Knowing that you are a fan of Sonic Foundry products, let me cite the ACID Products as an example. Sonic initially released 3 versions of ACID (well, actually four if you count the free version). The free version that you could download off the Internet was limited to 8 tracks, and didn't use effects. Then there were the low-priced "Style" versions ... ACID Rock, DJ, Jazz, Latin, etc. The next step up was moderately-priced version that handled unlimited tracks (a la ACID Music); and a high-end version that pulled out all the stops with effects and busing (ACID Pro). Needless to say, it was a marketing nightmare ... and trying to explain the differences to newbie users was a task in itself. So, having tiered levels is not a good idea ... it seems to me that a modular, plug-in type approach would allow users to tap into ONLY the features they would want to use.