After 15 yrs of building electronics systems, sub-assemblies, etc, for dod, I can spot a real $ maker... yes it is B#LLShituth that steinberg's manufacturing folks can't seem to get a grip on their processes, quality-control, or whatever it is that’s causing all these dongle failures I was surprised to recently learn about...of course I'm bashing them for “only” one failure, the damn dongle of all things... it's one of those items that are manufactured at very low costs, requiring little r&d and a nominal amount of documentation.... a hand-full of massed produced parts, maybe a short length of 22ga wire, the odd resistor or two, maybe a diode, assembled carefully by-hand can and often does bring in big money... I’ll guess that’s why steinberg continues to use them...they’re a great “accessory”—because we have to “buy” into it if we want the software...I only hope steinberg is paying some semblance of the prevailing wage to the workers who build these dongles...people who produce quality work aren’t inclined to accept less than the prevailing wage, which leaves “who” to work for less...it would be nice if the damn things lasted longer than a couple yrs...we’re already caught up in software upgrade hassles ($)...yeh, it’s pure B#LLLLLLShituth...