Just add $30 for the BOX!!!

I hope Cakewalk does what they did on X@ and offerws a Box set for  $$$ Downloads are a PIA, MUCH prefer the DVDs and am more than willing to pay for them

I know the box seems like a lot, but media production and postal delivery is becoming more expensive as digital delivery becomes the primary market force of software distribution.
 
I'm not sure who your internet provider is but the $30 divided across the year may bump you up to a higher speed level. I know it does here in Boston. The savings I get from buying software on discount from Steam, Origin, Amazon, and RSI more than make up for it. Not to mention you're usually able to use the product earlier.

Indeed....$39 is a pittance to have the package. I have all them in a book case. THANKS.I found the link and sent them $39. 
I am trying to watch a movie and download on 20MPS service....LOL  The movie is more important.
 
Another $120 a year buys me 10MPS more....don't need it for everyday use. Buy the time I get it X3a will be out LOL

Ermm..., I just copy all the download files to a BD and burn it... Nice - cheap - work fine / last long time...

SuperG
Ermm..., I just copy all the download files to a BD and burn it... Nice - cheap - work fine / last long time...

You know I've tried that many times and years later when it comes time to re-open the program for some reason it won't open or install. I always have better luck with factory made disks.

djwayne
Yes all my high quality software comes in box sets. I'm willing to pay more to keep good track of them and be able to re-install the programs at a moments notice. Just think if the internet was down or there were problems with the company website,  how would you download them ??  You'd be out of business. What if you wanted to access an older program for some special plug-in or feature and that program was no longer available for download ?? I have a couple programs like that, that are obsolete but they run great and they are no longer available because a newer version came out that I don't want or don't like. I'm glad I have those programs on disks. There's a lot to be said for having factory made hard disks of older programs.
 
Who knows, with Gibson taking over, the price of the software might skyrocket, putting new versions out of my reach. I may have to keep this version of X3 running for a long long time.

All I will say my friend is back ups.

This along with 'which is the best DAW' (the best guitarist, football team etc) is a subjective matter. If you can justify the extra £££ (I'm British), can wait for delivery / be in for delivery, have shelf space in your studio - then by the box.
 
Otherwise just download and back up the media to your backup HDD. If we're all serious muso's we have a backup / spare HDD anyways, and it will install much quicker from HDD than a DVD.
 
And before I get slated - I am lucky to have fibre optic to 76MB per sec so can download pretty quickly (but that still only depends on HTTP / traffic calls to the Cake server) .
 
Secondly - If I had a box for every piece of music gear I owned my studio floor would cave in
 
It's an each to their own and is  why Cakewalk as well us other companies offer both options. But in this day an age it takes seconds to copy files of this size to alternate media. That said DVD's average 30 - 100 years, can't say the same for HDD's.
 
Oh no, now I'm questioning myself  ha ha.... not really
 
 

Yep, my factory disks are all nice and comfy in their factory boxes. My homemade disks are siting in cheap plastic cd cases, which tend to get mixed up with all the other clutter in my studio. They get labeled with magic marker and look like crapola. The good stuff sits in boxes on the top shelf.

Heh, me too.... Disks laying about..
 
After a time, I copy the software to disk and it goes in a CD case in the closet...

I don't have any history with Gibson, so I don't really have anything for or against. I am hopeful for this acquisition though, that of company of Gibson's resources can put some marketing muscle behind cakewalk. I see many people get overly confused about TASCAM - it was always the professional alter-brand of TEAC, the products were always manufactured by TEAC, thus TASCAM was more of a specialized marketing operation.
 
I couldn't afford a Gibson, for my first guitar, just recently purchased, I bought an ESP LTD Viper 330. I't a really sharp looking take on an Gibson SG. The Les Paul style just didn't grab me.

Well last night I tried updating my East West Symphonic Orchestra Gold program to the Play 4 engine...My whole program got corrupted and had to be re-installed. I'm doing that right now. Luckily I have the factory disks and I don't have to download anything...it just easier to re-install than to fix the problem. Also my Ivory program was on a drive that I didn't like and want to re-install that too. Here again I have the disks right here and it's not that big of a job to re-install.

SuperG
I couldn't afford a Gibson, for my first guitar, just recently purchased, I bought an ESP LTD Viper 330. I't a really sharp looking take on an Gibson SG. The Les Paul style just didn't grab me.

I'll take my personally customized cheap Mexican Fender Strat with Carvin pickups over an overpriced Les Paul anyday. 
 

I ordered the boxed set for X2.. and never even opened the shipping box..lol

And Whaddaya know ,,,they send me the X3 basic box Not the Producer Set. The red tape to correct this is amazing for a company that never copy protected their SW. They sent a document I had to sign to ensure I destroyed X3 package they sent (instead of  sending a return tag) I had to call back to get an Return Authorization for a product I "promised" to destroy on paper, send that back,  THEN pray they will send the correct version.........Hmmm I wonder if Gibson has taken over already, 
 
Being a Yamaha Specialist who uses Cakewalk over Cubase I think I should give Cubase another go round,,,I don;t think after 28 years of buying this SW things will get better under Gibson.
 
Downloading was an option but I ususaly get the boxes within a couple days and DID!! Only the serial numbers didn't match up with what I bought and thats when I knew there was a problem. 
 
And just as I predicted.....X3B is already out...

another +1 for the box .
I ordered my X3 Producer edition Monday afternoon and decided to wait until the box showed up ..
it gave me some time to read up on the forum and watch a few product videos .
my upgrade showed up today and i couldn't be happier ...
even on a brand new computer , it still took a few hours to install the program ....
then I went and downloaded the X3b update 
the  update took about a half hour to download ....436 MB ?
there is no way I would have felt comfortable trying to download the whole 4 disks worth of program and data....
Yeah , I like having the box ...it's worth it to me 
 
Kenny