I downloaded HoMM5 from direct2drive- there's no 'leaflet' with a beta code for Kingdoms... Is there supposed to be?

Certainly not. The Key is supposed to be in a special Complete Edition of Heroes of Might and Magic filled with bonuses such as an artbook, t-shirt, poster, tarot cards and each of the previous games (Heroes of Might and Magic I to V) with their expansions.

Ah. The reason I asked is that the manual is in PDF (clearly photocopied). I was hoping I missed a PDF file somewhere.

This sounds broken, but oh well. I love the game, and can play that until kingdoms is online.