I logged into my Avid account to look at my registered products, and came to what may be a startling realization. After clicking the link to my registered products, Pro Tools 9 Crossgrade was listed, but not under my name. Instead, it appears as though it is listed only under my ilok user account. It even informs me to go to ilok.com if I want to retrieve my license. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that since Pro Tools 9 is not attached to digidesign/avid hardware, transfer of the ilok license alone is all that is necessary for the buyer of your PT 9 copy to be able to get updates and future paid upgrades.
The more I think about it, this makes sense. When software was attached to hardware, you needed the previous hardware serial number in order to upgrade. Now that PT 9 is it's own product and requires ilok registration, you should only need proof of owning the ilok license in order for Avid to know you are eligible to use any future upgrades. When I registered the PT 9 Crossgrade via the Avid website, it was really only done by registering the license on ilok. Again, I could be wrong, but it seems that the ilok license itself serves as the owner's registration. There is no serial number attached to PT 9, only the ilok license/registration. For future upgrades, why would they require a serial number, when a buyer does not need a serial number to install PT 9? Makes sense to me, and would be great news for sellers and buyers of PT 9.
Thoughts?