Reinstalling the re-purchased Diablo 2 + expansion on my PC, I thought to myself "why in the hell does this thing have to run off the HD and a disc? I mean it's got enough age that a true full install would take next to nothing up on a current hard drive.

Lo and behold, after updating it on battle.net:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Diablo II Version History
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Patch 1.12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Downloadable Installer Support

- If all required Diablo 2 '.MPQ' files are installed on the
  hard drive, the game will no longer require the CD to play.

   For users that originally performed a 'Full Installation'
   and wish to run without the CD, all '.MPQ' files should
   be copied from the Diablo 2 CDs to the Diablo 2 directory. 
   Most users will only need to copy D2Music.mpq from the
   Diablo 2 Play CD and/or D2xMusic.mpq from the Lord of
   Destruction CD.  Mac users will need to copy these music
   files and rename them to 'Diablo II Music' and
   'Diablo II Expansion Music' respectively.

So, let me get this straight: once I've installed the expansion, the only reason the disc was ever in there in the past while playing was for the music?

Talk about a long overdue change! Always found it annoying having to have the Lord of Destruction disc glued to my CD-ROM drive.

Diablo II Lords of Destruction is one of my fav albums! It's short, but simply beautiful. The soundtrack was given away as a promo, but I believe it's not terribly difficult to find.

cheers,

-avatar!

So what music from Diablo and Starcraft has Blizzard ever put onto an actual, physical OST release? I've never seen anything from them except digital downloads.

Diablo II OST (came with the Collector's Edition) -which is great, but LOD is even better!
Diablo II LOD OST (pre-order bonus) -simply fantastic!

Starcraft... not so sure about. There was at least one soundtrack released in Korea. Although I think it's not an OST. Yes, some good Starcraft music would be great. However, I highly encourage you to get a hold of the Diablo II soundtrack.

cheers,

-avatar!

I'd love a good quality, relatively cheap Diablo 2 Collector's Edition, but all the ones I find are retardedly expensive.