Lawrence,

There are about 80,000 files in the Band-in-a-Box UltraPak. It is inevitable that a few will need patching, or be missing. In this case, there are 2 RealTracks that are about a week late, and so will be posted online in a free patch update.

As you mentioned, you haven't even received the hard drive version yet, so it is possible that the online patch will appear **before** you get the physical copy. In this case, wait until the hard drive arrives, and then apply the patch.

The patch update can be applied directly to the hard drive (e.g. if your hard drive is f:\, just point to the f:\bb directory on the hard drive), which makes your hard drive fully up to date. Note that the hard drive is then identical to what it should be, and can be used as a backup etc. Future patches should also be applied like that, to keep your backup copy up to date.

As you know, Windows, Apple and most other software companies update their software with online (free) patches. How often do you boot iTunes, to be told that "important patch must be applied etc."

We believe that most people prefer to get 99.9% of a big product like this, and just apply a patch when available to top it up to 100%. For example, if we discover that one of the demos on MIDI "techno" styles set 79 has the wrong key signature, would you prefer that we hold your order until that is fixed, or ship as-is, and put up a patch?
Maintaining a product with 80,000 files is an ongoing process, so regular patches throughout the year are to be expected.

Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.