Maybe I can help with the Madcam questions. I am one of the US beta testers, resellers and help with support.
1. Have any of you have purchased any training materials for rhino, books, videos etc, and which ones you like.
I haven't bought any training materials, but I have paid for some individual training.2. Attended a rhino training seminar ( again they offer a nice student discount)
The very best training you can get are the 2-3 day schools, but the other really good option is to do the tutorials and post on the Rhino User Group3. Used madcam to post code and mill parts, and how satisfied you were with it
I have used Madcam exclusively for 4 years and have no plans to ever use any other cam software. I have milled parts in 3d, 2d, engraved and inlay. I have never had a problem with the quality of the parts or the code from Madcam. On the other hand, I find the bugs way before you do!!! If I can answer any specific questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Now to address Bob's statement on pricing. Bob, I do agree with you. I agreed with you then too! Joakim was getting advice from his only US reseller here in the US, and in my opinion gave bad advice. Since that time, I have convinced Joakim to introduce an "entry level" seat of Madcam. It is 3 axis only and does not contain all of the machining strategies, but I can promise you it will do everything a luither will need. I haven't looked in a few weeks, but I think the price is $695 US. Madcam also offers a student version but I don't deal with that too much.
The beauty of Madcam is that it sits inside Rhino and functions just like it is part of Rhino, does not slow it down and you can make changes in Rhino as you are using Madcam.
I hope this info helps, and again, let me know if I can help.
Mike