No experience with distributors, but I use the subscription center. Non-Subscription.have to pay full price every year. With subscription - you log into your Subscription Account and you can download the software once it is released. You don't want to be the only person on a project using an older version. If you aren't on subscription, you have to pay full price every year.and with Revit not being a backwards compatible program (you can go 2014 to 2015, but not 2015 to 2014), I would be on subscription. Also will allow you to get product enhancements, like Revit Architecture 2015 R2 - which are some added stability and functionality. With Subscription, you will get 2016 when it comes out.as 2017, 2018, 2019.etc. Subscription is where you pay for the software full price first and then pay a yearly fee to keep your software current. If you are looking for more resources for families - check with manufacturers, Autodesk Seek and Revit City (user generated content) Don't mix educational and commercially licensed software.

Student version is full blown Revit, but all files are tagged as educational.

Autodesk revit 2015 r2 download