I just got the gold version in the mail today. While its a little nicer than the prior version I have to say it was not worth the "premium" price. For instance the videos are still relatively small, and while they can be resized this affects the quality a lot.

The navigation isn't a lot better either. For instance if you look up two birds that are not next to each other in the list you can't toggle back and forth between (like with a web page). It seems like this is intended to work as there are now tabs across the top, but I haven't been able to add a new tab (admittedly I haven't read any directions, but it really should be intuitive).

On the bright side I like being able to add comments and images/videos. This has become much easier. And the quiz section is cool. There are a lot of premade categories to look through (ducks, etc.) and it even has videos (very cool!).

Hopefully as I continue to explore I'll gain a better appreciation of why this program has such a high price.

You can now drag and drop the corners of most screens, such as the videos to enlarge them. Depending on your computer setting, the image quality on the new videos should be fine if you double the size -- beyond that they may get fuzzy on some computers.

The ability to look at many birds and jump between them is a feature that is in v3.9 as well as the Gold edition. Just click "Windows" in the Menu bar. You can add as many tabs as you like and then select a different bird for each tab. This feature was added in July 2007. (If all else fails, read the instructions)

Actually, we spent a LOT of time rewriting the Help Manual for v3.9.6 and the Gold edition. Things are now easier to find.

The secondary view in Photo Gallery and the new maps in the Gold version are big inprovements, I think. But my favorite addition in the Gold version is the ability to import your own media and the ability to make quizzes on foreign birds, butterflies or anything else!