Why Buy Boxed Software When You Can Download?

When it comes to buying most software, you typically have the option of either going to a brick and mortal store and purchasing it or ordering it online. Obviously, going to the store gives you immediate gratification over ordering online, however more and more popular software titles are being offered online with the buy and download option.

When you buy and download, you get even more immediate gratification as you don’t have to go to the store, you just start a download. Not only does this save you time and gas, but often times the price is lower. This makes sense for software vendors because there is virtually no cost for distributing software via download when compared to producing packaging and shipping boxed software. If you need the manuals, these are usually either included with the download or are readily available on the vendor’s site. Additionally, you can burn the download to a CD or DVD to have a backup.

So the next time you purchase software see if immediate download is an option. Not only might it save you some money, but it is environmentally friendly as well.

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http://www.charljoubert.co.za charlJoubert
Don’t you mean Brick and Mortar? I’m not trying to be the word police or anything I was just wondering if you were trying to make a joke or not?

Jason Faulkner
Mortar, yes.

Joe Varga
It’s not brick and mortal, it’s brick and mortar
Steve Stone
I recently downloaded a 3gb upgrade to Pinnacle Studio 12, plus a 200+ mb update to the 3gb upgrade. The price was right. I needed the upgrade to complete some volunteer work. I won’t be doing anything like this in 2009 as my ISP implements a 5gb monthly cap.
Richard V
Instant gratification downloading a purchased program is fine so long as you keep the links to download it again in a note book. While it may take longer or cost a bit more, when your computer deletes the downloaded file or your HD dies, The disk from the Manufacturer allow re installation rather than going to the supplier and asking for a new download (assuming you have the above mentioned details).