

 

[SwitchBack]

That's probably true, because as PreSonus sees it the first to register is first user starting then and can claim the trophy for free. The next one attracts a fee.

 

[Vocalpoint]

That's probably true, because as PreSonus sees it the first to register is first user starting then and can claim the trophy for free. The next one attracts a fee.

Still - it's a bizarre promo if I bought an interface in 2021 and waited until now to swoop in, register it and snag a free copy of S1 in the process.

You would think these promo licenses would only be handed out when purchasing a device and adding it to your account during a specific window of time.

VP

 

[John Vere]

Including a Daw with an audio interface goes way back in time. And it’s also been a solid way of gaining new users.
I started with Cakewalk when I bought a Roland GR50 guitar synth and found a copy of Guitar Studio in the box. I started using Cubase when I bought a Tascam interface and got a copy of Cubase 5 LE. I have upgraded that 4 times now to Elements 14.
I must have 3 licenses to Ableton lite and also Motu DP.
Is there still a Lite Version available for S1 That’s included with the cheap interfaces?

 

[Vocalpoint]

Including a Daw with an audio interface goes way back in time. And it’s also been a solid way of gaining new users.

Certainly not denying that is a great way to gain users.

But if we look at a company like NI - who routinely bundles something like Komplete 15 Ultimate with a new S61 MKIII keyboard - the concept of buying that bundle, keeping the keyboard but offloading the Komplete 15 ULT license to pocket the cash - is simply not possible.

I guess Presonus must look at this completely different.

VP

 

[SwitchBack]

... Is there still a Lite Version available for S1 That’s included with the cheap interfaces?

At some point I saw a half year subscription for cheaper interfaces. Maybe that's still the case?