I just received an email back from Kirk. Looks like Edition 5 is $381 for the Full Samples or $315 for the Lite samples. That's 75GB vs. 10 GB in size difference.
 
Which would you go for? (be nice)

I went for the full samples edition 5 since I decided I wanted all and got 45% off. If I wanted to save money, I'd probably look at going for full samples, but a lesser edition. I don't use most of the advanced features for strings. Edition 3 seems to have everything I want realistically.
 
However, I have a beastly computer (i7-5930k, 32GB RAM, lots o' SSDs) so big samples aren't an issue. If I had a more modest system, I might think about the light samples just so it didn't hit the computer so hard. Bigger samples will need more RAM, faster disk, and probably more CPU. In that case I might look at edition 3 or 4 of light samples.
 
You can get the full price list here and then you just take whatever discount you get off those. If your discount is for being a repeat customer, it applies to anything. If it is the discount for the preorder, then it only applies to full samples edition 5.
 
I can't say for sure on full vs lite since I don't know what is changed. I can see a lot of different ways he might cut the samples down, some which would matter more to me than others.
 

bapu
I have to imagine that since I own all Kirk's stuff, CS3 would be mine for 50% off.

 
Have to add up how much you spent. I own all his stuff, but I got it all on sale so I spent about $600, which is enough for 45% but not 50%. No complaints though :D.

I got it wrong above. It was $315 for Edition 5 Full Samples. I bought it. Happy New Year!
 
I hope I am not going to start the New Year out on a spending spree...
 

This is all much too complicated. 
 
It's bad enough that CS2 came with four separate versions bundled. I'd be happy with just 4 nki's named "violin", "viola", "cello" and "bass". But no, I have no less than 40 instruments with "violin" in the name, and over 2,000 (!) nki's altogether.
 
Not complaining, mind you. It'll occupy my rainy days for many months to come. But it is terribly complicated. Makes me nostalgic for ROMpler synths with a single patch called "Strings".

Ya Kirk does go a little overboard. However, I loves the sound. Better than EastWest in my opinion and I don't have to deal with Play so win/win :D.
 
The simplicity of the rompler thing is why Roland can still sell their Integra-7 for $2000 to some people. There is something to be said for a device that has a bunch of patches, nicely categorized, that just work, no loading, no versions, etc. Not $2000 nice, at least for me, but I can understand. I still have my SD-20.

Kirk Hunter just sent out an instruction guide which clarifies lite vs full samples:
 
Lite samples have samples for the 4 solo players only. The rest of the ensemble is just those samples used over again, but with minor tuning/phasing differences introduced to make it sound like more instruments.
 
Full samples have individual samples for each and every instrument.
 
So I imagine full samples will sound slightly more realistic, though it'll probably be minor. Also it would give a bit more customization over the sound in terms of deactivating individual chairs.