Hello, Yes it looks like manufacturer now wants to guarantee the DRB lll Emulator works, so they are selling the more expensive unit. Making the DRB lll Emulator work with the cheaper Micropod 2 was something that was never officially recommended. Although many of us have followed the "unofficial hacks" and it seems to work fine. Perhaps the emulator software isn't provided anymore by rhe manufacturer with the Micropod 2. If anyone finds themself with that problem I will be happy to send them a copy of the original disk with the DRB lll Emulator software for free, for evaluation purposes of course. Just PM me. Thank you for keeping the Crossfire dream alive. John