I paid $10 to get version 1 of this LiveCD (Studio-to-go) some time ago (now v2 is out). I recommend you take a look. [I just learned that the people behind this (not free) distro contribute significantly to rosegarden.]
They have a free demo version in addition to the paid version.
BTW, I am guessing that their secret sauce non-FLOSS stuff (and why you pay) has to do with the exact way they put the distro together and all the polishing touches they added. It is possible that rosegarden is modified and not licensed as FLOSS (GPL?). It's also possible they have proprietary documentation or plugins or something. The demo is a healthy number of megabytes (but less than 100) smaller than the pay version which now seems to cost much more than $10.
http://tinyurl.com/2n55vo ( http://www.studio-to-go. com/index.php?option= com_content&task=view&id =46&Itemid=79#stglic) OK. seems that basically the nonfree version includes documentation and drivers that aren't FLOSS. They do provide a link to all the packages but then you already knew you could get the apps elsewhere. See if the demo disk works for you. You might think the pay version to be worth the risk, as it seems to include a lot of additional useful stuff (worth it for someone with a serious hobby perhaps).
*********** How exactly is Studio to Go! licensed?
Studio to Go! does not come with an End-User License Agreement. We believe the situation is simple and ethical: packages are either provided under an open-source license, or else normal copyright law applies.
The vast majority of the software and other packages included in Studio to Go! are provided under the GNU General Public License and other open-source licenses exactly as you would expect. Many packages have been enhanced by Fervent Software, but the licensing remains GPL and the modified source remains available. Studio to Go! is also based on a Debian core and is compatible with Debian GNU/Linux packages.
However, it is not legal to redistribute Studio to Go! as a single whole. Tutorial, documentation and demo material developed by Fervent for use in Studio to Go! are provided under normal copyright law with no further license provision, except that we explicitly allow you to install it on a computer. (This means you do actually own your own copy, unlike much proprietary software in which even the documentation is only licensed to you. But copyright restricts what you can legally do with it, just as it does for books and music.)
Studio to Go! also necessarily includes material that is not open-source for reasons outside Fervent's control. This includes the VST plugin adapter technology and sample plugins, binary driver firmware and so on. Do you comply with the GPL?
