Features

• Learn chord strumming, playing melodies, and fingerpicking
• 160+ comprehensive lessons, plus new modern rock chapter
• 50+ videos including split-screens and close-ups of both hands
• 70+ songs; artists include Bob Dylan, Steve Miller, and more
• Automatic tuner, metronome, and 250-chord dictionary

Reviews (1)

A must have for beginner guitar players!!
If you are a beginner guitar player and are frustrated with your lack of progression, this product is a must have. It is a progressive program, starting with the basics such as; tuning a guitar, replacing strings on a guitar, and even how to hold the guitar. The lessons then move into your first couple of chords and basic folk songs which use those chords. Learning is by repitition and continually building on what you've already learned. You may feel a little silly playing songs like "She'll be comin' around the mountain" and "Oh-suzanna" but you'll soon see the benefit of these simple songs when you can suddenly make smooth chord transitions, which will of course help you later with the more complex lessons and songs. The best thing I've found about this program is that you move at your own pace. If you're having problems with a particular lesson or a certain chord transition, you can continue working on it until you're ready to move on. You can even go back and review any lesson you want. This is especially handy if you've had a break between practice sessions and it's been a while since you picked up your guitar. Also, after each chapter, the program gives you a list of popular songs which you should be capable of playing using the chords and techniques you've learned up to that point in the lessons. The program also has a very useful chord dictionary, metronome, and animated fretboard to follow along with during a song. Even if you don't even know what a fretboard is... even if you don't know a single chord... if you just picked up a guitar for your first time and haven't the slightest idea where to start...THIS PROGRAM WILL HELP!!! ... Read more

Features

• Create unique Hallmark cards for any occasion
• Includes more than 5,400 Hallmark cards and projects
• Also includes more than 1,000 new designs and more than 10,000 exclusive clip art images
• Digital Editor feature lets you personalize cards with your digital photos
• Event Planner feature keeps track of birthdays and anniversaries

Reviews (1)

Possible Vaporware
With the demise of the Card Studio line this product may never be released. ... Read more

Features

• Write like a professional with Word 2002
• Get up and go with Streets & Trips 2005
• Edit and organize your photos with Picture It! Premium 10
• Explore the world with Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005
• Get those finances in order with Money Standard 2005

Features

• Updated maps showing all highways, local routes, borders and exits in the U.S.
• Instant routing finds the fastest way to get to any destination
• Powerful search engine with multile zoom levels, for close-up looks at the roads you'll travel
• Millions of searchable points of interest -- from the newest restaurants to the closest gas stations
• Add your own notes and recommendations to maps

Features

• Searches Ancestry.com automatically to find your ancestors
• Compare new findings with your own data side-by-side
• Incorporate new information easily with the new Web Merge Wizard
• Easily navigate through generations in the new Pedigree View
• Quickly jump to people in your tree with bookmarks

Features

• Getting Started tutorial; 30+ videos for step-by-step instructions
• Software for home remodeling, design, landscaping, and decking projects
• 500 sample home plans; House Wizard for a customized design
• Library of over 3,000 items to create a 3D Model in minutes
• Automatically generate a materials list for project-cost estimating

Reviews (2)

Finally!
I've tried many home design programs over the last couple of years and have always been disappointed.I've downloaded many free trial versions and purchased a couple.My latest, Punch Super Home Suite, was OK for 2D stuff but the 3D was impossible and frustrating.I took advantage of their money back guarantee!

I just purchased Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer for $39.00 from a local retailer last week.While I still have lots to learn I love it!I'm amazed at the sophistication for the price.I was VERY leery of buying this based on only one 5 star rating but I did.Well now there are two 5 star ratings so hopefully this will help others.

There are still some things that are "tricky" to construct but I haven't found anything I couldn't create yet and I discover more useful features every time I use it.The training videos are a great way to learn the software quickly and it comes with a hard copy manual, which is getting less common these days.If you are looking for an inexpensive but powerful design program definitely try this one!

AWESOME! FANTASTICPROGRAM.......
Chief Architect tops them all! This program is great. It has a easy userface like 3D Home Architect version 4.0! This program is definitely worth the $ 59.00 I paid for it. Eventually I will upgrade to the next version. This version also offers designing tutorials. And the backdrops are really nice. BUY IT!!!! I have tried soooo many Home design programs and this is the BEST!!! I WOULD GIVE IT 10 STARS BUT THEY ONLY ALLOW UP TO 5!!! ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Sorry... Final Draft is better... NOT Buggy
I tried this and Final Draft side by side while evaluating what to buy. Final Draft is just less buggy and more professional.

Movie Magic pops the cursor around the screen after an operation. It also has these windows 3.1 looking interface windows. The speech system is too dependent on windows and not self contained like Final Draft.

True, there is more customization with Movie Magic... but I like Final Draft MUCH better. Run them next to each other and u will see.

Mike

Professional's tool
I am both a working screenwriter and script supervisor. I use Movie Magic Screenwriter for both those jobs. Its an excellent, straight-forward, and cleanly built program for formating and writing professionally styled scripts.

Compared to Final Draft Movie Magic's formatting simply looks cleaner - with more accurate and useful spacing, sluglines, and transitions - and is far easier to use. Now this doesn't mean it will teach you how to write or what to write, but it does mean what you do write will at least look good.

Minor problems I've had and things that could change for the better...Screenwriter is a tad unstable with Windows XP and occasionally crashes at start-up (although I have yet to lose a file because of that). Some of the production tools - like scene numbering and CONTINUEDs - are buried deep in the program and not the least bit easy to get to. Also they still have annoying and non-standard formatting in there sluglines and transitions. For instance you can select Continuous and Moments Later for a time portion of your slugline. Any oen that works in production knows that there is no Continuous or Moments Later. Simply either DAY or NIGHT. For transitions they still have CUT TO which is no longer used.

Aside from those minor things Movie Magic is an excellent script writing program.

not as easy as they make it sound!
I am just getting started using the program so I can not yet judge the overall product. I can tell you that the product description said: just load the software and you will be writing scripts in minutes regardless if you are a first timer or a pro.

That is a stretch. I had to get a tech guy to load the program and then it really is not walking me through the "how to" part of script writing.

Just be prepared to spend some time at the beginning.

Good script writing software.
For years, I used to use Microsoft Word to develop all of my scripts in. While it could be done, it wasn't the best nor the easiest way to do it. I had always put off buying specialized software to do something that but the problem is that I spent more time formatting and paginating my scripts than I did writing.

Finally, I decided to break down and buy scripting software. But before deciding on which one to buy I did a little research on the titles that were currently available. I wanted to make sure I got the best product for the right price. What ultimatly sold me on Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 was that both the Writers' Guild of America and Project Greenlight both recommend this software.

One of the claims made by the software company is the ability to get up and running right out of the box. I found this to be--for the most part--true. Upon receiving my copy, I was entering my first script in about 30 minutes (including installation time). There are some things that you may need to know, but the software company was intuitive enough to add booklets that contain this information in it so that you didn't have to hunt through the manual.

There are also a nice collection of templates included with the software that allows you to write for both movie and television (like I do). The templates for the TV shows comes in many different flavors (Sci-fi, sit-coms, dramas, etc.) and are even set up in the format used by several different shows.

What I especially appreciated was the fact that Screenwriter 2000 kept track of the names of my characters. I used to have to do this on scratch pads and Post-It notes or I would have to read back in the script to find a name. In Screenwriter 2000, I can call up a list of names to find the one I'm looking for. I'm able to do the same thing with scene heading, so I can keep my scenes in a consistant format.

Since I post some of my work on Zoetrope.com for review by other writers, the fact that I can create an Adobe file (.pdf format) was also of importance to me. While I could use a translation program to turn my Word document into an Adobe file, such translators have their problem and don't always retain the format that you created. With Screenwriter 2000, my Adobe documents come out looking the same as the original file. But this feature wasn't as intuitive as I had thought it would be. I was expecting this feature to be a part of the file exporting system. Instead, it's part of the print function. (You "print" a .pdf file.)

While there are a lot of pros about the software, there were also several cons, which is why I only rated it four stars. One is that this software is set up to installed on both the Mac and the PC from the same box. Becuase of that, they designed the user manual to address both opperating systems by printing it as a flip book. (One side has the instructions for the PC--flip the book over--the other side has the instructions for the Mac.) This means that the index is in the center. If you use an index as often as I do, plan on placing a bookmark there.

Another problem is that not all of the features available to the PC user is available to the Mac user. As of this review, only one feature--the Storyboard Linking--was not available on the Mac. However, this should be of little consiquence to the average user (unless you're a professional writer in Hollywood with a Mac).

Finally, one feature that was touted to me time and again was the voice readback capability. By using a Text-to-Speech engine, you can have your script read back to you, even to the point of assigning different voices to the different characters. It took a little effort to get this feature working on my PC, and when I did it sounded like a room full of Stephen Hawkings reading my screenplay.

Still, as softwares goes, this is possibly the best product out on the market.

Makes the act of film creation a breeze
I've been using this product for about a year and it's about as easy as a program like this gets without sacrificing its professional end product. It's a cinch to learn, with easy fast-keys, a WORD-like interface, and a ton of features you may never get to. Great for plays, video game scenario building, etc., but its strength clearly lies in screenplay creation. All I have to do is think of the story I want to tell, know a few choice commands, and I'm flying with this program.

Great paper tutorial and a reasonable price for this type of program. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

BEST GUITAR PRODUCT I'VE EVER BOUGHT
I have whole collection of Boss and DOD pedals, and this one little unit replaces them all and blows them away. The sound quality is amazing. With the click of your mouse, you can switch between sounding just like the Edge of U2, the brown sound of Van Halen, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, or even Spinal Tap and Hair Bands.

The amp simulations are wonderful, and all the reverb and delay and other effects are some of the best I have heard.

Finally, if you have a computer music studio program on your computer, like those by Magix or Cakewalk or any others, it works beautifully with them.

One of the most impressive features was the HUM REDUCER. The unique thing about this one was that it will actually learn the hum of each pickup of your guitar to eliminate it. Unbelieveable!

To me, this product is easily worth over $500, so the money I spent on it was just about the best hundred bucks for guitar equipment ever. You'll love it!

Good practice / learning aid
I have played my guitar much more since buying the Guitarport. The sounds, effects and amp simulations available are great. No-one else has mentioned the play along features. You can play a CD or MP3 through the GP and select parts of the track to loop or play at half-speed. The online subscription is Ok for beginners due to the number of lessons, tones and articles available, but you may want to cancel it after a while as they don't get updated as often as one would hope. Someone else mentioned a hum caused by proximity to the computer monitor. Line6 have done their best with this unavoidable problem by including a NoiseGate and also a hum canceller.
All in all, excellent and well worth the money.

Just buy it!
I could not be happier with my Guitar Port.
By now, you probably know most of the features, so I won't bore
you with that. Let's just say, that since I bought the GP, I have not played through my amp since! The quality of the sound coming out of my little computer speakers has to be heard to be believed! (you need a decent set of computer speakers including subwoofer)

The thing I like about the GP the most, is the ability to save my "tones", so that I can pop in a Stevie Ray disc, go to my saved tones and select my "Stevie Ray Jon" tone, and start playing along with Stevie and sound just like him. To sum it up in one word....AWESOME!

The perfect practice amp
I bought my GuitarPort about 4 months ago and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to replace their practice amp.

The sheer amount of tones and effects means you can achieve absoloutely any sound you want, It is ideal for beginners but at the same time it has everything an enthuasiast could want, but the GuitarPort does have some minor problems. Firstly any instrument lead above 10 feet seems to cause a loss in sound, another slight annoyance is the noise feedback that is experienced with CRT monitors (not flat screen), but if you stand back from the monitor it will go away. Apart from this I could not fault it.

Another feature of the GuitarPort is GuitarPort Online this is an online community which costs 7.99 a month, it is full of tones, lessons and tracks that are tabbed out for you, it is very comprehensive and updated regularly but there is nothing here that you wouldn't find on the net. When you buy your Guitar Port you have a free trial of their online services so you can make you mind up for yourself.

All in all this is a very complete product and excellent value considering all of it's features, don't let the minor flaws hold you back. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Review

Your yard has always been good to you, giving you space to play with your kids, barbecue, and even sun-bathe on those lazy summer days. But now you're ready to bring some creative elegance and flair to your outdoor living. And you don't want to spend a mint just to have a landscape designer or consultant tell you what you want. If you know what you want, but you just need a little help turning that vision into reality, the Better Homes and Gardens Landscaping and Deck Designer Bundle is just for you.

Better Homes and Gardens, the number one home and garden publisher, has partnered with leading software designer Chief Architect to bring you the Landscaping and Deck Designer Bundle. This program can help you transform your yard space into the landscape of your dreams, at a fraction of the cost of what a professional would charge. Using the software's fun, intuitive, and easy-to-use tools, you'll quickly be on the way toward becoming the envy of your neighborhood as your backyard barbecues in the sun turn into elegant moon-lit affairs on your new deck.

With the Landscaping and Deck Designer Bundle, you don't need any design experience to plan your new landscaping, deck or patio areas. In a few easy steps, you'll be able to take care of site planning and cost estimating. The software will give you everything you need, from conception to planning to pricing.

With a huge library of over 1,200 plants at your disposal, you won't have to be stuck with the same old options the local home and garden shop offers. You can create beautiful landscaping with trees, shrubs, water features, and flowers of your own choosing. You can even import your digital photos and add your own custom landscaping features to your plans. To keep those plants thriving, you'll want to install a sprinkler system. The "sprinkler designer" feature can help you lay out sprinkler zones for optimal watering. A "furniture" feature allows you to project a wide variety of backdrops, objects, images, and textures onto your designs. It's never been easier to select the right patio furniture for your new deck or out by the swimming pool.

As you plan your new outdoor living area, the software can project 3D models of your plot and perimeter designs, giving you realistic images of what your designs will look like. A "terrain" feature can help you build fences and driveways, and the software will help you choose the best materials for the pathways you design through your gardens. You'll even have a special "fence tool" at your fingertips that will help you to choose from several different custom fence and gate styles.

In addition to the software, you also get the latest edition of The Better Homes and Gardens New Garden book -- a wonderful way to inspire and provide ideas for your outdoor living spaces. With over 600 pages of great ideas and glorious color photos of more plants and landscaping arrangements than you could ever need, this book will provide you with an endless fountain of inspiration.

In short, with the Landscaping and Deck Designer software at your fingertips, you can say good-bye to all those cookie-cutter yards that populate new developments. You can finally say hello to an outdoor living area that not only reflects your dreams and visions, but that also reflects how your outdoor area should be experienced, day in and day out, for years to come.

Features:

• Get invaluable design ideas from The Better Homes and Gardens New Garden book
• Landscaping templates designed by Better Homes and Gardens help you to quickly place your landscaping beds
• Use the Better Homes and Gardens Design Planning Center to guide your designs with tips and advice
• Choose from a library of more than 4,000 items for your designs, including over 1,200 plants
• Plant Hardiness Zone reference maps helps you choose the most appropriate plants, and a Plant Chooser feature helps you search for plants based on climate, drought tolerance, deer resistance, and much more
• Layout sprinkler zones quickly and efficiently
• Design single or multi-level decks with Deck Designer
• Assign the materials you want for your new patio design
• Quickly lay out your deck, add stairs, then place and arrange furniture
• Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots
• Design and visualize your areas in 3D
• Import your own photos of houses, plants, people, and more
• Produce realistic images of your outdoor projects
• Easily create hills and valleys for custom landscapes
• Automatically generate materials list to estimate costs
• Includes free How-To Tutorial CD

Product Description

Final Cut Express HD gives you the tools and flexibility to create stunning, professional-quality DV and HDV projects. Whether you want to make sophisticated home movies complete with transitions and effects or pro-level videos for your business, it provides the compositing, titling and effects capabilities you need to express your creativity. As a full-featured package, it offers an unparalleled combination of power and affordability. ... Read more

Features

• Precision tools and techniques for flexible editing; versatile interface
• Filmmaking software with powerful DV editing tools
• High-definition video (HDV) capability for both new and experienced editors
• Full-featured, professional-quality animated titling program, LiveType
• Create custom musical accompaniment for video projects with Soundtrack

Reviews (1)

unbelievable video production program
If you've only worked with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, you may be intimidated at first, but the end results speak for themselves.It is true that Final Cut Express HD isn't necessarily intuitive and the options are innumerable, but you will emerge from the other side of the learning curve amazed at how polished your works have become.

You can update old iMovie projects easily; just import them into Express HD and add high quality titles and credits and an attractive soundtrack.If you want to take it further, you can experiment with an astounding variety of professional quality transitions, filters, and effects to deliver the full visual and auditory impact you desire.

If you already have a previous release of Final Cut Express, the inclusion of LiveType and Soundtrack alone justify this upgrade.For a bonus, GarageBand musicians will love the hundreds of Apple loops included in the Soundtrack package. ... Read more

Features

• 18,000+ exclusive greeting cards and customizable projects
• 82,000+ beautiful graphics; 500+ fonts
• 5,000+ easy-to-customize sentiments
• Advanced digital photo editor; import images from any source
• Electronic greetings; dozens of additional creative projects

Features

• Choose from 40,000 legal documents; protect family and assets
• Create a legal will, living trust, financial power of attorney, and more
• Comprehensive and easy to use with step-by-step interviews
• Automatically reflects specific state laws; cuts legal fees
• Comprehensive onscreen legal manual; expert tech support available

Product Description

The ColorVision Spyder2 Plus combines the next generation Spyder2 - the standard for affordable monitor calibration - with printer color correction and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0. The ColorVision Spyder2 colorimeter and monitor calibration for advanced amateurs and prosumers delivers precise ICC display profiles for your CRT, LCD or notebook display. ProfilerPLUS provides quick, scanner-based printer profiles.Tired of time consuming, trial and error monitor -to-printer color proofs? The Spyder2 Plus bundle calibrates your monitor with the next generation Spyder2 hardware. It also includes ColorVision ProfilerPLUS software for creating printer profiles using your desktop scanner. You can now calibrate your monitors and printers and match the color on your CRT or LCD display with what you see in print.Today, all advanced amateurs and designers understand that monitor calibration is a fundamental step in their "digital workflow." Wherever color is critical, so too is a calibrated monitor. The ColorVision Spyder2, the next generation of the award-winning Spyder product line, was specifically designed to meet the needs of this new "digital" creative. ColorVision Spyder2 sets a new standard for monitor calibration. Combining the Spyder2 colorimeter and Spyder2 monitor calibration software, this innovative and advanced product delivers unrivaled calibration results for advanced amateurs and designers.The sleek, dual-phase Spyder2 hardware features precise c ... Read more

Features

• Sleek, dual-phase Spyder2 colorimeter offers pro-level monitor calibration -Superior gray balance, tonal response and accurate flesh tones
• Create exceptionally smooth gradient steps, lifelike skin tones and neutral grays
• New filter pack system and patent-protected light baffle increase the accuracy of on-screen color
• PANTONE Colorist, and ColorVision DoctorPRO helps to enhance, edit, correct, and specify colors on your images, screens, and printers
• Also includes FREE bonus software -nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 Standard Edition

Reviews (1)

Do not order from J&R Music and Computer World
J&R Music and Computer World (via Amazon) sent me a confirmation email with the exact product name that I ordered. Instead of sending me the correct item they sent me a similar item of lesser value. They say they can not help customers via email. They *may* offer me a "exchange/refund" if I contact them again via telephone. J&R Music and Computer World will not promise to send me the item I paid for. They will not promise to exchange the wrong item or refund my money.

Do not order from J&R Music and Computer World if you wish to contact them via the Internet.

Do not order from J&R Music and Computer World if you wish to receive the item you pay for. ... Read more

Features

• Carefully designed by music education professionals, it features 36 lessons that introduce all the important musical concepts
• Let Maestro Max teach you and challenge you while you develop your knowledge of important music concepts and skills
• Covers all the basics of music theory, rhythm, pitch, note reading, listening, and the keyboard
• Use the creative Doodle Pad for composing and hearing your own musical creations on the fly
• Easy-to-use self-paced lessons let you learn at the rate that suits you best

Amazon.com Review

Far more than a digital image organizer and quickie touchup tool, Photo Explosion Deluxe is a massive four-CD suite designed for the photographic artist and craftsperson. With this broad-ranging package, you can capture still images from your digital camera, DV camcorder, or scanner, alter them to the very limits of your imagination, and display or print them in any way you see fit.

Photo Explosion Deluxe offers a stunning array of editing tools. We started with simple contrast and focus adjustments and then curled the edge of our photo as if it was lifting slightly from its backing mat. We added a few translucent soap bubbles in the top left corner, threw a softened spotlight on the subject's face, and placed some clouds and streaky raindrops throughout. We then selected an antique frame, titled it with an ornate script, and even added our signature at the bottom right. Although every parameter of the editing process is fully adjustable, the program can also perform a variety of automatic modifications.

After you've explored the central application, you'll want to investigate the extra three CDs for even more ideas and concepts. Here you'll find scores of artistic and fancy fonts, hundreds of miscellaneous stationery and greeting card templates, and oodles of professional-grade photos covering a wide range of subjects, from scenery and sunsets to scantily clad models. The fourth CD houses bonus software available only in Photo Explosion's deluxe version, including a utility for panorama stitching and two tools for configuring and exporting your photos to handheld computers. The final application, DVD PhotoPlay, allows you to build a slide show from selected images, burn it to a CD-RW, and play it on any CD or DVD player that supports Video CD 2.0.

Photo Explosion Deluxe is recommended to those who want to express themselves artistically through their digital photos. A fast Pentium 3 processor or above is suggested for advanced editing. --Gordon Goble ... Read more

Features

• Complete digital photo studio with extensive editing tools
• 600+ professional special effects; 2,500+ photo projects
• 1-click SmartEnhance technology removes red eye
• Easily share images via email or as albums posted on the Web
• Turn photos into greeting cards, calendars, and more

Reviews (6)

Love this software ...
Bought Photo Explosion Deluxe this week, and I can't tell you how pleased I am. I own them all - PhotoSuite, Photoshop Album, PictureIt and several others - and Photo Explosion takes the cake by a mile.

It's extremely easy to use, for starters. The developers have really thought things out because it's much easier to navigate than the other programs I own - and you don't get this annoying bar along the left side that asks you a battery of unending questions like PhotoSuite and PictureIt. (Those products remind me of a DOS program where you're constantly prompted press 1 for this, 2 for that.)

And I was really surprised by the VCD burning functionality. I bought Photo Explosion chiefly to clean up photos and print them - which it does really well and with tons of beautiful options for projects and designs. But the video slide show feature is really cool. You can add music, as well, and the quality of CD it produces is much better than I've seen with other standalone programs. Other reviewers have complained that there aren't enough transitions, but I did some research on that point, and it turns out that those features require a different kind of file called MPEG 2, which explains why many of the VCDs I've made with some of the fancier programs (not Photo Explosion) have not worked on some DVD players.

Anyhow, Photo Explosion Deluxe is a great buy...and much better than the other options out there. Enjoy ...

Not so powerful for making VCD
Lacks transitions between slides of digital pictures. Makes the slideshow somewhat flat. One good thing - can put music and also is quite fast in creating a VCD

Nice program lots of features
Photo Explosion Deluxe exceeded my expectations. It is a nice complimentary program for PSP and other similar programs. It has loads of features including masks, frames, albums and far too many others to mention here.

The only drawback I found is the slideshow feature which causes an windows error when launched. People I sent this to also experienced this same error.

But other than this flaw I absolutely think that Explosion for the money is an excellent buy. It takes a little playing with but once you figure it out you can achieve just about anything you want with your graphics.

If Nova fixes the slideshow problem I would most definitely give this program a five star rating.

Poor print Quality
Photo Explosion Deluxe is easy enough to use but won't print to printer correctly.Have a canon s900 that prints beautiful photo prints but after editing with photo explosion My print quality is very poor.

Spend you money on another title
I have yet to understand why this product received such a good review from the editor. It's not easy to use. There is no natural flow and progression when you attempt to make projects. Not to mention the layout of the design screen is elementary and not very pleasing to look at. If you use this product make sure that your pictures are in folders that aren't more than one folder deep on your hard drive or you won't be inputting them easily into any projects. This product has caused me nothing but irritiation it feels like it is more suited for Windows 98 than Windows XP, I refuse to believe this product was designed and produced since computers came in the 75Mhz variety. Save your money and use it on something else ... Read more

Features

• Sophisticated, easy-to-use program for creating personalized projects
• Design greeting cards, newsletters, full stationery sets, or decorations
• Access images, photos, headlines, logos, and more from one location
• Full suite of photo editing tools; enhanced printing resolution
• 100 free Paramount greeting cards with online registration

Reviews (1)

LOTS of Projects
This program has lots of projects for you to choose from. It is easy to use, also. The biggest downfall is that the photo fixing and enhancing are not the greatest. You are limited to a few minor fixes on the photo itself, and enhancing is the same. You can enhance a lot better with Creating Keepsakes. Neither program has much to actually fix a photo. If you are looking for photo enhancing and fixing, move on. If you want great projects for everything from photos to making coloring book pages for kids, this is for you. ... Read more

Features

• Advanced map customization and printing
• Automatic routing on trails and roads
• Nationwide campground information
• GPS compatibility; USGS digital map data
• $50 of free aerial and satellite imagery included

Reviews (2)

Poor Printing Options
I found the software to be slow and have poor printing capabilities. I wanted digitized USGS 7.5' quads to print and use for offroad trips, but not with this software. Advancing to higher level of detail was slow and I had to go through each incremental increase. The largest map size for printing is 11x17 (I asked Delorme). You can select 2x2 or 3x3 mosiac prints, for manual assembly, but not what I wanted. I used the 30 money back guarantee.

Missing Too Much Information
Within 5 minutes of trying to map my first route, I have already discovered a bridge that is missing from the map. This bridge was present in other versions of the program and I was hoping the data in the new version would be better than the old, not worse! ... Read more

Product Description

Topics Entertainment (CS-531s) Marvel 40 Yrs of Spiderman ... Read more

Features

• 11-disc CD-ROM collection of 500+ Spider-Man comic books
• Covers 40+ years of all Amazing Spider-Man comic books printed
• Mind-blowing 10 Milestones of Amazing Spider-Man
• Spider-Man's debut issue: The Amazing Fantasy #15
• All articles and vintage ads, Spider's-Web column, and Bullpen Bulletins

Reviews (10)

Tim Robertson MyMac.com Review
40 Years of the Amazing Spider-Man CD-ROM
Company: TOPICS Entertainment
Price: $49.99
http://www.topics-ent.com/

As a comic book reader, I was very interested in this product when I first started seeing advertisements for it six months ago. As the title suggests, 40 Years of the Amazing Spider-Man CD-ROM is just that, all the issues of the Amazing Spider-Man comic on eleven CD-ROMs. Actually, the series also includes the original 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15, which is the first appearance of Spider-Man. From then on, however, it's all Amazing Spider-Man.

Each issue on the CD-ROM is an Adobe PDF file. You do need Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or later to view the files, which is included on the disc #1 in both Mac and Windows versions. If you try using another PDF viewing application, such as Apple's own Preview, you get to see the watermark Topics Entertainment placed on every page of every issue. I don't know why they bothered to put the watermark in the files, as that constitutes the level of anti-piracy they employ. Otherwise, these are simple PDF files.

The forty years include every issue from the above mention first appearance all the way up to issue #500 (December 2003). A curious omission, however, is the yearly annuals.

One of the problems, if you can call it that, is issues that crossover to other comics, be it another Marvel comic such as X-Men or Fantastic Four, or another Spider-Man title, such as Spectacular Spider-Man or Web of Spider-Man. This happened quite often in the late 1980's, and throughout all the 1990's. So sadly, while all the Amazing issues are present, not all the stories that go with those issues are.

Quality-wise, the stories are what they are. Some issues are fantastic, some not so much. I won't try and review every issue, that would be crazy. But there is a quality issue I'm a little disappointed with, and that is the picture quality of the PDF's themselves. But more on that in a moment.

I enjoy that each issue is complete from cover to cover, including the original ads on each page. Nothing like looking back at the older "Prizes for Cash" ads from the 1980's. I also like the fact that the covers are not only included, but the back cover as well. 99% of the time, the back cover is an advertisement, but occasionally, especially when you get into the special anniversary issues, a cover would be a wrap-around, so had they omitted the back cover, there was a chance that half the artwork would have been missing.

The problem is that while supplying these back issues of Amazing Spider-Man is a great concept, it's obvious that Topics Entertainment didn't work with Marvel Comics to acquire the best electronic format or physical copies of these issues. Rather, they simply used a flatbed scanner to scan each issue, page by page, to build the PDF files. They also did not use very high quality issues, as many of the copies are yellowed and flawed. More, there are some issues cocked at a slight angle, rather than laying them completely horizontal and true. This can be annoying to read. Even worse, there was not much care given to cleaning up the pages within Photoshop. I ran one page through Adobe Photoshop and applied the Auto-Color correction to the page and got fantastic results, at least three times better picture than the supplied PDF file.

Still, to have forty years of Amazing Spider-Man in electronic format on my computer (I copied all the CD-ROMs to an external FireWire Hard Drive for easier access) is a treat. As a long time comic book reader, it feels strange to read these comics on a computer screen. I have many of the physical issues myself, most of which are in better condition than the copies Topics Entertainment used when scanning. But to be able to quickly pull up an issue for reference is fun.

All in all, for $49.99 US (you can find it MUCH cheaper online, such as Amazon.com where the current price is $32.99) you can have a piece of comic book history that never goes out of style.

MyMac.com Rating: 3 out of 5. Good concept, nice format. I would prefer that more care be given to these comics, such as running batch color correction on each issue. I do like the index PDF for each year as well, but all it shows is a miniature version of the cover, not too handy.

Excellent idea, poor execution
I've been reading Spider-Man for over 30 years now, and when I saw this Advertised I thought it was an excellent idea. The actual product has some significant flaws, however. First and foremost is the quality of the books they scanned. Many of the issues, especially from 1962-65, are so tattered and banged up that they'dbe graded 5.0 (out of 10) at best. The omission of the annuals and giant-size issues from the compilation is a curious oversight. And although I understand their desire to not have people printing up copies of their work willy-nilly, stamping "MARVEL" across every single page is distracting and disruptive.

You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger Spidey fan than me, but I can't recommend this software. If you want to read these issues you'd be better off buying physical reprints, which are plentiful and inexpensive.

Performs exactly as described...
I almost gave this one 3 stars because it fell kinda short of my expectations.After I counted to 10 and took a deep breath I realized that this set contains exactly what the box claims it does...nothing more, nothing less.
What you get is "40 Years of The Amazing Spider Man".As others have pointed out, that encompasses only the "Amazing Spider-Man" title.Not "The Web of Spider-Man" or "Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man" or other Spin-Off titles (some of which had storylines which were tied into ASM).
The really big let down for me was that I had gotten used to the Broderbund Series of magazine/ comic reproductions (National Geographic, MAD Magazine, et al), and Broderbund runs a software program which features such bonus as a search engine.

Had Broderbund done this title, a user would have been able to do a search such as 'all issues in which The Lizard appears' and the user would be provided that information whether or not those issues existed on the particular Disk the user was view at the time.But alas this title is in Adobe Acrobat so such is not the case.

Nevertheless it is a good collection and I don't regret the purchase at all. That the collection could have been packaged and presented better is besides the point because what the box says you get is, well- what you get

501 issues of Spider-Man on CD-Rom is an Amazing deal
It should be very easy for you to decide if you are going to like "40 Years of the Amazing Spider-Man" because here are the two things that you might consider major shortcomings.First, what you are getting here are digital scans of each two-page spread from copies of the original comic books.So these are not the originals or whatever Marvel uses when they reproduce early Spider-Man comics for their Masterworks or Essential series of reprints.The copies are pretty good, even the really old ones, but they are not perfect and they are not always lined up straight.Basically, then, you are looking at photographs of somebody else's collection of "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic books.

Second, you have to view these comic books through the Adobe Reader, the 6.0 version of which you can install from the first disc (this is important because otherwise the "Marvel" that pops up as a sort of watermark when you try to print these pages pops up when you start reading each page.Unless you have a really big monitor (I thought I did before this) you have to choose between seeing the pages real size, where you cannot see an entire two-page spread at the same time, or you can reduce them in size to where you can see the entire two-page spread in which case the question is whether your eye sight is good enough to still read the print (I appear to be older than I thought).Beyond this it is a question of how powerful your computer is for being able to move from one spread to the next at a decent rate.Some people will find this maddening, and if that is the case you will not enjoy what this CD-Rom has to offer.

There are minor problems in that what you get is each CD-Rom in its own envelope, which means you can undoubtedly find some better way of keeping them around, and each disc only indicates what years are covered (e.g., 1962-1966), so you need to come up with your own way of remember what issues are on each disc (you can jot the numbers down on the envelope).The top choice on my list of Spider-Man comics I wanted to read again was #257, the one where Mary Jane finally told Peter Parker she knew he was Spider-Man.After I checked out the first disc I made a calculated guess as to which one it was on and I was right, but including the range of issues on each disc or at least on the box (to go along with the "mind-blowing 10 Milestones") should have been a no-brainer.Still, all of these "problems" are easily fixable.I am surprised that the annuals are not included, but expecting to have the crossovers (as some of the "Essentials" volumes do, e.g., "Tomb of Dracula) is rather unrealistic, so I would not count it as a major or minor problem.

Yes, it would be nice to sit in a chair that was not in front of a computer and read "The Amazing Spider-Man" from nicely bound books.But the "Marvel Masterworks" series is a rather expensive way of getting these comic books, the "Marvel Essentials" series is reprinted in black & white, and combined those two have not reprinted half of what is collected on these 11 CD-Roms.Even if you have the comic books, taking them out of their bags and backing boards seems like heresy, especially with the old ones.However, I do not have that problem because many years ago when my brother and I split up who was going to collect which Marvel comic books, he got the Spider-Man titles (we had from #28 on in the original comics, with everything prior to that being the original reprints in "Marvel Tales").All I have are the six "Essential" collections and the four "Masterworks" trade paperbacks, which means I only have about a quarter of what is here in book form.When it comes to being economical, you are not going to be able to beat what this collection has to offer, and that is the key factor for putting its shortcomings in perspective.

"40 Years of The Amazing Spider-Man" begins with "Amazing Fantasy" #15 and ends with what became "The Amazing Spider-Man" #500 when "Volume 2" took advantage of the "Volume 1" numbering to mark a significant milestone in the history of the web-slinger.The touching coda in that last issue, drawn by John Romita, Sr. (who was Spider-Man's artist when I bought my first "Spider-Man" comic book, #62), makes for a fitting place to end this collection.I suppose a disc 12 could be out in 2007, but I do not have the same qualms about taking the latest issues out to read again that I do about the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko issues.I am not overly excited about having the "complete" comic books, with all of those ads we remember from out childhood and the letters to the editor, but I do like seeing the covers of the other titles Marvel was putting out in the Sixties.

I gave up on Spider-Man when the whole clone thing was getting way out of hand.The alien costume bit was okay, but the clone bit was just too much for me.I started reading the comic books again (we live in the age of multiple titles for any successful comic book character) when I started teaching an Introduction to Popular Culture class in which I use "The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1."The class also looks at a recent issue of one of the main Spider-Man titles, so I started reading "The Amazing Spider-Man" again with #482 (nee #42), almost a year after J. Michael Stracynski started scripting the book.I have gone back and gotten all of "Volume 2" of the book, and these CD-Roms allow me to fill in the gaps.It is just going to take a while to get through all of these and I feel like I should write some sort of academic treatise on it all.

Excellant Amazing Spider-man collection on CD-Rom.
-I've been collecting the Amazing Spider-Man comics for awhile, and this collection on CD-Rom is great!! It's authentic scans of real issues.Unlike the reprinted and released hard backs. With this CD-Rom collection you get to view first printings of the issues ( I can almost smell the pages)!!!You can seriously enlarge the scans, and no matter how large you go the images stay crisp and clear!It appears not a page of any issue is missing.All adds, covers, and story pages are there.It's a Marvel released collection, not some boot-leg or pirated item. This CD-Rom collection will bring my little spidey fan son and I, years and years of enjoyment. ... Read more

Features

• Convenient wizards and tutorials help create basic plans fast
• Professional-grade drafting tools in an easy, intuitive interface
• New stylish name-brand materials and rendering capabilities
• Easy to use; powerfully generates buildable blueprint-style plans
• Unlimited customization guarantees a flawless finished project

Reviews (6)

Extremely slow rendering and a reminder of....
a software program called Floorplan. I like version 4.0 a heck of alot better. Im glad I only tried the trial version. Im very disappointed with 6.0. the rendering takes forever and the graphics are'nt as good as version 4.0 or as good as Punch architectural series 18. Don't waste your money on the version.

do it yourself_____ (fill in the blank)
As an architect, I can't help but be insulted that one might think making a good building is so easy. I know we all live in houses, but that doesn't mean that 5-8 years of architecture school plus years of practice can be so easily overridden. Why not do-it-yourself medicine, or dentistry? How about law? All those things are just as easily picked up, right? We all have bodies, and teeth (hopefully)and know what's right and just-- don't we?!! There is a lot more to designing and building a good building than meets the eye.

OK for Simple Folk
This is an adequate program with a few nice bells & whistles, but the lack of a migration path thru project upgrades (from a prior version) or file imports makes this a brand new program for old users. If I need to "re-key" all my data anyway, there are competitive packages offering significantly better features and multiple file handling options. But if you are familiar with prior versions and are newly creating simple plans, this is a good alternative.

Cautious Optimism
The software is easy to use, easy to learn. Newer versions have gotten progressively better at providing "canned" components (i.e. footers, windows, doors, textures). This version is even more customizable than previous versions.

The tabbed interface, and selectable toolbars make the interface a lot more functional. I definitely like version 6 better than 3, 4, and 5.

HOWEVER, I would offer a SIGNIFICANT word of caution. Broderbund has a habit of leaving its established client base in the dust. I have been using the application for years, and therefore have a large library of floor plans developed (for my own home, future ideas, etc). In previous upgrades, Broderbund has changed file formats, thus making it impossible to bring previous work into newer products.

I have written to them pleading for consistency, or at least import/export functionality. They have provided no satisfaction. My most recent email to tech support on version 6 yielded this response:

"I understand that you are inquiring about importing a CAD file format into
3D Home Design 6.

This program has the ability to export as DXF, 3DS and WRL files, however
is not capable of importing or opening DXF or other file formats.

Sorry about the inconvenience."

"...inconvenience..." Do they have any clue how much work it is to re-create multiple (dimensionally accurate) designs over AND over again?

While it is nice that you can export to DXF format (great for transferring plans to construction engineers, architects, etc...), it is THE PITS that you CANNOT import from a standard file format (like DXF).

If you are serious about your design and remodeling work, and plan to use this for more than just a room makeover, you may want to consider how important it is to you to take advantage of upgrade features while having to rebuild your designs in the future.

BEFORE you have an established plan base, you may want to consider other products that can import standard formats (i.e. Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro).

Check out the reviews on Punch!Professional Home Design Suite Platinum for a better idea of what people think of Broderbund and its' products.

Very cool 3-D and Easy to use
This is a VERY cool program. It allowed me to trace over a scanned design, create project from basic house layout, or free style. Once I got the hang of how things worked I was building homes in no time. I especially nice feature is the ability to paint the texture of walls, floors, cabinets, furniture, etc from within the 3D view.
Putting up walls can be a bit quirky, but in time you figure it out.
I would recommend this to anyone who needs to get a real view of what their home will look like.
Having experience playing The Sims doesn't hurt either ;-) ... Read more