Soon, there will be a new way to buy your software. It's called SoftwareToGo (www.softwaretogo.com), and it could make finding an obscure software title at your corner RadioShack as convenient as asking for fries at a drive-in window.

Simple shelf space constrains the number of software packages retailers can display in their stores, says Harold Schifman, the vice president of sales and marketing at Protocall, the maker of SoftwareToGo. As a result, customers find it difficult to locate shrink-wrapped software that doesn't lie among the top-selling titles.

And downloading software from the Internet, when the option is available, can often take hours with a slow modem connection, says Schifman.

In contrast, SoftwareToGo functions like an ATM for software, combining the reassuring tangibility of your neighborhood computer store with the instant availability of the Net. It's called "burn-to-order," and it's poised to become as viable a channel for software distribution as traditional retail, online stores, or Internet downloads.

Using a touch-screen SoftwareToGo booth at a local store, customers preview screenshots and demos from among thousands of titles and select the software they want. Within a few minutes, their software selection is authorized, decrypted for security, and then "burned" on to a CD at the store. A cover for their CD case is laser printed with the manufacturer's original color artwork at the same time.

With burn-to-order, you always buy the latest, debugged version of the software, and electronic manuals are included on the CD.

Several of the country's software bigwigs have signed on to distribute their titles at SoftwareToGo booths. They include Symantec, publisher of Norton Utilities and other Internet and PC security applications; Intuit, maker of Quicken and Quickbooks; Peachtree, of the famous accounting software; Network Associates, publisher of Dr. Solomon's Virex suite; and Macmillan Software, publisher of The Complete Idiot's Guide series. Talks with Microsoft have been under way for some time now, say Protocall executives, although they would not reveal any details.

As the number of participating software publishers increases, SoftwareToGo booths are being rolled out at several chain stores in the country. Select Office Depot locations across the country have installed the system, and RadioShack plans to debut it at 10 Pennsylvania store locations in the next two months. The WIZ and Sears stores will follow soon.