Tim Doerr: That'd be a great experiment, but you pretty much pay by the inch in retail, so it'd never fly 8). dave: You seem to have missed the point here - the software IS on the CD. If the CD is currently up-to-date, the user just pulls the data right from the CD, no downloading needed. If no internet connection is found, then again, the software is just pulled from the CD. If the version on the CD is out of date, then the NEWEST version is downloaded, but the user never sees this. Either way, it's all transparent, so from the user's perspective, he's just installing software off a CD. The point is to get the software to the user as easily as possible. Handing him a CD means he doesn't need to go to our site, find the download, and then pull it down. Pete: Using this for a software disk image is an interesting idea, though it's not one we're currently doing. Posting a new version can be a bit of work, but it's rare and not that difficult. I think Sparkle/in-app updating is more a powerful tool for keeping users up to date. Phillip, Michael: Indeed, the numbers aren't perfect. But no internet, and Little Snitch, are unlikely to affect the numbers much - even a 7% response rate isn't much higher than 5.8%. Ken Humbard: Glad to hear it - let us know how it works out. Again, no internet connection is required. If one is available, then it's used to get the very latest version, but otherwise, the version on the CD is used. As for "how not to release software", I'd have to disagree. We of course have internet downloads, and that's how tens of thousands of users get our software, but in an environment like Macworld, I think a disc is more effective than merely saying "Head to our website". Henrik N: I'd wager most people don't think that way, particularly when we say "The newest version is always right here on the CD." RA Fan: If that was 5.8% sales, then sure, it'd be great. But it's just 5.8% that popped the CD into their Macs - beyond that, who knows? Even if it is wildly successful, as far as costs of exhibiting and creating the package go, it's not exactly uplifting. Whether that speaks to the efficacy of the LiveDisc or direct marketing in general is a different debate 8). Nick: Once again, as noted, this was for use at the Macworld trade show. The internet doesn't really help us there. With this disc, we had a flyer/software/web URL, all in one place, to give to visitors. I'm not wild about the waste from producing CDs, but we already do near 100% of our distribution virtually - this is simply a one-off sort of thing, for Macworld. It's certainly not convoluted as far as the user experience goes.