Will a Virtual Machine software outsmart Sony Vegas?

[Case Mgmt.]

First off, I'll note that a Virtual Machine is an operating system within an operating system.

Overview: About 25 days ago I signed up with Sony Vegas Pro for their free 30 day trial. Due to an auto accident, I was not able to spend much time test driving Sony Vegas Pro. The free trial ends in 5 days. I'd like to extend the trial for another 30 days but Sony doesn't offer that option. There appears to be no workaround, meaning that it would be pointless to change my email address and my IP address, that won't help, Sony still knows who you are (maybe through the MAC address?). I do not want to use Pirate Bay or a crack/keygen from YouTube to download $600 worth of software for free. All I want is another 30 day free trial.

Question: I've never used Virtual Machine software. If I attempted to extend the free trial by signing up with Sony using Virtual Machine software like VirtualBox, would that fool Sony and allow me to get another 30 day free trial?

 

[Bubbaleone]

Developers offer free trials of their software in order to give you a reasonable amount of time to decide whether or not you wish to purchase their product. You're asking for advice on piracy, which is not tolerated on these forums. I'd suggest you contact Sony's tech support, explain your auto accident to them, and see if they'll grant you another 30 days.

 

[Nothinman]

I wouldn't go so far as to call it piracy as he's not getting a perpetual license, but stupid restrictions like this are what push people toward piracy.

There's a multitude of ways of resetting timers like this, but there's so many ways to do it that you pretty much need to be a decent developer or hacker to figure out which is the right one and how to work with it. Sometimes procmon can point to a file/registry key but it's not always that simple.

Chances are running it in a VM will work around the restrictions, but it may not run that well depending on how resource heavy it is and if it relies on hardware acceleration.

 

[Case Mgmt.]

You're asking for advice on piracy, which is not tolerated on these forums.

You didn't comprhend the thread starter. In it I alluded to the fact that I know how to use Pirates Bay and keygens/cracks from YouTube in order to pirate Vegas Pro. I'm looking to extend the 30 day free trial, not own the software outright for an indefinite amount of time. I suffered injuries in an auto accident that made it impossible for me to use a computer for several weeks during the 30 day period.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yeah, it'll likely work, though it might be a sucky experience in a VM.

I don't see any ethical dilemma with what you're trying to do. Shit happened and you couldn't properly evaluate the product during the evaluation period.

 

[lxskllr]

If it were me, I'd try it in a VM using Tor, and a different email address. That should take care of all the easy methods of tracking. I don't know how they'd know it was you otherwise.

 

[Nothinman]

You didn't comprhend the thread starter. In it I alluded to the fact that I know how to use Pirates Bay and keygens/cracks from YouTube in order to pirate Vegas Pro. I'm looking to extend the 30 day free trial, not own the software outright for an indefinite amount of time. I suffered injuries in an auto accident that made it impossible for me to use a computer for several weeks during the 30 day period.

I understand Bubbaleone's reply because breaking the trial's protection scheme isn't something that would be kosher to discuss on Anadtech in general because 99% of the time that will be used for piracy and Sony would likely have some grounds for litigation regardless of what you do after 30 days if they cared enough to pursue it. However, you should at least give Sony the chance to do the right thing by calling support, explaining your dilemma and seeing if they give you an official way to extend the trial. If they're unwilling to do so, calmly explain that they just lost your money and you'll recommend everyone you know to stay away from Sony Vegas too.

 

[Case Mgmt.]

Sorry it has taken so long to thank EVERYONE for their input but work went crazy just after I posted the thread starter. A few things:

Nothinman, I took your advice in that I set out to contact Sony via email to ask them to extend the free trial. Actually that was something I intended to do before I posted the thread starter! But I didn't follow through with it because I figured I probably would not find the email Sony sent me. You see, I have a lot of email accounts, literally too many to count. But after reading your post I was inspired to try and hunt down Sony's email. Turns out I couldn't find it, I never found it. After checking 5 or 6 email accounts I gave up looking. Checking all the other email accounts would have taken a real long time, like looking for a needle in a haystack.

lxskllr, Thanks for recommending your recipe, a recipe that consists of TOR, a Virtual Machine setup and a new email address. I've never used TOR but I visited their website and I should say that I (and probably many other people out there) ought to make it a habit to start using TOR on a regular basis. Hundreds, thousands, millions of people out there all wonder how to change their IP address. As you know there are several ways to do it, some of those ways are super easy. One way to change it is to simply use TOR.

I'd like to say something that might offend some people: There are some really good reasons for purchasing Sony Vegas with your credit card if you can afford it. One reason is that it's a wonderful program and Sony deserves to be rewarded for their good work. Look, Sony has the option of not offering Vegas to the public. They could take it off the market. But they choose to continue to refine and develop it, year after year. The money you put towards Vegas helps Sony to continue refining and marketing Vegas. Another reason is because Japan was hit hard with a tsunami a few years ago that totally destroyed part of their country. The money you pay for Vegas, in a roundabout way, just might help them rebuild neighborhoods that were devastated by the tsunami.

Once again, I want to thank everyone in this thread for their input. Have a nice day

 

[Evander]

If they're stupid enough not to extend the free trial you could always swap your hard drive for a cheaper one laying around somewhere, install Windows on it w/o a product key (I believe that works for 30 days) and then install the Vegas trial. You could either keep that setup for the whole 30 days or swap hard drives back and forth as needed. The other option is a dual boot but I for one definitely wouldn't wanna mess around with a short-term dual boot setup.