You haven't been watching the rules, have you. This year, disc brakes are UCI legal. And those 34mm tires you may be fond of? Now too wide.

That's more because of the bar end shifters on the Cross Check Complete than anything else.

Which leads to what I was going to post...

One difference that hasn't been discussed yet are shifters and double vs. triple.

In general, CX bikes will come with a compact or CX double and STI shifters. In general, touring bikes will come with a trekking triple and bar end shifters. There are exceptions either way--like the Cross Check--but it's the exceptions that prove the rule, right?

Forks are another area. CX bikes can come with a carbon fork. Hell, there are full carbon CX bikes. I've never seen a touring bike with anything but a steel fork, or frame for that matter.

Individual bike matters a great deal, but as a very general question I would say touring bikes will be the more versatile and easy to use commuters.

I commute on a road bike but I considered a CX bike because of a new path being completed that would help me avoid some busy freeway overpasses. The path is mostly gravel and will be good and loose for a couple of years before it is worn down and weathered enough to ride my road bike over. Right now the completed portion is round, loose pea sized gravel.

I landed on a road bike because the entry-level CX bikes at the local shop were $1500+ (not much selection either) and because I wanted to start doing 30+ mile rides regularly. But I will probably still give the path a try on the road bike once it's all connected :)

I went from a haxd-tail mountain-bike to a cros. My commute is 30 mi RT, 80% on limestone and gravel and hard-pack. I really like it. Have 700x32 Ritchie cross tires on it so don't have to worry about flats and they are comfortable. If you will go off the pavement some a carbon fork absorbs the bumps well. As mentioned make sure it can talke a 32 tire and has braze-ons for rack and the fork and rear can take fenders if you want them.

I think this post completely nails it. Both are going to be good for it, a Sports tourer might be the ideal answer. I spend a lot of my time commuting on a Raleigh International with fenders and I absolutely love it...the only down side is that it's geared a bit hard for a steep graded hilly area or for carrying much weight (52-42 and a 13-19 rear). I prefer commuting with my Raleigh Intl compared with my full tourer, a Koga-Miyata, for a few reasons...it's faster, it's more fun and responsive and most importantly...it's easier to take into the house!

My research revealed that touring bike makers are selling their touring bikes as CX bikes. They are trying to chase the market and since CX is the popular thing now, they just reconfigured their touring bikes. I bought a Bianchi Volpe, which is a touring bike. But Bianchi's web site markets it as a CX bike, and they show it in a CX configuration. I just ordered it in a touring bike configuration - added fenders and rear rack and put puncture resistant street tires on it.

Not exactly.

The Bianchi Volpe and the Specialized Tricross aren't the same as "standard" tourers (like the Trek 520 or the Cannondale T2). The Jamis Aurora is not marketed as a cross bike but it isn't quite a standard tourer either.

While a few companies are cross marketing their cross bikes as (light) touring capable, it isn't all of them.

It makes sense for a company to have and market a model that can be used for a wider range of purposes (cross, commuting, light touring) than a road "racing" bike is reasonable for. It's not like the cyclocross market is huge and uses beyond just cyclocross are easy to accomodate with a few braze ons!

The differences between "racing" bikes, sport tourers, cyclocross bikes, touring bikes aren't really huge and sit on a continuous spectrum of behavior.

+ 1,000 and then some.

The gearing, and the wheels,(as in # of spokes) are often differnt between the two types of bikes.

All in all; There is very little between the two, unless you plan on long extended tours.

Get the one that fits you, and that you like best. Then go ride and have fun.

So, again, the utility of the terms is suspect as they are inconsistently gloss over specifics with vague generalities -- there are as many exceptions to the rule as there are rules. Deconstruct your specific requirements. If you don't have specific requirements, then you're in the right ball park and go with the one you like after riding it and call it whatever you want to call it.