Features

• Create and use borders for your patterns, or embellish them with beads
• Design your own custom stitches and measure your pattern with the enhanced Grid Design Rulers
• Import/underlay function lets you add any graphic image or file to a grid -- add your own stitches to create a unique pattern
• Redesigned Floss Palette Interface, for easier removing and blending -- and an added Floss List adds to the design potential
• Grid Shortcuts help you decide what changes to make with a mouseclick, instead of going to a menu or changing your drawing mode

Reviews (1)

remember to save your work!
I only do cross-stitch patterns so I can't speak to how effective this software program is for embroidery or bargello work although it does have regular, half and back stitches, French knots plus a bunch of custom stitches (smyrna cross, trellis, eyelet, chessboard, stars, etc).

You start with a basic template where you select a "canvas" by size (in inches or in stitches), specify the number of thread strands and choose a cloth color. This creates a blank, grid-type canvas where you apply your choice of stitches. The program starts with a standard palette to which you subtract or add colors and one of the best features of the program is the fact that it lists hundreds of floss colors by name and number. Included are DMC (six strand floss, rayon and metallic), Anchor, JP Coates, Kreinik varieties, Maderia classic and a number of Mill Hill beads. I have no idea how up-to-date the thread collections are, however; the DMC section doesn't list the variegated threads plus the Mill Hill bead sections don't seem nearly large enough to encompass all their beads. Something the manufacturer might want to think of adding is a feature that would correlate DMC colors with Anchor colors so if you are publishing your design you can list both sets of colors.

The color palette offers you a choice of colors by number or by color range. You select the color you want, add it to your palette and assign it a symbol (there are 200 available). Removing colors is very easy plus you have the option of replacing colors (eg turn all stitches done in "carnation lt" to "forest green md").

Other handy features: spray (to color in a whole section); horizontal and vertical mirrors; center; and erase. You can zoom in to see sections of the design close up and you can remove the grid entirely. There are also options to show the design in black and white, in color and in color with symbols. Another nice feature is that you can switch to text mode using any TrueType font.

The program gives you a large number of "cutesy" designs and borders in a special library so you can cut and paste them on your designs. You can also import your own pictures and photographs directly to the library. A word of warning -- copying jpgs doesn't work very well, especially with anything over 40x40 square, as jpgs tend to blur pixels so you don't get a clear, sharp image.

Problems: I have read their instructions and tried everything I can think of but I can't get the program to copy part of a design and then move it to another part of the canvas. If you select "copy" the program picks up the section you choose and leaves a blank space behind. You can get around this by deleting the section and then pasting the original back on the canvas after which you paste more sections (one at a time) to the canvas, but this is time-consuming and clunky.

I have several times added the same color to the palette by mistake. This is a real pain to correct as you can't simply replace the second one with the first or combine them. The program really should tell you if the color you have selected is already in the palette. Also, if I have been working on designs for two-three hours, the program very occasionally turns itself off. On using the program again you do get a message saying there is a design that hasn't been saved so, theoretically, you can retrieve your work that way.

If you work on a design and later decide to import a palette you have used in another design, you will get one of the more cryptic error messages I have ever seen: "You cannot load a new palette unless there are no stitches set." Why you can't add colors this way seems strange to me, it would certainly be a handy feature.

I don't what other stitching programs are out there so I can't compare this one to them. I do like it and it's a lot of fun to play with despite the fact that it is a bit clumsy to use ("undo" as a icon on the toolbar would be nice). I have made seven original designs I like very much and plan to make more. One more thing: you can choose a regular time (month/six months/year) for the software to contact M&R for updates. I assume this means you can download corrections or new features as they become available. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Adobe Acrobat Capture 3.0 is a professional production tool that teams with your scanner to convert volumes of paper documents into searchable Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Accurate OCR, advanced page and content recognition, and powerful cleanup tools let you turn all your important paper-based information into high-quality electronic documents ready for publication via the Web, intranets, extranets, CD-ROM, and more. Sophisticated productivity features streamlined processing from start to finish, so you can get your jobs done efficiently. ... Read more

Features

• The finest collection of top-quality, royalty-free images
• Top-quality images on both CD and online
• Free, instant access to Clipart.com's clipart collection
• 2.5 million+ illustrations, photos, fonts, sounds, videos, and animations
• Variety of categories offers a great selection

Reviews (2)

Misleading software
This software sounded like the answer to a prayer. 2.5 million cliparts should cover everything. Forget it. The box came with 3 cd's, no catalog or instructions. The installation disc corrupted the My Computer file on my computer. The other 2 discs had a list of wav files and some buttons on them. I called Nova for help and the tech tried to install the program with me but to no avail. The comment was that it is a new program. He finally got me into the web site with clipart that you get free with this program. What they don't tell you is that most of the clipart is online on this site and after a year you will have to pay $100 to continue your subscription. Needless to say I restored my computer back to before I used this program, boxed it up and returned it to Amazon. Amazon stood behind the purchase as always and gave great service. My advice--look for another program.

Where are all of the top-quality images?
I am a Macintosh fan and try not to have any Microsoft products on my computer, including Microsoft Word. So, I was dismayed when the instructions for this clip-art collection were in Microsoft Word. As far as I know, there are no other instructions on the web or anywhere else, and this company would not tell me over the phone how to use the software (unless I wanted to pay $10 extra.) I have fiddled with this program and as far as I can see, there are only about 100 images that are high quality. (Maybe there are more, but I have not been able to figure it out.) Even though this program only cost $30, I have not been able to come up with any images that are usable, and have not been able to come up with a complete set of instructions. I feel like I have been ripped off! ... Read more

Features

• Work with the effective Doll House view for better space-planning -- measure room size, furniture placement, and traffic flow by using a 3D overhead view with no roof
• Complete library of over 4,000 items you can add to your design, for the perfect-looking dream home
• Material Painter lets you see how granite, cherry wood and other materials look in your home -- along with every shade of paint
• Draw ideas & inspiration from over 1,500 included sample plans
• Generate realistic shadows and day/night views to get a complete look the home you've created

Amazon.com Product Description

With more than 130 years of experience, Rand McNally knows whattravelers need and want in mapping and travel planning products.StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe offers routing, travel planning,organizational tools, and area attractions to users--all in aneasy-to-follow design with helpful guides and tutorials that make planning andfinding directions easy. This is the ultimate routing and travelplanning suite for the business traveler and vacationer. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Couldn't get this puppy off the ground
I wasn't able to install this software and my machine exceeded all the requirements. I am very frustrated and disappointed with this product. I chose this over MS's map software because it was Rand McNally, a respected map maker. Apparently software is not their forte. I now have to make a trek back to the store to return this product and buy the MS software. A waste of time, a huge aggravation, and a big disappointment.

What a waste of my hard earned money!
Microsoft Streets & Trips is much easier to use, more flexible in planning routes and does not require access to the internet to get turn-by-turn instructions. I'm very disappointed in this product.

Difficult to use
I have attempted to use this product many time for trips and it is at best difficult to use. It frequently locks up when calculating the route or accessing trip sense. The fact that it chooses ridiculous routes is not unusual for map software, but again attempts to tweak the route by using the "prefer segment" feature often doesn't work or locks up.
The PDA downloads are virtually worthless.
It is difficult to use Streetfinder also in that when in high zoom, many streets are not indicated by their state of federal route numbers.
My opinion is stay away from this product.

I'd pay hundreds for one that does it all well - where is it
I have been using this software for 3 years and will continue to use it. BUT, I find myself frequently finding ways in which the program could and should be improved. We travel with a pop-up camper for 70 days a year, logging in an average of 6000 mile /year. Plenty of "test" time.
Pros:
- Cheap. A limited version was free and I liked it enough to by the $30 Deluxe 2001. It is now packaged with the StreetFinder which I do not have.
- GPS function is a hoot. It is not always on the nut for coordination with the map, but it works well and it gives my wife something to do in lieu of correcting my driving.
- Mapping a basic route is very simple. Major roads and most secondary highways are right on the money.
- Using the program saved me at least once on every trip by correcting a missed turn to re-routing through detours.

Cons:
- Zoom. Maps are primative at low zoom levels and have many errors at high zoom levels, but generally provides "passable" information. It's easy to miss detail on the maps unless you remember to zoom in. It is slow in redrawing a zoomed or re-centered map.
- Missing information. As campers who prefer the more rustic locations we find that some of our preferred campgrounds are missing from the database. For example, there is one listing each for the White Mountains, The Green Mountains and the Alleghany Mountain National Forests. It does not list individual campgrounds of which there are many. Some state parks are missing too. There is little excuse for that as all the information is on the net.
- Commercial. There is lots of info on private campgrounds but not all. I suspect that there might have been listing fee involved and that takes presidence over accuracy. Unfortunate.
- Outdated. One campground changed their name in 1996 and it still was not listed properly in the 2001 edition. We drove past it 4 times before we believed the GPS and went in to check. Many other examples of that.
- Inaccuracies. It was kind of fun to see that we were traveling in the Bay of Fundy. Most of the Canadian and rural areas maps had poorer coorination with the GPS.

Recommendation: Extensive review of the reviews does not turn up a program that fulfills the promise of mapping and travel planning software. I'd pay hundreds for the program that does it all. Where is it?
In the meantime, this program provides a service and is more fun than frustrating. Where else can you spend $30 and keep your wife entertained for days on end?

Tripmaker is bugridden
TripMaker is so buggy that I would be reluctant to buy any Rand McNally product again. I bought it very cheaply at Costco -- I do not care about the money -- it is the lack of quality that bothers me.
There were several error messages during the install process, and the program hangs whenever I try to input a date. In addition, its routing and street level detail is primitive, to be kind. ... Read more

Features

• Over 1100 delicious Betty Crocker recipes, with hundreds of full-color photos
• Easy-to-use interface ; add your own recipes; search by ingredients or keywords
• Create weekly menus and shopping lists automatically from menus
• How-to instructional cooking video clips
• Download recipes and shopping lists to any Palm-based handheld

Reviews (6)

Very Pleased!!
I love this software! It exceeded my expectations. I am so happy with it. I had one question so I called and spoke to a nice gal who helped me. She was very friendly and knowledgeable. I am also very pleased to find that they send me more recipes for free each month in the form of a cooking newsletter. I highly recommend this to everyone.

Works for me!
Installed on XP Pro on laptop and desktop without any problems (or patches). Does everything I need and has great recipes.

Don't buy it
I downloaded and installed the XP patch, thinking that would prevent it from crashing - but it didn't help. Every time I add a recipe (which is a trial in itself) or create a menu, it crashes. I'm have to accept that I wasted my money and go back to my old Mastercook software. Don't waste your money on it too.

Great product from a great company.
I've been very pleased with my Cook'n software so far. Browsing recipes is quick, and I especially like the search feature where you type in ingredients and it finds all the matching recipes. I also like looking through the pictures of the Betty Crocker recipes. It's helpful to see how a dish will look before making it. The menus and shopping list features are fun because it will tell you what you need to buy, although the pricing information doesn't seem quite accurate. I was also delighted to find that there are additional recipe sets that are available from the company for download or on CD. They have lots of cooking related stuff, and are very friendly and helpful, based on the response to some questions I emailed to them.

Nice program, easy too
I'm not a computer person, but I received this from my husband for Christmas and I really like it. The Betty Crocker recipes are nice (pictures too), and I'm also using it to keep my own recipes on the computer.

The program is nice and straightforward, and the recipes are organized into cookbooks and chapters. Adding recipes is easy because it will fill in the ingredients as you type, so it goes fast. I had a few questions at first, but their tech support was great (I spoke to a real person!) I also like the printing options, although they need to add a print preview feature.

Once I learned the basics, I was surprised at how much flexibility there is. You can add ingredients, do shopping lists, menus, and even plan out 6-months or more. Overall, I recommend it especially if you have tons of recipe cards and scraps of paper all over the place! ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

If you collect Junior League cookbooks and covet your yellowed recipe cards from Grandma, this might be the cooking program for you. Many of the 600 recipes in Cook'n with Taste of Home will bring back memories: green bean casserole, Jell-O salads, church supper hot dishes--they're all here. As the box says, "Forget running to a specialty store for goat cheese or sun-dried tomatoes, these recipes call only for ingredients you have right on hand." If you must have your feta, find another program. But if cheddar's OK by you, read on.

The recipes here are all family fare and comfort food; pot roast, Instant Party Potatoes, and a cake that actually has Coca-Cola among the ingredients were a few that caused flashbacks. Interestingly, we also found recipes for venison and pheasant--ingredients we don't usually "have right on hand."

This CD-ROM is easier to navigate than some of the other Cook'n titles, and the production quality of the tutorial videos sprinkled throughout the program is also improved. Cooks can adjust the main page to browse by category, ingredient, or photograph (500 out of 600 recipes have pictures). There are 10chapters of recipes, which range from main dishes to soups to salads to desserts.

This program quickly jumps through all of the hoops we expect cooking CD-ROMs to manage: it adjusts serving sizes, compiles shopping lists and nutritional analysis charts from recipes, helps cooks find recipes based on what they have in the cupboard, and creates weekly, even yearly, menus for the ultra-organized. Recipes and shopping lists can be downloaded onto Palm Pilots, and old-fashioned folks can print these recipes on three-by-five cards (not provided with the program).

For truly nonintuitive cooks, this program will translate the recipe's required 2 cups of tomato sauce into the required number of cans you must buy, then give you a choice of whether you want to put Hunts, Progresso, or Classico on the list for when you swing by the store. We think this is a bit much: at some point, the anal-retentive capabilities of these cooking programs will bog cooks down just as much as sloppily filed index cards from Granny. We'd rather see more recipes and fewer brand names. --Anne Erickson ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Awesome Software
I purchased this software, just so I could download grocery lists into the palm for grocery store shopping. I soon discovered it could do much more for me. I am always asked by friends to write down my recipes...now, it's just a click away. No more looking for pen and paper and writing it a hundred times.
I can even print the recipes out using decorative cards. I finally have a recipe box that everything is a uniform size,legible, and decorative at the same time. I just can't say enough about this awesome software!

Some software bugs- but not bad
There are two reasons to buy recipe software. The first is for the recipes. I did not buy the software for the recipes and I have not tried any recipes. I bought it for the second reason: to manage my recipes using their software. Generally the software works and it is better than the old DOS based software that I have used for years. There are some problems:

1) When printing, you can not specify how many copies you want. Each time you print, you must go through the whole routine.

2) Once you assign a recipe to a category, it stays. As far as I can tell you can not unassign a category.

3) The documentation is poor. The user has to be willing to experiment to figure out how it works. For example, the "Close" button is really a "Save and Close". If you use the little x in the upper right hand corner, nothing is saved.

4) On my computer, the mouse is deactivated whenever a pop-up box appears. To get my mouse working again, I have to press the tab key. This is true for the print box, the intro box, the exit box, etc...

I e-mailed DVO about problems 2 and 4. For problem 2, I received no response (I sent 3 e-mails on this problem). On Problem 4, I received a prompt response requesting more information. I responded. I waited. After a couple of weeks, I was told that I my problem is unique. It might be my mouse driver. I downloaded a new mouse driver from Microsoft. No change. I have over fifty programs on my system. The only place this problem appears is on DVO software. I may have a system problem, but, something DVO is doing is contributing.

This software is better than my old software. The software does have some nice features such scaling the menu for the number of servings requested and allowing photographs to be attached to recipes. I will continue using it but I have not ceased looking for better program. Maybe DVO will read this and fix the weaknesses.

I never tried the software with my PDA since it does not work with Pocket PC's. It likes the Palm OS.

The menu planner seems to work.

NOTE:

After I posted this review, DVO sent me an e-mail on how to delete categories from recipes. It works, but the documention still is missing this piece of information.

From the Pres...
As the President of DVO and developer of this software, I couldn't help but respond to the comments written in the last review...especially since the reviewer said "Maybe DVO will read this and fix the weaknesses."

I will fix the weaknesses as soon as I find one. The truth is, I was quite surprised by some of the claims made regarding the "Close" button really being a "Save and Close" and nothing being saved if you "use the little x in the upper right hand corner."

The guy sounds very nice and he seems sincere so the nicest word I can think of to describe his comments is INACCURATE. It's true, the documentation could be better and allowing the user to specify how many copies he wants to print could be explained better.

However, the other statements are totally incorrect and it is unfortunate because they misrepresent this product. My support people turn around support e-mail messages within 24 hours. They are available via telephone, e-mail, and online chat. My e-mail address is made available to all customers. It can be found on the home page of my web site: www.dvo.com.

I can't think of any other way to help confused people like the author of the last review...who recently converted from DOS to Windows. I guess I could include a thicker User's Guide but many times that confuses people like him even more. I figure I'd rather make myself and my staff available to answer any questions that may come up because no matter how thick the manual, someone will always have a question.

That's my philosophy and it is very different from most of my competitors who do not offer telephone support or the e-mail address to the President and developer.

We also offer a free monthly newsletter, free software updates, additional recipe downloads for free, and much more. If I give away anything else, my wife will have my head!

I hope this helps someone out there. I don't know if it's good for the President and developer to write a review about his own product...but I just couldn't help it. (...)

taste of home cookbook awesome
i use the cookbook at home and at work,,i work at a mission so the big recipes are cool,,the sloppy joe recipe i use is the best mix ive had..

Mom Loved the Program
I got this for my mom as a Christmas present. She was looking for a way for storing her recipes on the computer. She loves how simple the program is to setup and get started. She set up her own cookbook with chapters she wanted and started adding recipes with 30 minutes. ... Read more

Book Description

Richard Wagner's entire "Ring of the Nibelungen" on one CD-ROM.The definitive Vienna Philharmonic recording, Sir Georg Solti conducting.

* Complete piano-vocal score, German libretto with English translation, and running commentary-all synchronized to the music.

* All 14.5 hours of pristine digitized sound captured by The Media Café's new audio compression technology.

* More than one hundred original essays with detailed explanations.

* Extensive full-color image database from contemporary and historical sources.

* Comprehensive analysis of all the leitmotifs along with hypertext links to specific musical occurrences.

* Search functions instantaneously isolate and index individual leitmotif, characters, and musical examples throughout the entire cycle.

One disc with 14.5 hours of pristine digitized sound.

Computer Requirements:
Pentium Processor PC
Windows 95 or Windows NT
8MB Ram
4xCD-ROM Drive
800x600 Screen Resolution with 16 bit color ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A graduate level course on Wagner's "Ring"
When I was a graduate student in college, I took a two-semester course on the operas of Richard Wagner: the first semester was on his "other" operas and the second was on "Der Ring des Nibelungen". The second semester was spent in Germany, where we attended a performance of the complete "Ring" at Bayreuth (glorious!). Finding a copy of this Ring Disc ... was a real treasure (I must have bought the last one available, unfortunately, as it now available only as a used CD). This program really allows me to dig into the Ring once again, after so many years. It's a shame that the audio quality isn't any better, but 14.5 hours on one CDR is still remarkable. I recently purchased the new DVD set of the Ring, with Pierre Boulez (That's another review entirely!), and find the Ring Disc a helpful supplement. It is a shame that it seems to POP, but at the original ... list price, no wonder.

If you can find a copy, all you Wagner fans, buy it!

Excellent way to enjoy the Ring -- Incredible value too!
This CD is amazing in that it presents the entire Ring Cycle -- all 14 hours or so -- in very acceptable (albeit mono) sound on a single computer disk. The recording used is the famous one George Solti made with the leading Wagners singers from the late 1950s and early 60s that is considered one of the best recordings of these works. The software side of the disk is great, in that you can instantly choose the opera you want to go to, along with act and scene within the act. You can follow the operas in three ways (simultaneously if you want) -- there is a piano score, the libretto, and (very nice) a part of the screen that lists the leitmotifs that are being played. You can readily move through any part of the opera with a scroll bar, and there are lots of hyperlinks that take you to musical examples and some (almost a 100) very nice short essays on the Ring and its characters. This really is a great piece of software if you are interested in the Ring, and is a good value at...the list price..., and a truly unbelievable value at the [price] Amazon is now asking for it.

A wonderful resource
This CD-Rom is the best guide I've come across in 18 years of studying the Ring music dramas. The highly compressed music (14.5 hours on 1 CD!) is recorded in mono, but still sounds okay. The CD plays on my Windows 98 PC with no installation, no technical hassles at all. There are numerous hyperlinks so you can go to any section of the 4 operas in one click. Most impressive of all is the thorough cataloging of the leitmotifs. The commentary here is especially inciteful, illustrating how leitmotifs are developed and related to other leitmotifs, musically and dramatically. The explanation of the "love-curse" motif (usually mislabled the "renunciation motif) is particularly good.
I can't recommend this highly enough. (...)

Hooray, I wish I could have bought this 10 years ago
The sound quality on this issue is pretty similar to that ofthe CDs, given that both are digitally remastered from original analogtapes. It would be well worth investing in higher quality computer speakers to take full advantage of the fine audio quality of this release. I have seen this package offered for sale only once outside of Amazon.com, and as I recall the retailer was asking a great deal more. The additional features of this issue make it very valuable for music study, the piano scores bought separately cost a fair sum. It is also very helpful to have the leitmotives (or as Wagner called them, Gedachnismotiven, meaning motives of memory) almost musically dissectable from the scores. All in all, this is one of the most attractive options available of acquiring the complete Ring. The Solti is not my favourite cycle, either as a whole or in part, but at this price, with all the extra features and conveniences, it would be very hard to give this set anything less than a full recommendation. Those who have already invested in other versions of this cycle on CD, including Solti's very popular recording, should not be too concerned about the costs of duplication. The extra and unique features of this issue make it well worth the outlay.

A technological triumph!
If this disc is ever reissued, grab it! It is not an audio CD as described by Amazon. It is a CD-ROM with the entire Solti Ring in one disc (computer sound, of course). On video you get the score (piano reduction), the text, an English translation, and commentary. All the leitmotivs are marked, and you can stop anywhere and get all the instances of a leitmotivs, from first to last, and go to any point and hear any that you want. When they showed it to Solti, he was just amazed how much is on this one disc. (Issued with his approval.) This disc is hugely helpful if you want to get under the skin of the Ring and really get to know it. ... Read more

Features

• Record audio and MIDI tracks using any instrument, vocals, or audio loops
• Write music for CDs, sheet music, home videos, and the Internet
• Edit, arrange, and mix music; make loops out of any MP3 or WAV file
• Integrates seamlessly with Cakewalk Kinetic and other Rewire synths
• Includes Pyro Express CD Maker and WAV Ripper

Reviews (5)

Poor quality artwork compared with older versions
I agree with the reviewer who advised: "don't bother to upgrade." Compared with version 8 (which unfortunately has some printing problems under Windows XP), the quality of the artwork in version 15 is poor. Gone are many of the cartoons and genuinely humorous pictures, gone are the victorian prints and original art collections, which made the older version a pleasure to use, and offered really unusual material.

It's still a decent program. It is easy to use and gives you access to many images on the DVD or CDs as well as online. But the quality of those images is so-so, especially compared with older versions of the program.

junk software
Wouldn't install, Print Master or 3D. In fact 3D registered me but did not complete the installation and when I e-mailed Broderbund about this problem, I got no response what so ever. Tried to return this junk software and store wouldn't take it back.

Makes a Pleasure out of creating cards
I have had two previous Printmaster programs but this one, especially being on DVD, is a dream. Acccess to and download of two free card program editions from the Broderbund site has been a most pleasant experience. This version is so much more in content than the other two I have used.

don't bother upgrading
I bought a new computer with windows XP and decided if i was going to be running the newest Windows I should run the newest Printmaster. I upgraded from Platinum 11 and I'm sending back Platinum 15 and re-installing 11. More than half the images are online now. You get three art discs and have to sort through online garbage to get the rest. It's to get you to sign up for their Million image club for another $$. They took away some features and added nothing. Quality went down. Wait for them to bring it back up before upgrading.

Great Product
I recently purchased the new Printmaster Platnium 15, due to a new operating system (XP). I had used Print Artist for the past 5 years. I have only used the PrintMaster a few times in the last two weeks, but I already love it. The graphics are easily accessible, organized so they are quick to find. It is very easy to narrow your search with few key words or categories. The tutorials are very helpful and easy to understand. I've used the tutorials for photo editing, cropping, layering, etc. Everything so far seems very self-expanatory. The software was easy to load also. I was dreading having to switch to something new. I am very pleased and not a bit disappointed. I would recommend this product to anyone. My choice to buy this product was partly based on customer reviews I read. Thanks! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

The renowned journal of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons gaming for the last 25 years is now available as a completely searchable CD-ROM. You can search for words, phrases, even juxtaposed words in any article printed in issues 1 through 250. You can even filter your search by year, issue numbers, title, or body text. The archive comes with a host of viewing options that are optimized for viewing text or art panels. Though the user interface is not compatible with the Macintosh OS, Mac gamers can read any of the articles with Adobe Acrobat. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Solid content with poor delivery
It would be asking a lot to have 250+ issues of a magazine delivered in the most high tech framework, one that would meet future standards seamlessly. (Crying about the program not working on niche platforms like UNIX is a little odd, given that this is a consumer product.) But TSR's choice to go with a proprietary interface that doesn't work as well as the shareware Acrobat Reader is just odd. As a result, less tech-savvy users will find this product frustrating, trying to navigate using TSR's "kewl" interface, when instead they should just download the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.com. Having said that, once users have made the leap to using Acrobat, this product is a treasure. With a good printer -- or simply a monitor that's comfortable enough to read on -- this would be a bargain at twice the price. I've already spent many, many hours reading reprints of articles I never saw before, and haven't even gone digging for fondly remembered stories and comic strips. This is a must for any D&D fan, from any era. (And now that D&D and "Dragon" magazine are owned by Wizards of the Coast, hopefully they'll learn from the mistakes made here and do better with their electronic products.)

Takes up less shelf space than the magazines
I have/had a large collection of Dragon Magazines from my junior high school and high school days. On the one hand, I never wanted to get rid of this little bit of my history, with its invaluable cache of articles, ideas, and comics. They are a veritable time capsule of RPG gaming during the golden age of the hobby. Fun memories of my nerdy youth.

On the other hand, I never wanted to keep the magazines so badly that I felt like "going to bat" with my wife over keeping them in the limited shelf space in our small urban condo. So the magazines continued to sit alone, in cardboard boxes in the basement of my parents' house. Enter the Dragon Magazine archive.

How often do I use this software? Frankly, not often. But that isn't the point. To me, the Archive is a safety blanket. If and when I want to look at an old article, magic spell list, "Giants In The Earth" column, old ads, or old editions of "Wormy" or "What's New," then I can do so at any time. The issues are well-scanned, the detail is great, and the ease of use is high. A fine product considering the volume of content and low price.

Most importantly (I will re-emphasize), it takes up a heck of a lot less shelf space than the magazines. Which means that the WAF (wife acceptance factor) goes way up, which is worth the negligible cost of this software.

Dragon Good... Interface Bad.
I've been an avid reader of Dragon magazine since fourth grade, I'm somewhat embarassed to admit. Way, way back at the very beginning D&D caught my fascination, inspired me to read outside of school, think creatively and study cheerfully. My archives include darn near the whole published run thus far. Stacks and stacks of Dragon magazine takes up a fair amount of space, and I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to remove these from my ever sprawling gaming collection, hawk them on eBay and utilize this CD collection in its place. Not happenning... The content is, of course, lovely, however the interface is absolutely infuriating. Click, drag, swap function, zoom in, swap function, drag, and so on and on. It is impossible to focus in easily on a single column to read on screen. The only plausible alternative is to print out the page, which requires further investment in paper and ink. It may very well be worth the price of admission for the graphics alone, the artwork being quite good (although at times spotty), but I was hoping to be able to read on screen without resorting to printing that which I wished to peruse. Furthermore, the search engine is less than impressive, which is a shame as this was also a principle attraction for me. Gosh durn it, I expected much better from TSR!
Caveat emptor...

Good Resource.
If your looking for a great source of information this is for you. The GUI is not too great but the search feature works well. All the issues are on the CD's in easy to access PDF format.

An absolute must for fantasy gamers of every stripe!
No matter what version of Dungeons and Dragons you play or what campaign world your game is set in, this collection of magazines-as-PDFs is a must have. While the interface is admittedly clumsy on Win98 and ME, I found it to be fairly well-behaved under XP and 2000; even if you don't use the interface for reading, it's search-engine is invaluable for digging through thousands of pages of articles, looking for that one house rule you just KNOW you saw fifteen years ago...

Furthermore, the seven issues of "The Strategic Review" give gamers today a perspective on the state of the hobby as it was before many of them even thought of Dungeons and Dragons or indeed RPGs in general.

Containing short "adventure modules", quick one-off stand alone games, fiction, art ranging from David Trampier's "Wormy" to Phil Foglio's "What's New With Phil N' Dixie", the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM archive is a must-have for anyone who's serious about (Advanced)Dungeons and Dragons. ... Read more

Features

• Use the powerful Outline or Timeline Views to get a stronger visual sense of your story
• Tracking tool helps you show connections between events and characters, objects or key words
• Customize StoryView to fit your personal writing style, or choose any of the pre-built templates
• Import a story or script that's been pre-written for deeper analysis
• Represent the size and duration of your story events and their importance with Event Boxes

Amazon.com Review

The word innovative can often be a hackneyed term to describeeye-catching software design. But in the case of eMedia's Blues Guitar Legends,the word is truly apt. The rock cognoscenti here at Amazon.com's music-softwareevaluation division are really starting to love eMedia's guitar instructionseries. Quite simply, we've seen nothing like their products before, andapparently we're in the majority, judging by the popularity of the Seattle-basedcompany's other titles, like Guitar Methods 1 and 2.

For those who want to learn blues-style guitar playing--which should be anyguitarist interested in the roots of pop music--you can do no better than BluesGuitar Legends Vol. 1. Picture buying an audio CD of 10 of the greatest bluessongs of all time, but instead of getting just the songs on disk, you alsoreceive a comprehensive, visually rich system for learning those songs. Throw incommon information about guitar tuning, song notation, and biographical data onthe artists, and you've got eMedia's Blues Guitar Legends.

Upon launching the program, a content window pops up with pictures of nine bluesartists--including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and Stevie RayVaughn--and one band, the Allman Brothers. Roll your mouse over the picture andhear a quick sample of a song, one of many little details we love about thisprogram. If you're just starting out, you can click on the Intro icon to get anoverview of the software, its icons, and their functions. Learn fingerpositions, how to read chord charts, and how to tune your guitar using thebuilt-in tuner. Go back to the content window and click on an artist to launch asong. Have your guitar ready, because now the fun begins.

As the song is playing, you'll view the heart of eMedia's system--the animatedfretboard--and the notation window containing the musical score of the guitarparts in the song. The animated fretboard is simply one of the coolest featuresyou'll find in instruction software. It's a top-down view of a guitar neck, withchord and finger patterns that change, or play, as the song plays. You canactually watch how the fingers slide, bend the string, and use vibrato. B.B.King's trademark butterfly tremolo technique is dutifully re-created, as is DuaneAllman's legendary slide style.

You can slow down the tempo of the song, loop sections, change between lead andchord parts, record yourself playing, and even sing along to the lyrics if youwant. Practically the only thing you can'tdo is stop to ask Muddy Waters a question, but with this software, you won'thave to. You'll be speaking his language soon enough.

Most of all, you'll have a lot of fun with Blues Guitar Legends. And you justmight spare yourself years of a hard-living, freight-train-catching bluesman'slifestyle. --John Bosch ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Mesmerizing!
There is simply no better way to learn these songs. You can isolate different sections of the music and loop them over and over (both the audio and the tab/notation). You can even slow it down. The animated fretboard is also very cool. It plays the notes in time with the music. It even bends the notes. I only wish they'd make more.

Poor user interface, technical problems
I spent about an hour getting this to work correctly. I am disappointed with the interface and the lack of lesson information. Not a bad product but there are better guitar programs for sure

Great fun but not for beginners
This is a wonderful CDRom. The songs are mighty enjoyable, and eMedia lets you see exactly how the blues greats created the toe-tapping music that they did. But be warned: learning to play these songs using the eMedia system isn't for rank beginners. I'm a classical guitar player with over a decade of playing experience, and I had to slow the songs to less than half their speed to even have a fighting chance of keeping up. You're expected to already know some blues techniques and have some accessories (e.g. a glass slide). Eventually, I know I'll get the hang of these songs and have a great time. But it's gonna take practice, practice, practice.

Play blues like a pro
I picked up Blues Guitar Legend because of the great songs by Stevie Ray Vaughan and BB King. When I saw the animated fretboard I was blow away. Bends, slide and vibroto make this feature very cool. The multi speed option made learning the songs very easy. I highly recomend picking this one up. ... 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 (2)

Suprisingly Fun
I found this game at Target and the graphics looked good and the overall plot amusing so i bought it. The mini games are well worth the money-some actually took me a fair amount of time to complete. This is an ideal game for girls from ages 6-11. Bt i'm an older teen and i still enjoyed it! The only complaint i have with this game is that it took me very little time to complete the game( but you can always go back and change some of the aspects of your wedding or start over).

Planning a wedding was never so much fun!
This is a fun and engaging program with an amazing amount of activities and mini-games that are all wedding related.Most of the stuff you have to do for a real wedding is here, but of course, a lot more fun.I'll try to explain.

You begin by choosing a bride, brides maids, and a venue for the wedding, then you play this hilarious elimination game to choose a groom, and then choose his grooms men.If you want to skip this part you can have your mother choose all this for you. You then find yourself in the mall, where you can design your dress, choose your shoes, your jewelry, design your ring, design the brides maid dresses, choose formalwear for the men, get your hair done, choose your make-up, choose your music, design your cake and your bouquet, and even make a poem to read at the ceremony.You win more choices for these activities by playing six mini-games in the mall. Most of these are quite fun, my favorite being the dice game, which is a shower game where you exchange gifts.Each game has three levels, giving you more design choices each time you win. Once all these things are done, you can decorate the scene of the wedding and get married.On every screen throughout the entire game is a camera for taking photos for the wedding album which you also get to design and decorate.

The interface is fairly straight-forward and easy to use, no instructions needed. Although the graphics are 2D, they are nicely done with lots pretty colors.The repetive narration can get annoying but it is minimal and the music is awesome.There are tons of things to do and the replay value is high.Another nice feature is that you can completely install this to your hard drive and run it without the cd.

Overall, this is a fun and creative activity program that would be a big hit with girls ages 6-12.But hey, I'm a grown-up and I love it.

... Read more

Features

• It features over 56,000 high-quality, hand-picked images for creating the right look for your company
• Draw from a library of over 11,000 stock photos that show businesses in action, just like yours
• Create a professional image that gets attention, with over 15,000 Photo-Object images
• Advanced vector clip art images add that dynamic, high-tech look to create the professional look for your business
• Perfect for Websites, presentations, letterhead, even greeting cards

Reviews (1)

Great beginning - but I wish for a bit more
As a freelance web designer/graphic artist I live in a perpetual state of stock photography desperation. I bought this BizArt package in the hopes that it would give me at least a starting point of business photography into which I could reach for those jobs that just don't warrant getting the expensive stuff from Getty or Corbis.

On one hand I love this set, on the other I don't. I confess I was hoping for more full-frame photos, even though I know Hemera is mostly known for its "photo objects". There are some, but not always enough of the type I've wanted. My other complaint is a lack of diversity. Most of the group shots of people are standard caucasian yuppy types. As someone who prefers to represent more diverse racial makeups in my designs, this was very limiting and disappointing. I have frequently had to resort to taking a person of another nationality out of one group and try to insert them into another - not a time-saver.

However I do use the clip photos provided here often as a good basis for other pieces. Not a set you want to rely on solely as your source of business photos, but a good starter for the price and a lot better than many cheaper sets I've seen around. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Kyoto Gardens: A Virtual Stroll Through Zen Landscapes utilizes Apple Computer's QuickTime VR technology to "walk through" 24 of Kyoto's most renowned gardens. A seamless panorama of wood, sand, and stone lets users experience Japanese garden design and the world of Zen firsthand. Maps, slides, screensavers, essays, history, and aesthetics are brought together in a truly interactive cybernetic journey. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Outstanding piece of work!
This is something else. Beautifully presented and perfectly matched to music (if you switch it on). After seeing the gardens for myself, I can say the photos chosen brilliantly represent the "feel" of the gardens. The insightful essays discuss all aspects of the gardens, their history and design. A visual masterpiece.

The computer interface needs very slight work but is very well produced. Such a slight mark on an otherwise perfect experience.

Beautiful!
This does allow you to look through 24 gardens in the 360-degree viewpoint, with the full-circle perspectives from several other vantage points within each garden, so there more than 24 "Viewings". You can also explore the images through the program or simply through a photo browser. You will find litte things you missed, so look through it more than once!. I've also used several of the pictures as my wallpaper.

It's pretty pricey anywhere but Amazon, so if you are looking to buy it, Amazon's the place to go!

Kyoto Gardens: A virtual stroll through Zen Landscapes
This title, in brief, allows users to 'walk through' (360 degree viewing) 24 of Kyoto's most famous Zen Gardens. It includes cross-platform (Windows & Mac) QuickTime 'walk throughs' of the gardens, accompanied by detailed notes on the history and design features of the gardens, a 150 plate photo collection and 5 essays by well known scholars on Zen and landscape gardening. Defintely worth a look! ... Read more