Background.  First, a little bit about PageMaker, so you'll know what you're looking for. It's been around nearly as long at Windows in various versions. Originally, it was made by Aldus. Then Aldus got bought by Adobe around the time of PageMaker 5.0. Totally new "full" versions of PageMaker have always been absurdly expensive - currently version 7.0 retails about $550. But when a new version comes out, there's also an "upgrade" offered - you can get an upgrade from version 6.5 for less than $100 in the US. The upgrades don't even require that a previous version be installed on your PC - but shortly after they start to install, the upgrade asks you to fill in a valid previous version serial number. For PageMaker 6.5 upgrades even serial numbers back to when PageMaker was owned by Aldus will work; the PageMaker 7.0 Upgrade want a serial number from version 4.0 to 6.5 Plus to work. You can buy the upgrades lots of places, like CompUSA, and also via the internet from PCWarehouse and similar retailers. They're supposed to ask you for your previous version serial number when you buy an upgrade. In addition to the full and upgrade versions of PageMaker, there are "Academic Edition" versions floating around - basically the full version, but you're supposed to be a student or teacher to buy them. These run about half what the regular full version does. You'll sometimes see them advertised as "A E" versions.

So How to Find a Copy. Here are the best alternatives I can suggest:

First Choice. Find a previous version of PageMaker, then buy an upgrade to version 6.5 or 7.0. Since PageMaker has been around forever, there are a LOT of previous versions floating around - many of them unused and unwanted. Check with Computer Clubs, any Graphic Designers you know, Classified Ads if you get a paper that carries computer stuff, and ask all the "nerds" you know. If you locate an unneeded copy you should be able to buy it for $50 or less, or maybe even talk the present owner out of it. Do read the info on the PageMaker Transfer webpage to see how to make your purchase "legal" as far as Adobe is concerned.

Second Choice. Buy a full version of version 6.5 (or maybe a full previous version) over the internet for less than normal retail. The best source for this I've found is the ebay auction site. They always seem to have various versions up for auction. It's hard to tell what stuff finally sells for on ebay, but it looks like around $200 - $250 for a full version. A lot of the copies I've seen advertised there are the Academic Edition (A E) versions. These will work fine, but unless you're a student or teacher, you won't be able to register them with Adobe, or use them to qualify for an "upgrade" to version 7.0 comes out. I've included a quote from an email I received from Adobe about A E versions being offered by on-line auctions below. Obviously, Adobe isn't doing anything to stop their sale, and you won't be visited by the "software police" if you buy one, but I'll leave the decision whether to buy an A E version up to you.

"There are several on-line auctions which are offering product which cannot be registered. These are sales that are in violation of Federal Copyright law. In order for a user to legally purchase an academic version, they must be a student or faculty member of an academic institution."