Maybe Autodesk should give you a bunch of demo CDs when they ship you the copy of MAX. They could make the demos the same except not allow you to save or render or some other debilitating feature that would allow you to learn but not actually produce something. Just a thought, because they will have a demo CD and you can reserve a copy of it at
http://www.discreet.com/products/3dsmax/
(Click on order a demo cd)
Its not actually out yet but as it says on the top of the page it will be out later this summer.
Hope this helps, because I know how tempting it can be to go the easy route and find it pirated. Most of the time, however, the joke is on the guy who got the pirated version cuz most of them don't work that well. I, uh, heard that from a friend.