We've just rolled out a new way to receive any Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase (either First-time or Upgrade)... Now you can choose to have your installation files shipped to you on a USB Flash Drive instead of DVDs!

That's right.... for just $10 more, you'll receive a 32 GB USB Flash Drive that conveniently includes all the installation files for your purchase - we'll even throw in a free Band-in-a-Box® keychain with your Flash Drive order!



When placing your order online, the shopping cart will prompt you to select this option before you enter your payment information. Ordering over the phone? Just mention this preferred method for delivery type!

Well done guys!

Wow this is neat.

PS: I love this time of year: New BIAB, lots of activity in the forum. Lots to read.

DE

Callie, this is a good service.

I'm curious, since the announcement was careful to emphasize installation files, whether anyone should attempt to run BIAB from the flash drive like we could from the external USB drive? In some experiments a year or two ago, several of us determined it wasn't working well enough to do that. In giving advice on the forum, I don't want to over-sell.

This is an alternative way to distribute the installation files, it's not a "pre-installed" version of Band-in-a-Box like the Ultra or EverythingPAK hard drive. Compared to DVD's though, it is much more convenient and fast to install, and of course you're free to use the flash drive however you want.

Thanks Andrew. This makes sense. Again, this will be a welcome new service.

))) USB Flash Drive instead of DVDs!

Right, these days more and more PC setups don't have a DVD, so this alternative is the best solution there. Right now, it's 2:1 sales DVD:USBFlashDrive so DVD is still more commonly requested.

In theory though, presumably you could run BIAB from a USB3 thumb drive if it was 128 Gb? I have all my realtracks on a USB3 drive on my tablet and it works fine.

Yeah, some of us old fogies still have DVD drives. But more and more laptops, and especially more MACs, simply don't have them anymore. (It'd be nice if they upped the number of USB ports, but that's another issue.) So this makes way sense.

Peter, I wonder... what would be the future of BIAB in the Cloud? Could you store the RealTracks and the generating software in a central cloud server, and BIAB basically pings that with the chords and style to generate tracks? In a couple of years, you may never have to distribute a hard drive again....

I like the CLOUD idea ... might be something worth looking into.

+1, Tom!

I read on the web site that the USB flash drive will install on the computer, but I have my files on a USB drive.

Will I have a choice to install to the USB drive or does it only install on the computer <ie> drive C.

Thanks

DE

Do you ship it with a declared value on the package so I have to pay import Duties and Taxes in the UK?
I've been hit hard in the past buying the hard drive version and was going to opt for download only, but this looks like a better bet.

John

Edit: Just tried to place upgrade order and no option appeared for the USB flash drive.

Import Duties and Taxes are waived in Germany, iff the declared value is less than 22 EUR.

I just bought a nearly new Zoom Q8 video camera on EBay as they are cheaper in the US, although available in Hong Kong. No taxes or duties here, but this is a new one on me:

"We are writing to inform you that your GSP order is currently under review for potential prohibited items and may experience a delay of 3-5 business days."

Never would have expected that!

That is so cool - on my holiday wishlist - Want one!

Anyone at PG??? I'm waiting to buy my upgrade and I'd like the USB Flash Drive option. It is NOT offered to me at checkout.

Hi John. Maybe try the online chat with Support?

The flash drive option will not be offered if you have an UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition in your cart, since these ship on a portable hard drive.

We declare full value on all international courier shipments.

If you're still having trouble placing the order, please contact us back.

Thanks,
Callie

That's it, I wanted the UltraPlusPAK... never mind.

I'll have to try the download route this year. In previous years I've been hit with c.$80 of inbound Duties, Taxes and 'admin charges' (for the D&Ts) for the hard dive, taking an annual upgrade and a PlusPak to $280 or so.

Maybe next year we'll be well on our way out of the EU and mended our trading fences with the Commonwealth countries, including a free trade agreement with Canada!


John

Its only a 10gb download John if you have last years full ultra pak.

With a well known UK isp on fibre had downloaded and installed no prob within a very short time.

Though with sterling so low I think it cost me £10 more this year to buy the plus pak at $99 which takes me up to date, skipped the 49 bonus pak, all worked out for less than £80

Install Free Download Manager which helps to keep the downloads on track.

Musiclover

Hi,

Any UK members ordered upgrades on USB flash drives yet and can give an idea of what extra UK customs payment might be on the flash drive?

Hoping it won't be as bad as the hard drive...... UK customs supplementary £44

Hi Kev,

although I'm not in UK but in Italy, I can tell you that the packages that I usually order (the upgrade DVDs and a hard copy of the user manual), every year it comes WITHOUT any custom fees of any sort... Maybe because it's a simple envelope with some stamps on it...

And so speaking, I doubt that any envelope with a USB stick inside (that is, arguably it will be so much smaller than the envelope with the DVDs) will be subject to any custom fees at all...

So... Good luck!

Merry Christmas to all fellow BIAB users!

Antonio from Italy

Hi Antonio,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I certainly hope that you are right! I have ordered small items like new flash drives from China in the past and they have arrived with no extra UK charges but not sure whether the BIAB update content might make a difference.

Hope you have a great Christmas too Antonio!

Regards

Kev.

I ordered the USB Flash drive and customs wanted to charge me £44.01 for it as PG have to say the value is $129 as the software is on the stick. I refused delivery and i'm down $10.00 plus shipping. My advice buy a stick and do it yourself. That is unless you can afford to pay the extra £44.01 for it.

Thanks Bvtch. Not really what I wanted to hear as the flash drive is probably on it's way by now

Hopefully you'll get lucky... But I was'nt impressed when i got the email from UPS. And promptly told them to return it. Shame really, there really should be a law that prohibits companies such as PG having to add the whole value to something like a data stick because it contains the software (unless it is purchased this way).

Yes.....Whereas I don't blame PG in any way. I can understand the Customs charge on the hard drive with 90GB+ of full version software program to some extent, but when it's just an upgrade back-up and extra Realtracks which fit very comfortably on a 32GB flash drive in a small jiffy bag already charged at $10 (+ $20 postage) then get stung for £44 Sterling (about $55 US) retrospective charge then the bargain flash drive back up becomes an expensive accessory.

Thanks for the info anyway. I guess I'll have to see what happens but haven't a lot of hope in view of your experience Bvtch. Think I'll have to forgo the flash drives in future.

I bought a 256G flash drive off Amazon (SanDisk Ultra 256GB Flash SDCZ48 256G for $60) and then copied all 100,000+ 100G install files, user tracks, etc. for the EverythingPAK from the hard drive to the flash drive.

I then timed the loading of BIAB on the hard drive versus the flash drive. It came up a few seconds faster on the flash drive. Everything is running perfectly. It did take several hours to copy everything over, but once it finished, all is well.

That's great. I'm curious, is that a USB 3.0 flash drive?

Amazon sells both 2.0 $57.49 and 3.0 $59.65.

Charlie

Oh yes, but I wanted to know which he is using, so we can recommend it to others with confidence. When some of us (including PG Music, as I recall) tested using USB flash drives over a year ago, we had mixed results.

Sorry, but if BiaB went to Cloud only I guess I would not own it. My studio systems stays off any type of network, even my home network, period. I got burned years ago, and never again for me.

That would be a great idea. You could bridge that gap between Mac and PC and users could share instrument tracks right from there.