Reviews (9)

Where are the crabs, seahorses, snails ?
This ss is kinda nice, but there is not enough variety. There should have been a lot more exotic fishes, and crustations like spider crabs, snails, starfishes, etc.

There are over a thousand different animals in the ocean, but the programmers decided that it would be easiest to place only a handfull.

There should also be an option that lets you "buy" toys to place in the aquarium. Like sunken boats and treasure chests.

I hope someone makes a third version of this ss with my above recommendations.

Nice looking, but glitchy for me
Without a doubt, this is an impressive looking screensaver. Images are extremely detailed and realistic. The screensaver also has many settings you can configure. However...

I've observed this screensaver on two computers, one a Pentium 4 at 2.4Ghz, and the other a Pentium 2 at 450Mhz. On both machines the screensaver caused some minor graphics problems, especially on the P2 computer. Basically I'm referring to the screen freezing up for a few seconds, or the Windows taskbar changing colors. One time half the screensaver was running, and the other half I saw the XP desktop. All the colors were blurred.

On my P4 computer, which has an integrated video card, it takes about 5 seconds after I move the mouse for the Windows XP desktop to reappear. With a standard, ordinary screensaver running, the desktop reappears immediately after I move the mouse.

I emailed SereneScreen about this, and they suggested I upgrade my video driver. I did so, but that didn't change anything. If your computer has a powerful video card, then this screensaver might work okay. It also wouldn't hurt to have a Pentium 4 processor running at 2Ghz or faster. However, if your computer has an integrated video card, or an older processor, you might run into some problems.

Amazing graphics
The graphics are amazing. My local CompUSA was using this on all of their demo monitors, and I just had to have it. It is a lot of fun. And you don't have to clean the tank! But one watchout... I don't recommended it for "slower" machines... it totally bogs down my Pentium II 333 at work... had to uninstall it. Works great on P3 933.

Don't bother
I just bought this SS after seeing it live in action at the store. It looked great. Well at least at the store. I have a 3 GH CPU, 1024 of DDR RAM, and a 64 MB video card in my laptop. (The laptop is 1 month old) When it does run, it is SLOW and choppy. The bubbles suck, and the fish swim as if they are about to go belly up and end up at the top of the tank. Thankfully the store I bought it at is offering me a full return.

The best screensaver that I've seen
It's absolutely amazing. I can stay there watching it all day, it's so soothing and beautiful. I wish there were more features like more fish (although there's 26 already) and it would have been nice if we can change the background a little bit and the look of the aquarium. But those would be just bonuses, the screensaver is already perfect like it is. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Features

• Help Barbie get ready for fashion week in Paris
• Complete 10 exciting fashion assignments
• Advance through 3 different design studios
• Choose the styles, fabrics, and colors
• Select the stage, music, and special poses

Features

• Edit, enhance, and repair with fun tools.
• Restore faded, scratched, and aged photos.
• Turn your current photos into masterpieces.
• Make scrapbooks, photo, collages, even experiment with home remodeling projects.
• Paint Shop Pro Studio includes Paint Shop Photo Album – Standard Edition

Features

• An integrated design environment featuring the industry's foremost design tools
• In-depth tips, expert tricks, and comprehensive design resources
• Intuitive file finding, smooth workflow, and common interface and toolset
• Single installer--control what you install and when you install it
• Cross-media publishing--create content for both print and the Web

Reviews (10)

Creative Suite puts Creative juices to work
The Adobe Creative Suite brings many tried, tested and true programs to a new level of functionality and integration. The popular programs, Photoshop, Illustrator, GoLive, Acrobat and InDesign have been redesigned to make users more efficient and streamline the work. The latest addition to the Adobe family, Version Cue, also makes an appearance. Version Cue is a great server program that allows multiple users to edit and update files simultaneously. (full review @ bytesector.com)

Designers Need the Apps and the Price is Good
Everything is in here. All of the design apps are on two installer CDs. Any designer -- whether web or print -- has at least a few of the applications in this suite. You only need to decide if the price is right, and if your current upgrades would make the purchase worthwhile.

Buying this suite is the equivalent of a corporate employee owning Microsoft Office. Adobe's name now equals design software. Knowing Adobe's product line is simply required knowledge. Print houses will accept and produce your files without problems, and multiplatform file transfer can be completed with minimum processing time.

For me, I was using a dated version of Illustrator, PageMaker 6.5, Photoshop Elements. The additional programs and new versions of what I had made the purchase a no-brainer. I also primarily use Dreamweaver, but learning GoLive will help me as I meet with clients. Outside of InDesign and GoLive, every application here is the industry standard, and those two programs are strongly coming into their own.

To explain the virtues of each individual application is not necessary. You know the benefits of Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, and GoLive. InDesign might be new to some of the veterans, but it is beyond a replacement for the inferior PageMaker, and is a force of its own.

With the quality increase of InDesign, designers are now able to choose something besides Quark for their page layout application. Including InDesign here made the purchase for me easy. I have no reason now to piecemeal together my software base.

Each application has all of the features that they have when independently purchased.

I fully recommend "Adobe Creative Suites Premium." Designers need these apps, and so your decision is only about price and value.

Anthony Trendl

BEWARE OF THIS PRODUCT
I have spent 9 hours in 2 days on the phone with Dell to try to install this piece of s**t. Version Cue will not install nor will photo shop. No 800 number for support from Adobe. Paid for call and recieved many voice ads for products and was told if I need support call at 'top of the hour'. Dell says the problem is in the installer. Adobe Foroums have pointed to the same but no suggestion has worked. Guess I will work on amazon to try to return it for a full refund, it was shipped defective.

BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!
Windows XP users beware! You'll need lots of bug killer with this supposed "upgrade" - especially the GoLive module.

Speaking as a long time user of Adobe software (Photoshop since version 3.0) this is the most bloated and unstable iteration ever. The added goodies in Photoshop CS would be great, if my (quite adequate) Dell Workstation didn't freeze up every other minute.

Most annoying of all is a screen redraw problem most visible in GoLive CS; a problem that makes GoLive essentially unusable. If you plan to use GoLive - most especially if you have an NVidia graphics card - visit Adobe.com and look through the GoLive User Forum BEFORE you buy the CS version. LOTS of good reading there.

Adobe has (reluctantly) admitted the screen redraw problem to be a "bug" that they are "working" on... but jeez! Wouldn't that bug have been far better stomped on BEFORE Adobe CS was released onto loyal, trusting Adobe users??

To sum it up - BUYER BEWARE! Check out the Adobe Forums before you shell out your hard earned for Adobe CS, because that's where you'll get the real truth about real-world use. Download the trial version of CS if you can - maybe it will run for you... but if not, no money lost.

For now, I'm thinking it's back to my previous versions so I can at least get some work done. In fact, it's so bad - I'm beginning to consider getting a MAC! Aaaargh!!!!

I'm Lovin It
I have had the new Adobe Suite for a few weeks now and I am lovin it. I have been onboard since version 4.0 and I must say that the CS upgrade of Photoshop is the most signifigant ever. I use the RAW plug in with my digital Photos now, more then anything else. RAW and 16 bit editing have changed my workflow forever. The LEns Blur filter, the Photo filters, and the awesome filter gallery are extremly useful too. I do not use Illustrator much, I think that I will use it even less now that Photoshop can type on a path, but I did play with the new 3D tool, it is pretty cool and I can't wait to implement it into my designs. I have no opinion of InDesign, I haven't had the need to use it yet. What I have read about it is that the CS version is the final nail in the coffin for Quark. Go Live is great, I appreciate the Smart Objects, and Adobe has finally cleaned up the code that Go Live writes. At first Iwas peeved that they took out Dynamic editing, but I am okay with it now. I use it side by side with my old copy of Dreamweaver so I can get the best of both worlds. Go Live is more designer friendly.
Version Cue is another can't live without addition. All of the sudden, I am organized. Well I could go on forever about why I love the new suite, Adobe did a great job with this one. If you are a designer or student buy this suite, chances are you are already planning too. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

GREATT!
This Is So Great! You Can Choose An Event Like Award Shows & More! Choose The Music I Love Music! & Watch A Video! And A Treated Before & After Shot!

Barbie Boutique is a great computer game
I highly recommend this computer game for girls who are interested in Barbie's and the dress up thing. My daughter (age 6) absolutely loves it - it doesn't get old to her. It is very easy for her to use and there are so many different variations she can do - it never gets boring. Highly recommended.

Barbie Beauty Boutique ~ Wonderful game!!
I have a four year old that wanted this computer game really bad. I was worried that it might be a little difficult for her because a lot of the other Barbie games are still a too old for her to understand. This game was perfect. It is easy to use but fun for everyone. She loves changing Barbie's make-up and clothes. She has played on it for hours now. I think it was worth the money!

Beautiful!
This is a terrific activity for girls 4 and up. It allows the girls to be creative as they design "new looks" for Barbie and her friends. From choosing hairstyles, to coloring it (even highlights) to makeup application, nails, clothes. The girls do it all and are very proud of their efforts. And the best part for parents is that they're doing it on the computer instead of making a mess with makeup etc. in the bathroom.

The girls will sit and play this alone or together for hours.

A must-have for girls who love dress up, make up and the likes.

Not That Much Fun
First off, I don't know what game the other reviews on this page are talking about, with the ice skating, Prince Stephan, castle, and maze references. The Barbie Beauty Boutique we bought had nothing like that.

My four daughters (ages 4, 6, 8, and almost 11) have been seeing this game advertised on TV, and all four of them wanted it so bad. I caved in and purchased the game for $30.00 at a store in town, even though we usually never spend that much on a PC game. We took it home, installed it, and all four girls played it, but really didn't like it much. It's just not that much fun. On the TV adds and on the box it sounds like there are a lot more outfits, jewelry, and hairstyles to choose from than there are in reality. The hairstyles especially disappointed us. You can either choose to style the hair in an "updo" or leave it down. We expected to be able to have choices like braids or pony tails, but there is nothing like that, the only hairstyle choices are "updo" styles. Most of the hairstyles looked fake and weird to me, my girls said they looked stupid. If you choose to leave the hair down you do get to decide how long the hair is, and whether to leave it strait or make it curly, but the curly hair looked as weird as the hairstyles. The accessory choices for the hair were mostly dorky looking, especially the butterflies and flowers. There were also not a lot of hair accessories to choose from, they just had a few things to choose from. I think the hair styling part is what my girls looked forward to the most so they were disappointed. I also have a problem with a lot of the clothing choices, a whole lot of midriff shirts and short skirts. The make up and nails part was alright, but nothing great.

The plus of the game is that it is easy for the kids to play so younger girls will be able to play with little to no help. (My 4 year old was fine with it, no problems at all.) However, the clothing choices and event choices are more geared to kids maybe 8 and up. My 4 and 6 year old girls didn't like as many of the clothing styles as the 8 and 10 year old did. If you are looking for a game that an older girl would like that is easy to play, this fits that bill. It would be a good game for girls who are older but haven't yet had much computer experience yet. (They learn quick though!)

All in all the game is not bad, but I do regret paying what we did for it. If I had it to do over again I would probably wait until the game was older and therefore not so expensive. If your kids want it, maybe you should see if they like the idea of the What's Her Face PC game instead. We have had that game for about a year, and it still gets played with. It's along the same lines as the Barbie Beauty Boutique, you get to choose hairstyles and clothing for your doll. There is a little more to it than the BBB, though, so I think it is more fun for the kids to play. With the What's Her Face game you get to choose your dolls face, which is fun, and then you get to choose dance moves and music for the ending scene. However, with some girls it's got to be Barbie, so that may make the BBB better in their eyes. ... Read more

Product Description

FL Studio is a full-featured sequencer perfectly suited for creation of complex songs and realistic drum loops, with 32 bit internal mixing and advanced MIDI support. The resulting song or loop can be exported to a WAV/MP3 file and all MIDI events can be exported to a standard MIDI file. FL Studio is a pattern based sequencer, which means you create your songs in pieces (patterns) using the Step Sequencer and the Piano Roll view and then weld those pieces together using the Playlist window (the Playlist also supports full-featured audio tracks with hard drive streaming). ... Read more

Features

• High-precision mastering and special effects filters - reverb, compressor, procedural equalizer, distortion, phaser, flanger, bass boost, delay line and others
• Sequencing methods for realistic drum loops, and complex instrumentals like advanced piano roll, arpeggiator, keyboard tracking and real-time gate
• Unique note properties morphing ability -- pitch, cutoff, resonance, panning
• 68 mixer tracks to work with - 64 insert and 4 send tracks - supporting up to 8 filters each, with ASIO input support and the ability to create mixer chains
• Integrated procedural equalizer, volume and panning for each mixer track

Reviews (1)

A great sequencer! but not an all in one solution
I use FL Studio frequently. It's my primary sequencer for Drums and melody.Well at least when I'm clicking notes on a grid.It actually snaps the notes to grid (something Sonar 2.0 didn't do)
As far as original melody creation and midi sequencing it's a joy to use.
Plus it supports VST effects. and I actually Like it's effects.(The EQ is nice to work with, as is the fast distortian)
Now down to why I gave it trhee stars...
For some reason It won't let me use ASIo 2.0 (even though sonar will)which makes inputting notes from my keyboard almost pianful) so I simply use the grid, or enter notes into sonar (sonar 2.0 I've seen it for $15 on ebay), my solution is to get an m-audi card to replace my OLD Soundblaster card.that should fix that problem.
Loops are difficult to control in teh playlsit window, you either have the loops snap to cell or beat (which I don't like because I don't have very much control) amd when I turn off snap to grid it's very difficult to sequence one loop after another it's too easy to put a loop to far away from the previous loop or accidentally overlap loops.
I'll get acid for all my loop sequencing needs.

The bottom line:
The only sequencer that you'll ever need (if you have a low latentcy soundcard) but not a good all in one solution.
In the future (once I get acid) I will convert my orignal material to wav and sequence in ACID ... Read more

Reviews (61)

Worthwhile upgrade for the DVD tools
I used the retail version of Nero 5.5 for 2 years. The learning curve on Nero 5.5 was rather steep (compared to EZ CD Creator), and I ended up just using it to burn CD's and VCD's while using other software for MP3 encoding and video/audio editing.

I recently bought a DVD burner and now need DVD-savvy software. The DVD and video tools in NeroVision Express (NVE) that came with Nero 5.5 didn't impress me. I have Magix Video Deluxe 2.0 for video editing, and it came with DVD burning tools, but it was so buggy at dealing with large MPEG files that I desperately had to look elsewhere. So I have been trying out Nero Ultra 6.3.1.15 for the past week strictly on the DVD functions, since I know that CD (and VCD) functions worked flawlessly in Nero 5.5. The basic Nero Burning Rom user interface in 6 Ultra isn't much better than 5.5, although it's prettier. The Nero StartSmart interface is a lot better than Nero Wizard. It took a few minutes to get used to StartSmart, but now I'm sold on it.

NeroVision Express 2 (NVE2) is quite an upgrade over NVE, especially since the DVD encoding tools don't require an extra-cost add-in. I was able to pull in large (1 Gb) files with only a few seconds delay for loading each file (Video Deluxe can take up to 10 minutes each), split/crop them inside NVE2, add chapter markers, and create decent DVD menus.

I made a 2 hr 10 min (4.2 Gb) DVD using a mix of clips from 8mm video via an ATI All-In-Wonder analog capture card, MiniDV, and photo slideshow output from Video Deluxe (it has a lot more transition effects than NVE2, and still works pretty well for small files of up to a few meg). I was able to burn them to DVD+RW and DVD-RW with only minor startup issues on a 1.1GHz Athlon and NEC ND-1200AD DVD dual-format burner with Windows 2000. The 4.2 Gb file took 15 hours to encode to DVD format files on the hard drive. But actual burning takes 25-40 minutes depending on media type. There was little online or help documentation to explain the benefits of encoding to the hard drive, but it will save time if you need to burn the same project multiple times. Most notably, I am able to do almost everything using the tools in Nero 6 Ultra - something not possible (or at least with satisfactory results) with Nero 5.5.

Nero Cover Designer is quite handy. It's powerful enough for the enthusiast, with basic text, image, and database tools. But it's not for professional graphic artists who need borders around text, translucent fills, or aligning objects with each other.

Small problems I ran into with the DVD creation process:
1. One bug I found in NVE2 was not being able to splice more than one movie clip back-to-back with one another on-the-fly - it allows you to do it, but produces an obscure error at the start of the burn process. The workaround was to add each movie clip separately and list them as separate movies (with their own chapters) on the DVD menu, or use NVE2 to combine multiple clips, export them to a single clip, and then use only the new combined clip.

2. Another more annoying bug with NVE2's DVD encoding is that audio will sometimes lose sync with the video by a few seconds. I'm not sure what exactly causes this or how to fix it, but I can live with it for what I'm doing.

3. Nero Cover Designer has an annoying bug in the user-defined Paper Stocks utility where you are not allowed to specify paper orientation, yet it defaults in portrait (which is useless for doing something such as a custom DVD insert stock). You can't modify the predefined stocks either.

These are relatively minor problems. It was very stable, and never crashed Windows. I'm satisfied enough that I will spend the money to upgrade from 5.5 to 6.3 just for the new DVD features in NVE2. But if I was just burning CDs, VCDs, and MP3s, I'd stick with Nero 5.5. I would have given it 5/5 stars if it didn't have the audio/video sync problem.

Great Product, Very Slow Support
I have been a fan of the Nero line for a good while and still love the product, but their support response time has got to be the slowest. As some have already mentioned, I recently had to wait over a week for a response to a simple registration question I had -- I had to reinstall my system and needed my registration key. I figured I'd have a response the next day considering how simple it was but no. Other than that, though, I'm still satisfied with the product.

Good software suite
I just bought a Plextor 708A burner, and opted to use this suite rather than their packaged software (Roxio). I found Roxio to be very glitchy. Nero is pretty user friendly and runs smoothly on my Dell Inspiron 8100, 1.6ghz, 384mb Ram, 30gb HD. Be sure to visit Nero's website for their update package, which makes a huge difference in functionality.

Support Sucks - Stay Far Away
I sent them an email with a support question and it took almost a week one time and the other time I'm still waiting (3+ weeks). Call me stupid, but I even called them once and was ripped off to the tune of $1.29 minute. Nothing like buying it all over again!! I ditched this piece of trash and now have Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 and it works great and their support for the one time I needed it is far better - received an email response in a day.

Not as good as Roxio Creator 7
I found DVD compatibilty issues with Nero during playback that Creator 7 did not have. There are also a lot more features and an easier user interface in Creator 7. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Best software of its kind
Print Explosion Deluxe is, in my opinion, orders of magnitude better than the original Print Explosion and beats Print Shop (which, by comparison, is cumbersome, not "Mac-like" and not os x compatible) hands down. The artwork in Print Explosion Deluxe (templates, etc.) is really nice, too, and it's easy for me to customize. I've used Print Shop and Print Master on the PC, and Print Explosion Deluxe is on par with those products, which I think are great on the Windows side.

Insanely Great Mac Print Software!
I've been a user of Nova Development products for years, having bought their first Art Explosion product when they first brought it out. They've always been committed to great Mac software, and Print Explosion Deluxe won't disappoint.

My wife and I are both teachers, and we use Print Explosion Deluxe (she under OS 9 and me under OS X) for school projects, as well as for our church. It's a simply outstanding program for making banners, flyers, greeting cards, and other printed projects. The templates/designs are great, and the tools are excellent. And, most important to me being a Mac user since 1984, it feels like a Macintosh product, unlike Print Shop and some of the other "Windows ports" I've tried that are just hokey on the Mac.

Contrary to another review I read on Amazon, I think the graphics are incredibly well organized and of great quality. It's easy to find images for just about any purpose, and the software is just incredibly easy to use.

It even supports EPS graphics. So no matter where the clip art comes from, you can print it out, even on an inkjet printer, and the quality is perfect at any size. Even Microsoft Word doesn't do that for me. And creating your own projects from scratch is easy.

Along with Quicken, Word and Entourage, Print Explosion Deluxe is one of my core Macintosh applications. I use it daily and recommend it wholeheartedly.

Nice app, but has weird quirks that need fixing.
Pretty much everything they claim about this app is true. If you're looking for a simple app for print projects, this is hard to beat. That said, here are the gotchas to look out for:

The app doesn't support ANY antialiasing making on-screen editing difficult. If your project is destined for print this isn't a big deal, but if your destination is a screen image it's a problem.

The program's JPEG compression is HORRIBLE; its BEST setting is worse than Photoshop's WORST setting! With its lack of antialiased text, this renders the program's e-postcard feature practically useless.

The installer is questionable. The program ships on three CDs, with the installer on one and extra graphics and fonts on the others. But the installer doesn't add the contents of the other two CDs to your installation. Those have to be installed MANUALLY. Considering that the quality of the graphics on the other two CDs is much higher AND the fact that this information isn't clearly explained anywhere, it becomes an issue for the less knowledgable/experience (for whom this app is primarily aimed towards).

Knowing this, I would buy this app again -- but I wouldn't use it for anything destined for on-screen use. Since the app is called *PRINT* Explosion this makes sense. :-)

UPDATE 5/2/04: Since writing this review, I have learned via an email conversation with Nova Development that they have no interest in addressing the shortcomings listed above. I have also purchased The Print Shop for Mac OS X which is a significantly nicer/higher quality app and is definitely an OS X-savvy app (not a Windows port as Print Explosion is), but it doesn't have the billions of bits of art and fonts that come with Print Explosion. But if given the choice between Print Explosion and Print Shop, choose Print Shop.

Great Mac Software
Print Explosion works great with OS X Panther. It has a wealth of templates, images and fonts. The only problem is you can't start with a blank project, but it is easy enough to pick a generic one and delete the stuff you don't want. Well worth the money.

Great basics for design for less money
First, I do promo for a large fundraising project. I purchased the basic version and found it to be extremely workable however when I then upgraded and attempted to email my work to my printers I found that my fonts and designs were corrupted and wouldn't come through well. As the main piece I created using this program I print out and mail about 6000 copies a month this is too bad.
This is mainly names and the program does the graphics well just not the word processing aspect.
So the upshot is for little money you can create some great basic pieces. Make a master and you are fine if you can do the printing on the glass.
I also found a limitation of not being able to work with unusual sizes. That is overcome by figuring your own measurments
All in all a very useful program and I am reommending it for all 179 organizations following in my fundraising footsteps.
Our large organization sent out a cd version based on this for my main fundraising piece and I got a call from someone saying he couldn't afford the $900.00 software -how did I do this?
Pretty good recommendation. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

If you're looking for a writing package that provides guidance but isn't overbearing, the Writer's DreamKit package from Dramatica is a great solution. This package is targeted at beginning to intermediate writers, and attempts to get you involved in working out the mechanics of your story before you even begin writing it.

You'll get started with the StoryGuide: the central location for establishing your "storyform" and structure. You can work with the StoryGuide either directly or by creating scenes, but either way, the creative work done in this portion will be tracked and available in all other parts of the application. For the fastest route, you can start with one of three structure templates: novel, screenplay, or short story. In these templates, the essential characters are already created. Using these in conjunction with the StoryGuide gives a writer both efficiency and flexibility.

One of the strongest features of the StoryGuide, however, is the Dramatica Query System. This system offers aquestion and answer approach to storyforming, and allows you to focus on one element, relationship, or idea at a time. In the DQS, the questions may be very straightforward or somewhat indirect; regardless, newer writers will appreciate the help buttons that appear for each question, offering an explanation, the theory behind the question, usage, illustrations, definitions, context, and story examples.

If aquestion and answer bombardment or too much structure is not your thing, you can find relief in the Story Engine, which offers a more holistic and freeform approach to identifying your storyform. The Story Engine does lack help, which makes it more suitable for experienced users, and also looks somewhat daunting on the first few uses. However, it also is the quickest way to get to your underlying structure.

While the Writer's DreamKit is somewhat linear in progression, there are many opportunities to diverge from the standard path. You can create characters, one of the most enjoyable parts of the creative process, at any time. You'll do more than just assign a name and a few stock attributes: you'll build your people from scratch (or from a template) and instill in them the complex characteristics that will guide them through your story.

If you've never taken a creative writing class or are looking to refresh your skills, the Writer's DreamKit definitely offers a great foundation for structuring your story. However, it's still up to you to write your great American novel or the next box office hit. --Emilie Dirks ... Read more

Reviews (21)

If you're serious about writing then this is for you!
I've been writing for a while now, and am enrolled in a correspondence course, and although I am learning a lot, this Dreamkit helped me so much more than I could have imagined! It is easy to use, and helps you see where your story is going, and where it needs work. It takes the guess work out of your story. I highly recommend this to anyone who is serious about their writing! The templates are easy to use and understand. The Query system takes you through some questions about your plot, characters and scene structure and helps you consider things you may not have thought of. It shows you your beginning, middle, and end, so that you can get to writing your story faster. It even has a character builder, so you can visualize your characters. The Dreamkit will not write your story for you, but it is of imense help. Move over Writer's Block! The users manual is a bit vague, but half the fun of this was in finding all the goodies on my own! It is fun and easy to use. It is money well spent!!

Stressful and irritating format
I found that this program did not help me at all. The format is very irritating and confusing. It is hard to learn to use it and I am a professional computer programmer. Once I did learn it, I found thhere is not much there. It is very limiting and in many ways stifles creative flow.

I would reccomend trying Storycraft instead, which I found to be helpful and user intuitive.

Just sit down and write.
Want to waste a lot of time when you could be writing your masterpiece? Buy this "program". Face the facts: There simply is no software that's going to write a book for you or anyone else, including me. I screwed around for several days with this thing. Then I got the final print out of "how" I should write my novel. It was impossible for me to follow the "guidelines" provided. They simply did not pertain to the way I wanted to write my story. I tried to imagine some of my favorite books having been written using the generic guidelines the program produced. It assumes that all fiction novel writing is generic and takes the form that the producer of the program dictates. I feel that each and every successful fiction writer has their own individual writing traits and point of view on how they themselves (not F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Mark Twain, John Grisham, etc, etc) should produce a work of art. JUST WRITE! Don't give up. That's my free advice and it's worth more than anything this software has to offer.

Waste of money
When I first ordered the product I couldn't wait for it to come in the mail, but after receiving it I must say I am disappointed. I am a beginner and I have purchased three books on writing and was very pleased with all three of them. So with a brand new Dell computer with a matching laptop, reference books, a good dictionary, and good old microsoft word I was as ready as ready could be to begin my novel. I think I let the word template rope me into this product. I thought a template was a formatted blank form that would get me started and I found this product very confusing and mind boggling. I do not want to discourage anyone from purchasing it but if I had it to do again I would not have made the purchase, however I am thankful that I did not pay a whole lot for it and I will just have to chalk it up to a loss. I have thought about looking into purchasing another product such as this one but why get burned a second time. I think I will stick to the guide books, microsoft word, and my imagination and who knows, perhaps in the future this product may help me but for now I am rather disappointed. I could have made my own template with the books I had purchased. This product was a waste of time and money in my opinion. I didn't expect it to write my novel for me but to do like it said and hold my hand and guide me thorough with a "template".

a little stressful
I think I would have been very pleased with this product except for a problem that developed on my computer after I installed the software. I have windows xp and after I installed the software a serious error occured on my computer. I had never had a problem with my computer before I installed it. ... Read more

Features

• Instantly converts PDF files into Microsoft Word documents and forms
• Delivers an exact rendering of the original document's content
• Unmatched ease-of-use via the PDF Converter Assistant
• PDF passwords and encryption; PDF thumbnail preview and page ranges
• Processes PDF image files into Microsoft Word documents

Reviews (5)

Don't throw your money away on this product
The activation process for this product ties hardware configuration to the serial number. Then if you upgrade your hardware, you can not re-install this product on a new configuration (even after uninstalling from older hardware). Then try to get a hold of Scansoft, $19.95/phone call and $9.95/e-mail. Poor product performance and poor product support.

Bogus technical support
Technical support is HORRIBLE. They want to charge me $9.95 to just tell them about a "glitch" in their software....incredible.

This is a decent product for the money. It is not perfect and sometimes converting documents it does not always come through perfectly. I can live with that.

What bugs me is that there is a glitch with this software and how the plug-in works with Outlook. On the second start of Outlook the plug-in buttons for this - and my other plug-ins are gone! I uninstall this program and everything re-appears and works just fine. The issue is with this software.

In reality it is no big deal right? I just tell the company and they work on a fix....however, just for the right to tell them I have to pay $9.95 for that. What a crock..

Is this what Scansoft is all about? They cannot even take user feedback on the issue without a charge? You'd think Scansoft would want to make its product even better and fix the glitches.....but I am not paying $9.95 to tell them about their error. Really stupid Scansoft.

This product is HORRIBLE!! Don't Buy It!!
I tried using this product on some PDFs and it just would NOT convert them properly! I called tech support and they said sometimes it doesn't work too well why don't you buy our more expensive Omnipage product. They would not return my product nor give me free tech support with this product. After charging me $20.00 per incident on tech support they were unable to resolve my problem. They just said well "It does not work sometimes, buy our Omnipage product instead". Horrible customer service over there. ScanSoft truly exemplifies poor customer service.

Finally a way to break free from PDF hell
This product is really great.period. I hated working with PDFs because Acrobat Reader didn't allow me to do anything with the file. Adobe is pretty smart giving away Reader to promote the technology, but stupid for trying to rape you if you want to buy a full version of the product. ScanSoft's product works really well for me and is reasonably priced. Adobe is in trouble...

Excellent Product. Cheaper and Better than Adobe
This product gives all the PDF features that Adobe does not provide and at a fraction of the Adobe price. In addition, it is much easier to use than any other Adober software. In addition its compatibility and integration with Microsoft makes it an Adobe Killer. No other PDF integrates so well with Microsoft.

A must have if you have to deal with PDF. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Funny stuff!
Just got Humorous Greeting Card Factory, and I love it. I have an admittedly odd sense of humor, and I was a little skeptical if there'd be enough cards I like to justify the price of admission. But they run the gammut. They're really great-quality cards, too. I'm loving it.... ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

With its latest package, eMedia goes beyond the drills and tutorials of its earlier eMedia Guitar Method, instead targeting players who already have a familiarity with their instrument. Song-based and fully interactive, eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method covers a lot of ground in its single CD and thus just skims the surface of some topics. It also seems a bit lackluster when compared to Voyetra's exciting, rock and roll-inspired Teach Me Guitar Deluxe. Nevertheless, the program offers a barrage of mid-level and advanced chording, soloing, and picking techniques that should assist any student who seeks to become a more knowledgeable and skillful guitarist.

Divided into six categories--left-hand techniques, barre chords, strumming styles, scales, solos, and fingerstyle guitar--the program delivers no less than 175 individual lessons and 41 appendices featuring most every popular musical scale in both open and closed fingering patterns, and a handy virtual chord dictionary. Most lessons allow you to adjust the speed of the music to suit your personal preference and loop certain sections for repetitive replay. Several sessions also offer optional narratives and video, though the narratives are too abbreviated to be truly informative and the video snippets, where veteran instructor Kevin Garry offers personal advice on certain techniques, are equally condensed and confined to a small window.

eMedia has provided several additional perks to make your job a bit easier, including an integrated metronome to help keep the beat, an optional tablature display for those who can't read musical notation, and an animated fretboard that graphically demonstrates each lesson's fingering positions in both left- and right-handed formats. The program's tuner isn't quite so impressive, behaving just as erratically as most computer tuners, and certainly not a replacement for a handheld digital or quartz unit. A small but serviceable audio recorder allows you to build a library of your own efforts and even jam along with self-penned arrangements.

The program concerns itself more with clean and semi-clean acoustic and electric guitar rather than heavily distorted hard rock. A valuable but curious assortment of songs dominates its many lessons, in particular Grand Funk Railroad's mysterious "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home," The Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey," and Jim Croce's exquisite "Time in a Bottle." Several complex classical pieces end the proceedings, culminating in the celebrated but extremely demanding arpeggio masterpiece "Romanza." It should be noted that although none of the selections are original recordings, all are capably translated and played.

Although eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method isn't especially high-spirited, it does offer a deluge of material that will ultimately benefit any guitarist with the talent and the drive to successfully take it on. With a ton of challenging musical passages and cool licks, some nifty utilities, and plenty of guitar exploration, it is recommended to novice players with virtuoso desires. --Gordon Goble ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Teacher-in-a-box
I wasn't sure how this would work out, but at the price, the eMedia Guitar method offered a lot more than the books and CD's or DVD's in the local music store.

Features I really like:

Animated Fretboard diagram: How to place your fingers for chords and notes.

Chord Dictionary: Important for playing music--chords are the basis.

Metronome: Nice to have, I find metronomes annoying but they do bring your speed up as you practice.

Guitars and Their Parts: and what might be wrong with your.

Reading Chord Charts, Tablature, Notation: It's important to know how to read a chord chart, but musical notation, the backbone of all music, is not ignored. I think one should read music, so if you don't, you are encouraged to learn here.

The lessons for chords start small--one finger (like a G7), two fingers, three, and up to the tough ones with four or barred. This is rather how I learned because I learned guitar by first playing a ukelele! (The tuning of the last four strings is the same on a guitar and uke.) You are a lot less likely to suffer frustration and sore fingers if you can play a tune or two with a two-finger chord. You just don't strum the entire set of strings at first.

The strumming techniques include good video of the up and down method of the blues, and there is a section on blues guitar style, of which I was most interested.

For the money, hardly a risk. Find a good starter guitar and give it a try.

John Nemerovski Software Review
I have been playing and teaching beginner and intermediate level guitar for over 40 years. Learning this instrument is easy for most people who practice regularly.

Music students pay $-$$ per guitar lesson, and a lot of that money covers instruction and repetition that self-starters and motivated self-learners don't need to spend. At under $$ US for comprehensive instructional and reference material, eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method provides exceptional value for these students.

I remember being lukewarm to positive in my appraisal of Volume One, the beginner CD in this series. It has been revised since then. If it's as good as this Intermediate CD (Volume Two), beginners now have a much better chance of learning from scratch.

From my first encounter with eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method (abbreviated as "IGM"), the experience has consistently been positive. Installation of the cross-platform CD's software takes only a minute or two. Initial 23 pages of sensible, thorough Introduction and Tips cover all necessary instructions, commands, and options, including well-written and illustrated:

Animated Fretboard diagram

explanation of the Chord Dictionary and Metronome

description of Guitars and Their Parts, including holding, stringing, and tuning

details on Reading Chord Charts, plus Tablature and Music Notation.

Once students are "Ready to Take It to the Next Level" the lessons begin with straightforward left-hand melody techniques. Subsequent topics include barre chords, right hand strumming styles, "Using Scales and Building Chords," plus solo and fingerstyle methodology.

One set of icons on the page of each song or exercise takes you directly to spoken short descriptions of a song's history, or pithy comments such as "Use a pick so your fingers don't fall off." A different icon launches the Animated Fretboard's display, playing the song or exercise while fret numbers display simultaneously with a running presentation of the notation or tablature for the piece. Very impressive, all of it, and not nearly as complicated as it appears from reading the above paragraph.

Navigational arrows lower right easily take you forward or back one page, and the Tools and Goto menus at top offers complete navigation throughout the entire application, including:

Scale Directory and audio enhanced Chord Dictionary (REALLY GOOD!)

Tuner and Metronome

Self-recording feature.

Additional observations:

1. Set your screen resolution to one higher than 800x600 for best viewing.

2. The IGM's CD responds quickly and quietly when playing its instructional QuickTime sound and picture files.

3. A special icon launches short QuickTime movies in which a very competent guitarist demonstrates the techniques0 with close-up camera on the active hand.

4. Colored live embedded links take you directly to related chapters, if desired. (Is there a way to jump right back? I can't figure that out.)

5. Special mentions of differences between electric guitars and acoustic instruments are given, when appropriate.

Instruction is segmented logically, with high-quality attention to detail. I plan to begin using the IGM software, movies, and sound files immediately with my students. Its cost is a bargain for the reference features alone.

If you know your way around the guitar and want to "Take It to the Next Level," IGM is easy to recommend. When all your prior instruction has come from a human teacher, the comprehension curve for this multimedia application will seem steep at first. Remember that repetition is your friend, music students. Take your time, practice a lot, and you'll be glad you purchased eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method.

Nemo's MyMac.com "Q/D/S/V Standard" for all product reviews:

Q = QUALITY, including ease of installation, performance, stability, and general happy relationship with everything on my system;

D = DOCUMENTATION, both printed and electronic, plus appropriate website material;

S = SUPPORT, in the form of email, phone, and web updates;

V = VALUE, which includes both original cost and subsequent expenses.

Depending upon previous instruction and self-teaching skills of guitar student, our rating is:

4 out of 5
A very decent product. Worth the time and investment, but look for competing products.
- TO -
BR> Fantastic products! Well worth your money and investment. The best of its kind.
John Nemerovski

Great approach to lead guitar!
When you think of guitar heroes you think of their lead guitar prowess. This awesome guitar CD-ROM does an amazing job of teaching lead guitar through a ton of scales, techniques and licks. After each scale, you'll get some lick or song to practice with. There are even some fully transcribed solos by Hendrix and Clapton. The coolest thing about Emedia is their animated guitar neck that plays all the songs. It shows bend and lets you slow the songs down. There is also a lot on rhythm guitar techniques.

Overhauled version of Guitar Method 2 rocks!
I'm a fan of eMedia. In the 2 years I've owned a guitar I tried to teach myself how to play time after time only to end with frustration. Being in college I'm too cheap to buy lessons and too busy to sit down at a scheduled time. I picked up eMedia's Guitar Method to get the basics of playing down, and after only 4 months of playing I'm finally ready for Intermediate Guitar Method.

Intermediate Guitar Method is incredible! Unlike Guitar Method 2 it has an animated fretboard just like in GM1. It has also expanded it's lesson library from 85 to 175 lessons. It has an expanded chord dictionary with over 1,000 chords providing sound for each chord (a huge step up from GM1's 250 chord dictionary). What I didn't like about GM1 was that it seemed to focus on using the acoustic guitar. Many of the recordings (Clapton, Hendrix) in IGM are played with an electric, which offers a nice balance between the two. The techniques that are learned in IGM are advanced, but I'm convinced that there is no other software available that will make them easier to learn or more enjoyable to play. ... Read more

Features

• Create unique Hallmark cards for any occasion; personalize with family photos
• Over 3,500 Hallmark cards and projects; exclusive Hallmark fonts
• 1,000+ new designs; 5,000+ exclusive clip art images; send e-cards
• Customizable event planner keeps track of birthdays and anniversaries
• Make scrapbook pages, photo frames, invitations, certificates, and more

Features

• 15,000+ exclusive greeting cards and customizable projects
• 80,000+ beautiful graphics; 500+ fonts
• 5000+ easy-to-customize sentiments
• Advanced digital photo editor; import images from any source
• Electronic greetings; dozens of additional creative projects

Reviews (7)

Thanks for al the Help!!!!
We have been using Greeting Card Factory for over nine months and have never had better experiences with the software and Tech Support. Thanks to techs, for the knowledge and friendly, professionalism, that makes it a great experecience to work with this company.

Amazing software for an amazing price!
I have had this software now for just about one week. And in that time frame, I have printed and mailed 5 cards (would have cost me $15), custom made 5 envelopes, made return address labels for friends and family, printed out the pre-made paper airplanes for my kids and soooo much more.

I can't believe all this program can do right out of the box. I really can't praise this software enough. It has so many different options for cards, notes, labels, door hangers, origami etc. The possibilities are truly endless.

The cards look professional, and if you download a UPC font, you can give that card the final "store bought" look.

You can not go wrong with this purchase if you send cards or have kids. I figure I will this program will pay for itself in about another 2 months with the upcoming holidays and birthdays!

I'm printing on a Canon i860 and have to admit that the quality is definitely store bought.

Easy to use, until you want to print
I was very impressed with this software package. You can view the cards you would like to creat easily, edit them easily, change images, easily. The only issue I found, there are far to many steps to print on the appropriate size note card. That is by far the most time consuming part of using this program.

Good Program but some problems
Greeting Card Factory Deluxe 3.0 is a pretty good greeting card program although it does hog a lot of resources. Greeting Card Factory Deluxe has two browser-based project types: web albums and slide shows. You can transform greeting cards, photo cards and note cards into HTML pages. The program turns the individual panels into separate .jpg graphics that are placed on a background of your choice with buttons for going between pages. These HTML files are then viewable through an Internet browser. At least that is how it is supposed to work. It works pretty well with web albums and slide shows except for inserting sound files into the projects. The sound files do not work correctly and I end up haveing to edit the HTML to get the sound files to play at all. You shouldn't have to do that. Greeting cards do not work correctly at all when published as HTML. When viewed in a browser the only thing you see is the front page. I think this is because there is no assets folder created when you publish a greeting card as HTML as there is with Web Albums and side shows. The graphics for the navigation buttons are located in the assets folder. I have contacted Nova about the problem a few times but have never received a response. If you plan on using the program just for normal greeting cards or email attachments the program should work fine for you. However, be aware that the web publishing portions do not work correctly.

The Gold Standard Of Greeting Card Programs!
Having tried them all, I can safely say that Art Explosion's "Greeting Card Deluxe, Version 3" is far and away the best program if it's kind. You might expect "Hallmark" or Broderbund's "American Greetings" to offer higher quality templates but surprisingly this is doesn't seem to be the case. For the most part, Art Explosion's graphics and layouts are the closest to what you would expect to find in a good card shop. With over 15,000 cards and 5000+ sentiments you're sure to find something appropriate for any occassion. Additionally, users looking for some added value will find a nice assortment of craft related "project" templates and a "Video CD Greeting Card" creator.

The application launches quickly and the much improved program interface and "double sided print wizard" are intuitive and user friendly for young and old alike. Even those with limited computer or graphics experience can reasonably expect to produce high quality greeting cards within minutes of installing the program. Those who wish to customize their projects to a greater degree will appreciate the rich assortment of easy to use editing tools, 80,000 additional graphics and 500+ font library. Although most users won't need it, Art Explosion has included a well illustrated 100+ page guide book in addition to the on-screen help file.

As for possible negatives, the size of the application might be a bit too much for those with older computers. The "compact" installation (which requires the user to insert content discs while creating cards) checks in at near 600mb while the full monty (certainly the most convenient) requires up to 1.2 gigs of drive space. There are no provisions for desktop publishing (newsletters, brochures, and the like) which is fine by me as such applications are better left to application specific programs such as Serif's "Page Plus" or "MS Publisher". As the name would impliy, Greeting Card Factory is mostly about (you guessed it...) greeting cards (and PLENTY of them!). If that's what you're looking for, you're not likely to find a better program for the job. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Regarding: American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 8
I currently have American Greetings CreataCard Gold 3, and I love it. It has been so easy to use, and I like the fact that I can create an envelope, which comes up with my return address already on it, and address it with a single click of the mouse. Then I can change the font and add an image. With the Platinum 8, I have not been able to do that at all. I tried to do their "Mail Merge", even had the instructions in front of me, but it would not work. The setup is not nearly as handy to use, and it is always trying to send me to the Internet for images. I am very disappointed with this product.

Poor Upgrade
I have Create a Card Platinum 5 and really like it. I haven't upgraded for some time because I thought it was good as is. But I decided to buy the Platinum 8 to check it out. What a rip off. Hardly any upgrades at all in the format. A few new graphics, but what was available to me before is now only available on line. I felt taken buying this and think this company should be ashamed of themselves.

CreataCard Platinum 8
I've been using CreataCard for eight years. This is my third updated version. The previous version was Gold 2. I have to agree with the other two who wrote their reviews, in that I was disappointed. What I really missed was the rotating screen saver. Another feature that was changed was the art format, which you could open like a book. I'm fortunate in that I still have the Gold 2. If this is your first version of CreataCard, it's worth the buy. If you have, as I do, Gold 2, save your money. In all fairness, since I didn't pay full price, I have chosen to keep the Platinum 8 version, but I will not buy another update.

Hallmark Card deluxe 200-2004
I think that the Hallmark Card deluxe 2000-2004 is great.
I think it helps kids draw and helps to make thier family happy.
If possible try to send me as many of these a possible without going
over $20.00. Thank you so much dianna

Creatacard Platinum 8
So far this is a real dud, much less then I had expected. I have used creatacard 3 plus in the past and this can't come close to being as nice as that one. Platinum 8 does not have the calender with all of the holiday capabilities. I am having trouble printing out my calender in the landscape mode. "Forget me not" will not appear when I turn on my computer which I miss a lot. ... Read more

Features

• Nearly a million digital images for your personal use, on 8 DVDs
• Hundreds of thousands of fully scalable vector clip art images & illustrations
• nearly 400,000 images and graphics designed for the Web, andnow available to you
• 1,500 animations you can add freely to any Web page, presentation or other project
• Take advantage of Photo-Objects - the pre-masked set of photographic objects you can add with drag-and-drop simplicity

Reviews (2)

Good solid collection on DVD
This may be the only collection a smaller designer or hobbyist may ever need, as it's so dang HUGE. The interface is pretty good for searching through this monster, and automates the easy export to a wide variety of formats for various uses.

It's important to note that despite the "media" statement at the top of this page, this is on DVD, not CD-ROM; which is a good thing, as the 30GB of pictures would take up nearly 50 CDs, weight a ton, and need a much bigger box!

800K is enough.
Need clip art? Then get this. It has nearly everything it seems. I searched for "cabinet" and there were an amazing amount of cabinets. It is just a wonderful set of art for a small price. People who do web design will love this product. The search engine is pretty good. I needed to download the patch though, since the search engine kept crashing. ... Read more

Product Description

Sibelius and PhotoScore Pro Bundle. Sibelius 3 is the brand new version of this award-winning software, with over 200 new features and feature enhancements. PhotoScore Professional is the most advanced software package of its kind. The Sibelius Educational Editions are intended solely for the use of qualified students, educators, educational institutions, and church and music ministry personnel residing in North/Central/South America. ... Read more