I upgraded to 3.0 when it first came out and I'm still quite satisfied with it.
I started with 1.5, and upgraded to 2.0 when it first came out. I never could get 2.0 to run right..it kept dropping the playback cursor, so all of a sudden I wouldn't know where I was in the track..bummer..Adobe techsupport couldn't get it either..video drivers, etc..so I returned it.
So a couple months later I found an optimizer patch for my AMD chip and got all enthusiastic. Yep..bought 2.0 again..and it still didn't work..returned it again..dang.
So I went back to 1.5 and that was still as good as ever for my editing work, but when 3.0 came out..yeah..I bought it..
..and I loved it, with all its plusses and minuses. I would never go back.
My editing is faster..period.
..gotta love all the Izotope stuff..the noise reduction is the same as in 1.5 per a/b tests..and the guitar cabs are lame..but
the mastering suite is pretty good.
As for midi in 3.0, I never used it..never needed it, as I use Reason 4 for midi, and that works for my music. I am using
Propellerheads Record also, since ReWire in AA3 is less than impressive.
I do manage to crash it about once every month or two, which isn't bad considering I am using it 40+ hours a week..I'm running an Intel dual core now, so maybe that has something to do with it.
So for work or play, I wouldn't go back to 1.5, and I wouldn't touch 2.0 with a ten foot pole.