Is anybody able to give out alittle info about next release of Alcohol 120% like some key features? I heard it is supposed to be better for doing DVD's...

You will know the features when its out. I'm sure it will be better, not worst.

I've been hearing this "When it's out" crap for almost a year now... Last version also took about 6 months and it brought us nothing new, only some blacklist fixes which were already undone a week later... (SecuROM had a new blacklist a week after the last Alcohol release).
All the Alcohol team does now is make promises about updates, so they can keep selling... but the updates never come. And when someone has a problem, the only answer they give is "Wait till next version".
On their own forum they banned the question about when there's gonna be a new version, I guess that says enough. They only wanna sell their (outdated) program.

this is the cover of the new version, filmed with spycam @ alcohol 120% beta testing lab last Spring

Your entitled to your own opinion. Did you ever look how many people posted questions of the next release on their forum? It was worse than spam. People were to lazy to do a search. I'm sure the team is aware they need to get a move on, but I dont want a crappy release that doesnt work, so I'm happy to wait. Lets face it Clone CD and Blindwrite arent doing that great anyway.
If you try the search function, you'll find you dont need them to solve the blacklist issue, you can do it yourself via your registry.
Well, thats what they do.

Well, Alc 120 hasn't been updated in over a year now (there was some minor fix in may or june that only changed the version number). I don't think it's wrong to ask if there is an update in the works.

For the millionth time, yes there is. When? We dont know.

Is the Fantom haunting Alcohol?

I wonder when Alcohol, Blindwrite or CloneCD can make a working copy of StarForce (more and more games have this protection), Tagès (we all now know how it works, is it really that difficult to implement? ), protected DVD games, etc.

Who really cares. Alcohol works well in a few cases, and they have been promising specific features for years, but never deliver.

Which specific features have been promissed?

Pre-mastering, better DVD support, new protections, e.t.c.

However, while I'd love to see all these things, if they released every beta/prebeta then everyone would moan about a crappy product that makes nothing but coasters. Would that make you happy?

New Alcohol version seems more and more alike vaporware..

New protections would be nice.

Is it making you happy that the last version is from June 2004 (1.9.2.1705 right ) and that you have no idea when the next release will be?

Fine, here's the rest of my opinion:

While I'm happy that they don't release crappy versions, I would at least like to see some versions! But basically, if I start posting how smurfed off I am then firstly, nobody would benefit and secondly, all that would happen is arguements over stupid things. So I wait patiently, until they release it, and I stay sane.

Other companies like Slysoft and VSO are able to release regular updates to their software...admittedly not major updates, but it would be nice to see alcohol do the same thing once in a while. Or at least some good indication of what will be in the next release. A public beta program would be nice!

I believe a lot of people have bought into the upgrade hype. Since the new drives are not capable of copying the newer versions of protections that had been defeated in the past (per a thread on the BW forum from way back), why is an update necessary? Perhaps there are not enough bugs to fix to justify a new release. When it comes to software and nature, there is a point at which things stop evolving because they have evolved as far as they can (such as sharks have not changed in millions of years, and software that is relatively bug free and can do everything it has set out to do). Unfortunately, people have bought into this upgrade fever that has fed the pockets of the software companies (especially MS and others) and have forgotten the days when things did not change every other week.

About beta testing, Alcohol does have an INTERNAL beta testing program, not public beta program. And the next version is already in progress, though there is no specific release date.

Almost a year ago this same 'next version' was also in progress with no specific release date... And maybe in 5 years you people will still say the same...
Do you really think you can keep people wait forever and still have faith in the product?

Actually, there is a 'new' version out, but only for paying customers, so no trial.
This version has dual layer support and also a great new feature: online activation like Windows XP

As you can see, the Alcohol development team has been very busy the last 8 months, building an online activation feature everyone was waiting for... NOT

w00t!

We all know the online activation of Win XP corporate.

That's just it... The Alcohol team wastes time on such online activation, while they know it can never stop the cracks.

That online activation is not aimed to stop crackers, but for those who request support with illegal serial numbers.

There's an easy way to stop that, by creating some customer support form on the site that only works for customers.
When logged in there's links for download, serial etc... Just add a link for support.
And don't waste time on support for the trial version, since it only works for 30 days.