Hi Charles,

The .5 upgrades, like 2009.5 and 2010.5 are absolutely free, you only have to pay if you want to get the new RealTracks.

An upgrade from Band-in-a-Box 2009 (or 2009.5) only costs $69, and it would still work with the 39 sets of RealTracks and 20 sets of RealDrums that you bought last year. The other $210 would be buying you a new hard drive, with 62 more sets of RealTracks, and 9 more sets of RealDrums.

I hope this helps
Kent
PG Music