I'd rather have a hardware dongal than a software dongal like Max 4 has. One advantage of the hardware one is if the company goes under (god forbid) you can still use the software. With a software one (which is getting to be the rage) it will stop working if you change your box or even hard drive, if you can't re-authorize it you are out of luck. This junk only handicaps honest people anyway, best is none!