Do I need Reason's Companion? And an Offline Renewal Question

[stratatonic]

I am currently on 12.6.1 with macOS. Looks like 12.7 introduced Companion to ditch Authorizer, but at this point everything works and there is nothing in higher 12.x.x versions that I want/need (and am not sure exactly what the heck Companion is anyways!) I don't have a lot of REs, so it has been relatively pain-free to deal with authorizing stuff in the past. So what are any advantages to having this feature?

I'm also coming due shortly to renew offline for a year. So I wait for that date to pass and then renew in Preferences? Can you renew at any time to a date of your choosing?

Thx

[crimsonwarlock]

Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on. As I understand it, this means that as soon you want to install a new RE or re-install an RE you already own, you can only do that with companion.

[stratatonic]

Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on. As I understand it, this means that as soon you want to install a new RE or re-install an RE you already own, you can only do that with companion.

Ok, I'm getting this from Accounts page:
Note: From Reason 12.7, this page is obsolete. Instead, use Reason Companion to handle your Rack Extensions.
The functions on this page can still be used if you have an older version of Reason and Authorizer is installed.

It sounds like I would need to update to 12.7 from 12.6 to use the Companion for REs.

[buddard]

I'm also coming due shortly to renew offline for a year. So I wait for that date to pass and then renew in Preferences? Can you renew at any time to a date of your choosing?

It depends on whether you have a perpetual license or annual Reason+:

If you're running perpetual, then the offline date will be pushed back to a year from now every time you start Reason with an Internet connection.
For annual R+, you can renew the long term offline authorization after you have renewed your subscription.

[stratatonic]

I'm also coming due shortly to renew offline for a year. So I wait for that date to pass and then renew in Preferences? Can you renew at any time to a date of your choosing?

It depends on whether you have a perpetual license or annual Reason+:

If you're running perpetual, then the offline date will be pushed back to a year from now every time you start Reason with an Internet connection.
For annual R+, you can renew the long term offline authorization after you have renewed your subscription.

Ahh...I was checking something about Reason online for forum member Moneykube yesterday and now I see I have a year added offline. This computer is mostly offline. Thx

Can you elaborate a bit on Companion. I have R12.6 installed and some folks are on earlier versions of Reason. So, Authorizer will still be available for quite a while, yeah? Or am I missing something obvious here? And CrimsonWarlock above says that Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on. So, you could use somehow use Companion even if you were on an earlier version?

[crimsonwarlock]

And CrimsonWarlock above says that Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on.

Indeed, it seems that you need companion from 12.7 onwards, as that is stated in some places on the RS shop. I was reasoning from the screen you get when buying or trialing a new RE, which seems to imply that companion is needed for any 12.x version.

2024-05-10 14_45_46-Window.png (12.67 KiB) Viewed 136 times

All a bit confusing, so I suggest just trial any RE you don't have yet, and see if you can download directly and authorize with authorizer. My guess is that it will be fine

[buddard]

Can you elaborate a bit on Companion. I have R12.6 installed and some folks are on earlier versions of Reason. So, Authorizer will still be available for quite a while, yeah? Or am I missing something obvious here? And CrimsonWarlock above says that Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on. So, you could use somehow use Companion even if you were on an earlier version?

For 12.6 there's a special version of Authorizer that manages the REs + license file, controlled using the "old" product pages on the web site.
For Reason 12.7 it was replaced with "Companion for all" that manages RE downloads for both perpetual license users and Reason+ users, while Reason itself downloads the RE license files.

Hope that clears things up!

[stratatonic]

And CrimsonWarlock above says that Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on.

Indeed, it seems that you need companion from 12.7 onwards, as that is stated in some places on the RS shop. I was reasoning from the screen you get when buying or trialing a new RE, which seems to imply that companion is needed for any 12.x version.

2024-05-10 14_45_46-Window.png


All a bit confusing

Yes. The release notes say that as well
Reason 12.7 Release Notes
* Reason Companion has replaced Authorizer for Rack Extension management. This applies to all Reason 12 users going forward.

Can you elaborate a bit on Companion. I have R12.6 installed and some folks are on earlier versions of Reason. So, Authorizer will still be available for quite a while, yeah? Or am I missing something obvious here? And CrimsonWarlock above says that Reason 12 no longer uses authorizer, no matter which 12.x version you are on. So, you could use somehow use Companion even if you were on an earlier version?

For 12.6 there's a special version of Authorizer that manages the REs + license file, controlled using the "old" product pages on the web site.
For Reason 12.7 it was replaced with "Companion for all" that manages RE downloads for both perpetual license users and Reason+ users, while Reason itself downloads the RE license files.

Hope that clears things up!

I would need 12.7+ to use Companion.
Is there a screenshot of what exactly Companion looks like - I didn't find anything on RSsite?.