All products come with help... that is still the F1 key The PDF user guide is also available on the install disc for every product You clearly did not find this http://www.adobe.com/support/indesign/  which has a link on the left for "getting started and tutorials" and "Indesign CS5 Help" ... View more

>Any place selling academic versions with no requirement for credentials is not legit, IMO I work at a University, so buy education versions where the license allows personal use outside the education organization (pretty much all of them, as far as I know... but I do check first to make sure I can use the software at home) Your "IMO" is actually fact... an education reseller is supposed to require proof of school identity... looking around at Adobe's product or store information area will lead to a link where Adobe describes their requirements for someone to sell education versions of their software... ah... here are some links http://www.adobe.com/education/students/studentteacherlicensing/school_listing.html http://www.adobe.com/education/students/studentteacheredition/eligibility.html http://www.adobe.com/education/students/studentteacherlicensing/ The only two I have bought from DO require proof http://www.studica.com/ and https://www.academicsuperstore.com/ Even the bookstore on my campus requires a student or employee ID ... View more

One added comment... the MTS files produced by my Canon Vixia HFS100 do not seem to require copying an entire folder structure from memory card to hard drive (to include metadata?) I simply put the SD memory card in a card reader adapter and plug into a USB port, then copy individual files to the project folder on my data drive using Windows Explorer These MTS files import into PPro with everything that is needed to edit (well, all there is, is sound and video) I have read that other brands of camera do things differently, so you either need to use the software provided by the camera maker to transfer the information to a computer, or if you use Windows Explorer you have to copy the entire folder, not just individual files ... View more

Someplace there is a message thread titled (something like) "to raid, or not to raid" Using raid (mostly) depends on the type of file you will edit For AVCHD, which is "about" 11Gig per hour of video... I do not use raid For other files which are not as compressed, so the data being transferred from drive to memory is much more... a higher data rate is required For someone to try and answer your question, you need to post the file type(s) and codec(s) you will edit  ADDED Go here to read about RAID - http://forums.adobe.com/thread/525263 ... View more

A big part of your decision is based on the type of files you will edit DV AVI type 2 at about 13Gig per hour or AVCHD at about 11Gig per hour do not need raid... see My CS5/AVCHD 1st Impressions http://forums.adobe.com/thread/652694?tstart=0 Some other file types do need raid... but only you know what you will be editing... with AVCHD I have 3 hard drives and NO raid, and all works well ... View more

More on going to DVD from AVCHD... http://forums.adobe.com/thread/653789?tstart=0 ... View more