Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question.

If you pre-ordered with the CD option you're going to be shipped a retail box of the game. If we do a Collector's Edition version (in addition to a regular one), that's probably the one you'll get (I don't know 100% yet because it's still too soon to say for sure; I'll know next month.).

Retail copies of the game will not include copy protection or activation (same as GalCiv II). If you ever want updates for Sins, you will need to register your game with us using the included serial number; all updates will include online activation via Stardock Central (no standalone patches will be released). All download-only Sins purchases will include online activation, just as they do now.

If you want to archive your download version of Sins through Stardock Central and burn it to a CD, it's quite easy to do. Just right-click in SDC, select Archive. When it's done burn the archive file to a CD/DVD along with a copy of SDC and you're done. Then install SDC on the new machine and unarchive the file to reinstall. You'll need to re-activate which is done automatically if you're online, or via email (on another PC) if you're not.