@rick-a My guess is that your serial number is registered under your Sony customer account. Try entering the e-mail address and password you used when Sound Forge was still with Sony. They transferred all customer accounts and licenses to Magix after the software switched hands.

Thanks for the suggestion SP. Unfortunately I tried logging in to the service centre with the old email address I used for Sony but got a log in error. Possibly the password I have isn't correct. I can't do "forgot password" though because that email address doesn't exist any longer. So I think I'm still stuck.

However, I do think you're on to something. I next tried entering my old email address at the registration stage after logging in with my new email address and got a message "new email address already exists". (They referred to my old email address as my "new email address".) So my conclusion is that they do have the old email address I used with Sony in the system as you suggest.

It seems to me that this issue might need to be fixed by support.

@rick-a You definitely need support to merge both accounts into one. I recommend you open a new ticket and ask them that you want to merge your old Sony login with your current Magix login. Hopefully the AI bot will then inform some human support staff.

Thanks for this suggestion SP. After your answer earlier today I updated my previous ticket with info about my old Sony login. But I could open a more specific one with this request to merge the two accounts into one. Thank you for your help.

I've also bought Sound Forge Pro 16 and 18 I prefer version 9 for some things. It's quicker to select sections of audio between markers in version 9 than in version 16 or 18 for example. In version 9 you select by simply double clicking between the markers - this method usually doesn't work for 18.

You need to double-click real fast. This issue started with SF-16 and Magix has been unable (or unwilling) to fix it and adjusting the mouse click speed does nothing. As a work-around to select a region between two markers, go to a desired marker, press and hold Ctrl+Shift, then press the Right or Left arrow keys to advance or go back.

I've also bought Sound Forge Pro 16 and 18 I prefer version 9 for some things. It's quicker to select sections of audio between markers in version 9 than in version 16 or 18 for example. In version 9 you select by simply double clicking between the markers - this method usually doesn't work for 18.

You need to double-click real fast. This issue started with SF-16 and Magix has been unable (or unwilling) to fix it and adjusting the mouse click speed does nothing. As a work-around to select a region between two markers, go to a desired marker, press and hold Ctrl+Shift, then press the Right or Left arrow keys to advance or go back.

Thanks rraud. I've tried that work-around just now. I found that using Ctrl+left or right arrow to move the cursor to the starting marker helps also. Then, as you say, use Cntrl + Shift + right or left arrow to select the region.

This is just a note that I've now been able to successfully activate and run Sound Forge 9 on my new PC. I did as SP suggested on 17th September in this thread and raised a support request to merge my old account (which had Sound Forge 9 registered under it) with my current account. Majix support have now done that merge and today I was able to follow the recommended process to activate Sony era software as listed in this thread below: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/activation-of-sony-creative-software-era-applications--149297/

There was one complication in that the Computer ID is required - but that was not displayed at any stage when I started Sound Forge 9. When I started Sound Forge 9 the first screen displayed was a registration screen and that had the option of registering online or via another computer. I chose the option "another computer" and the program then allowed me to save a .html file to be emailed to Sony for registration. I found that this file had the computer ID in it. So I used that in the create activation code process and the code which was created worked correctly and activated Sound Forge 9.

As mentioned I didn't see the computer ID displayed anywhere so had to used that roundabout way to get it. Maybe I missed something?

Edit: I found that there is a method to display the computer ID: In response to my original support request of 30th August the AI agent said: "To activate Sound Forge version 9 on your new PC, please follow these steps: Launch the program, and when prompted to enter your serial number and register online, if you receive the message stating "product has not been registered yet," click "retry" three times and then click "cancel." This will take you to a screen displaying your serial number and computer ID, along with a blank field for the activation code."

In summary - I was able to activate Sound Forge 9 so I've now got that running as well as Sound Forge 16 and 18. I prefer version 9 for editing so I'm happy about this.

Thanks again SP and also rraud for your replies here!

@rick-a Thank you for the detailed report. This will become handy for other users with the same problem.