Why I use a cracked copy of Traktor
I’ve got a gig this next weekend. Nothing big, but I do have to play in front of a crowd. As part of that gig I expect to play digital tracks via TRAKTOR. But this afternoon, I was surprised to find I couldn’t actually run TRAKTOR.
The application (that I paid for) would only open as a demo. If I tried to reactivate TRAKTOR I was directed to the Native Instruments ServiceCenter software, which attempted to connect to their server to confirm my license and couldn’t. Not knowing what was going on I went to native-instruments.com and saw this message:
Server Downtime
Dear Visitor,
Due to technical problems, our site is temporarily not available. We appreciate your patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please try again in 30 minutes.
Your Native Instruments Online Team
Since the NI website is down, I can’t connect to confirm and actually use my software.
Two things struck me at this moment (i.e. 5pm PST). First, anyone who relied on the legitimate version of TRAKTOR for a live gig right now (i.e. it’s 1am in Europe) was just screwed. Second, I personally had a crack of TRAKTOR left over, so I’m in the clear and can journey on.
Why exactly do I have a crack? Because when I purchased TRAKTOR I experienced a very similar problem: ServiceCenter wouldn’t let me create a user account, without which I couldn’t get whatever prerequisites. It was a Saturday and I had just paid $500 for this software and wasn’t allowed to play with it for more that 30 minutes at a time, until this problem could be resolved.
To add insult, Native Instruments only provides live support Monday through Friday 9-5pm (PST). That means no night and weekend support (which ironically is when most people are using their product). I’d have to wait until Monday morning until I could actually use my software and try again that night. But if there were any more problems, wait again until the next morning etc.
So now I use a cracked copy of TRAKTOR.
My advise – get the crack. It’s available everywhere, is more reliable, and isn’t handicapped by bad DRM.
[Update 6pm] looks like the website is back up. But TRAKTOR still needs to be reactivated and ServiceCenter wants my Serial Number before I can play. For me, I just have to dig into the closet to find my TRAKTOR box that has the card. But for those of you trying to perform right now, I recommend a couple of kamakazis to kill the pain. Hopefully you’ll still get paid.
