Licensing and Activation

Overview

In order to use mAirList, a valid license is required. Licenses are bound to a particular major version (e.g. mAirList 7) and can be used with any sub-version (7.0, 7.1, etc.) of that major version. Discounted upgrades are offered for holders of licenses for earlier versions.

Types of Licenses

We offer various editions of mAirList (e.g. Standard, Advanced, Professional, …) that have different feature sets. Please refer to the feature matrix of the website to find out which edition is suitable for you.

Note

All editions use the same setup/installer. The functionality will be unlocked based on the activated license.

When you install mAirList for the first time, you can obtain a free trial license that will be valid for a limited period of time. Thereafter, a license must be purchased and activated.

Activation

Each computer that runs mAirList must be equipped with a separate license. This is enforced by activation, which can be either software or dongle-based.

Software activation is the default method. It will use an encrypted “fingerprint” (“Hardware ID”) of your computer, generated from various hardware and operating system parameters. The Hardware ID is stored in your license when you activate it for the first time. It can be reset from the website if you ever need to move it to a different computer.

Dongle activation uses special USB devices that act as the “key” to your license. This allows you to use the license on multiple computers - but only one at a time - by moving the USB dongle from one computer to another.

Customer Area

Licenses are managed in the customer area on the website. In order to manage your licenses, you have to create an account there.

Obtaining a License

Licenses can be purchased online through our online shop, or from our sales department or partners.

When buying a license online, you will receive a voucher code along with the purchase confirmation/invoice. Please log into the customer area and go to the Redeem Voucher page, then enter/paste the voucher code. This will create the license, and it will appear on your personal My Licenses page.

When buying a license offline or through our partners, no voucher code will be issued, but the license will appear automatically on the My Licenses page as soon as your order is received. This may be a temporary license until the payment has been processed.

My Licenses

The My Licenses page shows the list of licenses you own, in particular their serial number, the product(s)/edition(s) they are valid for, and a possible expiration date (for temporary licenses).

On the License Details page, the technical details of the license are displayed, as well as the list of products they are valid for. That page also allows you to manage your activation, in particular, perform a manual activation, or reset the activation (in order to move the license to a new PC).

License Manager

The License Manager built into mAirList is used to install, activate and manage your license. It can be found in the Windows Start Menu, and also in the About window of the main playout window.

Main View

The main view of the License Manager shows information about the currently installed license and provides access to the most frequently used tasks.

Click Download/Activate and enter your e-mail/password in order to activate a license from your My Licenses list and download the license file onto the computer. Licenses displayed in normal text are available for activation and download. The license displayed in bold is already bound to this computer and can be downloaded immediately without activating it again. Licenses displayed grayed out are activated for a different computer and must be reset on the My Licenses webpage first before they can be activated again. This can also happen if you made significant changes to your hardware or Windows system, so that the License Manager does not identify it anymore as the same computer.

If you don’t own a license yet, you can also obtain a trial license from this view. You will be prompted to select the desired product/edition.

Advanced View

The advanced view provides access to additional information and actions, in particular the initialization of FTDI dongles (see below).

FTDI Dongles

mAirList supports activation via FTDI USB devices. That means that you can use many FTDI-based USB dongles (including serial port adapters) as a security dongle for mAirList.

Important

The device must have an FT232R(L/Q) or FT485R(L/Q) chipset. Other chipsets, or devices from other manufacturers like Prolific, will not work!

FTDI offers a special USB Key device that is designed to be used as a security dongle.

The dongle must be obtained from a third-party supplier. If unsure, please contact mAirList customer support beforehand to check if a particular model is supported.

Install Drivers

FTDI dongle activation requires that the “D2XX” drivers are installed on your system. Recent Windows versions will install them automatically when you plug in the dongle for the first time; you can also download them from the FTDI website and install them manually.

Enable FTDI Activation

Once you have obtained a dongle, it must be initialized with a license code. This is done in the advanced section of the License Manager.

Before you begin, please make sure that your dongle is plugged in, and all relevant drivers have been installed (will usually happen automatically). The device should be visible in the USB devices section of Windows Device Manager.
Then go to the Dongles -> FTDI tab in the License Manager advanced view, and click Reload to scan your system for available FTDI devices. You will see a list of all attached devices along with their serial number and description.
Select the device you would like to use, then click the Initialize button in the toolbar, and follow the on-screen instructions.
Once the device was initialized, a license code will appear.
Click the Copy Code button in order to copy that code to the Windows clipboard.
Send this license code to mAirList support team, and wait for the confirmation that your license has been switched to FTDI activation.
Finally, open License Manager again and re-download the license file.

Disable FTDI Activation

Generally it is advised to stick with FTDI activation once you have set it up for your license.

If, for any reason, you must switch back to software activation or another FTDI, please follow the steps below. Please only do so if it is absolutely necessary!

First, use the License Manager to re-initialize the FTDI device with a new license code, as described in the Enable FTDI Activation section above.
You will see a warning message, telling you that you are going to overwrite the existing license code.
Then send the new license code to the support team. It acts as some kind of proof that the previous dongle activation was made unusable. We will remove the previous FTDI activation from your license then, and make it available for another activation again.