Purchasing software via download?

[jamesward93]

I am going to upgrade my photoshop to cs3, i noticed that this can be done direct from Adobe's website and downloaded immediately. For someone as impatient as me, i like the idea of this. Has anyone used this method before? Apart from not having the retail packaging and disc, are there any other 'down' sides to buying software this way?

 

[dazzajl]

Apart from not having the retail packaging and disc, are there any other 'down' sides to buying software this way?

Nope.

It would be a good idea to burn a copy of the downloaded file to CD before extracting it of course but you should be off and running in minutes.

 

[Matt Charlton]

I've bought plenty of software online - you get it instantly and usually get emailed the code. Just keep a copy of the code somewhere safe/all your important emails together and you'll be fine. Done this with things like Nero, little shareware utils and other bits and bobs.

Some of the stores store your purchased software and keycodes in your account online too.

 

[KayJay]

Online distrbution of software is fast becoming the norm. Steam which is used to distribute gaming software on PC has over 14 million user accounts.

 

[pxl8]

I'm sure I read something yesterday about CS3 not being quite an instant download and that it can take a few hours for the download link to be emailed across...