Hi
I have just bought BIAB pro and really like it. I would like to upgrade to the Ultra version and understand that the upgrade price is usually on sale around December.
My question is how much is it usualy reduced? Is it worth me waiting until December?

Thank you

DangerousMike,

Welcome to Band-in-a-Box and to the forum!

December is traditionally when the new edition of the Band-in-a-Box for Windows packages are introduced. Likewise June is normally when the new edition of the Band-in-a-Box for Mac packages are released. However PG Music released this years Mac edition early.

Like many software companies PG Music offers a discount when new product is released. The amount of the discount differs slightly depending on if your upgrading packages in addition to updating the programs. For example you're likely to receive more of a discount percentage wise if upgrading from Pro PAK to Audiophile than if you're upgrading from Pro PAK to Pro PAK. The amount of the discount differs each year because the amount of content offered in each package differs each year. As an example most of the time PG Music releases about 100 new RealTracks but last year they released more than 200.

Each year is different. Understand that THIS year offers unique challenges for a very small business so there is no way for any of us to have any idea what's going to happen next release. With that said my guess is the new release discount will vary from 35 to 50 percent of retail. But there is more to the story!

PG Music also releases special, bonus content for sale during each new product release. The content maybe additional programs, unreleased RealTracks or MidiSuperTracks or whatever. The catch is the bonus content is for sale at the same time as the new release discount. Once package prices return to normal the bonus content is no longer available. Let me tell you the bonus content is hard to refuse. There are normally multiple bonus packages and each one brings in additional money.

I started out with the Pro PAK and am glad I did. The limited content included with the Pro PAK forced me to concentrate on learning terminology, features, the manual and gaining proficiency. Band-in-a-Box can help you put together your first acceptable song in a short time. But, like any good program it can do much, much more if you take time to learn its capability.

Terrific answer from Jim. I’ll just add that the speedy release of the Mac version this year should become the norm, as they are now using a common code base. To be more specific, are you using the Windows or Mac version?

And, welcome.