yeah, I have tired it with the dashes, without them, with spaces, without, caps, no caps. Damn thing just won't work. And it is a 20 alpha-numeric code, so that isn't it either. Unfortunately I bought it over the web from Amazon.com. So, I am not too sure what its return policy is on opened software, not to mention that its customer support people would be unlikely to be able to understand or care about a CD key issue that is the fault of some other company. They do not guarantee your purchase in any way except that you will get it. So kind of stuck until Taldren or Interplay can give me a solution. But, thanks anyway.