Features

• Everything needed to learn keyboard straight out of the box
• 300 step-by-step lessons, from the basics to much more
• 70 video demonstrations of techniques; interactive reviews
• Comes with MIDI keyboard, AC adapter, and USB cable
• Includes built-in digital metronome and one-track recorder

Features

• Plug in and go with your miniDV camcorder and FireWire
• Non-destructive, non-linear editing--the freedom to edit like a pro
• Transitions, filters, and effects with real-time previewing
• Advanced titling, including Boris Calligraphy
• In-canvas compositing with motion key frames

Reviews (1)

Digital Video Editing Becomes My Passion
Storyboard to Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express Storyboard gives me a visual look at my movie. I control-click the Final Cut Express browser and choose large icon new. Then, I drag the clips into the order that I want them to be played. Next, I click on the projectÕs tab in the Browser and save it. Finally, I save the entire project.

Now to add my new storyboard to Final Cut Express sequences. Draw a marquee around the Storyboard clips. Next, I drag the clips from my Final Cut Express Browser to my Timeline and save the project. To protect them, I can lock them to make sure that they cannot be modified. I can lock and unlock them with the F4 key for video tracks and the F5 key for audio tracks.

Working with Final Cut Express

Creating titles and credits with Express is important. The key is the Video Generator. You can create synthesized clips that you superimpose over your existing video clips in the Final Cut Express Timeline.

For good-looking titles, you can use san serif fonts such as Arial, Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica and Impact. I have found using bold, red or blue 30 point fonts effective for my titles.

You need to watch for the 20 percent factor. The 'Title Save Boundary' is 20 percent smaller than your television screen. To see the boundaries in Final Cut Express, go to View then to Show Title. Best to keep your titles within the safe zone.

Final Cut Express allows you to create rolling credits like the credits at the end of a movie. You can set the duration of your video clips plus set the in and out points for speed of the text and scrolls.

Pro Reaction

Final Cut Express is wonderful for making storyboards, titles, transitions and effects using software digital tools. Final Cut Express 2 supports up to 99 video and audio tracks. Express has various editing tools from Ripple editing, Razor Blade Tool, Pen Tool to Slip and Slide editing.

Express allows you to import iMovie projects. You can also import your Final Cut Express project to iDVD complete with special chapter marker. Express comes with an excellent hardcopy paper manual for learning how to use Final Cut Express 2. The manual is easy to follow without computer jargon.

Con Reaction

You have to work at learning how to use the Final Cut Express application. You have to spend the time to read and work with the Final Cut Express manual.

You cannot capture DV across time-code breaks. You cannot import your Final Cut Express project to iMovie or QuickTime with chapter markers and comments.

Final Remarks

Express is better than iMovie applications and gives you professional storyboard, title and video effects. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

With more than 6,000 recipes and an impressive array of organizationaltools, Cook'n Deluxe wants to liberate your computer from the drudgery of officework and turn it into a kitchen helper.

Cook'n Deluxe, a Windows-only program, adeptly performs all of the usual tasksexpected of cooking CD-ROMs. Menu planners and recipe managers take the gruntwork out of deciding what to cook and adjusting recipe amounts. One excellent,and very thorough, feature is the Grocery Shopping Assistant. Cooks decide on arecipe, open it, click on "list," and a grocery list appears, complete withpreferred brand names, package sizes, estimated cost of the shopping trip, and anutritional workup of the meal. With a couple of clicks, not only do we have ashopping list for Dixie Grits Casserole ($16.95), we also discover that oneserving contains 19 grams of fat. Hardcore cybershoppers can send all of thisinformation to their PalmPilot and hit the aisles.

The recipes are broken down into 70 cookbooks: Farmer's Market, Never Say Leftovers, Cooking on the Run, and 50 Pies are some of the titles. Recipes rangefrom Corn Dog Squares to Choucroute Garni (sauerkraut and meat). We would haveliked to see more fresh ingredients and a few more basics--there was no plainapple pie among the 50 Pies--but cooks can remedy that by entering their ownrecipes. An Enter the Ingredients section allows cooks to tally up whatever'ssitting in the pantry, and search the entire database for recipes that match.Some recipes have accompanying photos, and a small handful have instructionalvideos that feel like filler--is it really necessary to demonstrate wrappingrolls in foil?

Cook'n Deluxe is a friendly program that's easy to use. Its strongest featuresare the amount of recipes it offers, and that "too much information" shoppinglist feature. The flavorless videos are probably this CD-ROM's weakest area,though the producers redeem themselves by hiding a yummy blooper reel of thecooking experts' goof-ups within the program. --Anne Erickson ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Good Software, poor support
Were it not for the glitches, this would be a great piece of software.

My main complaint is that each time I update it with their latest software (which includes new recipes), instead of overwriting the existing recipes, it simply adds them again. So, after the installation and two updates, I now have 3 of every recipe.

This is annoying on many levels. I've contacted customer support and their seeming automaton tells me to update to the latest version. Well...that's what is causing the problems.

I'm a Microsoft engineer so I'm not computer-stupid. The software has some serious flaws.

Buy at your own risk.

Great Software...Great Company
The more I learn about this software and the company that created it, the more impressed I am. They created the first version 12 years ago and cooking software is all they do.

Rather than selling upgrades every six months to make a buck, they fix problems and add new features on a monthly basis and let all of their customers download updates for free. What more could you ask for?

I bought this because it sounded neat but now I must say that I'm a believer. The software works great and the company supports the product very well. They send me a free monthly newsletter with cooking tips and recipes that I can download right into my software. The President himself even gives out his e-mail address and encourages his customers to send feedback.

I've checked out some of the other brands like MasterCook but none of them even come close to Cook'n.

I highly recommend this product.

Very buggy software
This is absolutely the worst software program I've ever purchased. Half the time I open it it's exits because of a fatal error. The instructions tell you when you have this type of error, that is usually due to hard disk errors, but after running scandisk to repair any errors, I still get the error. Usually when I read this kind of review, I think it might be the lack of computer knowledge of the user, but I'm a computer programmer, so I very computer savvy. I won't bother to check out the support, the software functionality is not worth it. Get MasterCook instead.

Fatal error day 2
After spending a couple hours entering my own recipes, I received a fatal error and have not been able to open the program again. I don't plan to continue using this software and I wouldn't recommend it.

Not what it's cooked up to be
I found this software very user unfriendly, difficult to naviagate and very time-consuming to attempt to utilize. The window for recipe addition is easy to use but that is the only thing easy to use. There are better choices out there. ... Read more

Features

• Create precise photographic renderings of your future dream gardens
• Browse through the Visual Plant Seeker tool to select flora by growth rate, size, bloom season sun and moisture tolerance
• Create your own bills of materials from grouped objects, to examine the cost of your landscape
• The powerful DeltaCad software lets you tailor your existing terrain -- edit, rotate, copy and change scale
• Draw precise plans with accurate lengths and areas, in Metric and English measurements

Features

• Save your calendars in PDF format for easy printing and sharing
• Organize and customize your images more easily with the Image Set Manager
• Enhance your designs with 150,000+ premium images in every style and theme
• Easily import data from Microsoft Outlook into your calendar layouts
• Enjoy full compatibility with your Palm OS handheld organizer

Reviews (3)

Hate it, Hate it, HATE IT!!!
This is by far the worst calendar program EVER! I absolutely abhor it. It is not at all user friendly. It randomly prints boxes where you didn't create them. The functionality to move calendar entries from one month to another doesn't exist...you have delete the entry and completely recreate. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with it because my boss likes the way it looks...too bad he doesn't have to struggle with it!

Broderbund Ignores Customers
The Calendar Creator product is useless for all but the very lucky. The software appears to be impossible to install without customer support and there IS NO customer support. It has proven to be impossible getting any help at all from Broderbund either on-line or by phone. We have been trying for two months and have spent almost as much in long distance charges (all of it on hold) as we spent on the product. Steer Clear!

Frustrating
In order to use this software it seems one would need to have a degree in graphic information technology and I'm not sure even that person would be able to use it. The company provides no support for persons having difficulty using the program and the "Help Center" is not structured in a useful manner. ... Read more

Features

• Requires USB port and 4 AAA batteries(not incl.)
• They'll get to record still images and audio just by pushing a button
• Fun tools let them mix, edit and design their own media projects
• And animation and special effects for a great-looking homemade feature
• Kid-friendly interface makes accessing the video tools simple for kids

Reviews (1)

I hate this toy!
This toy dosn't even work! I hate it so much! Do not buy this! I got this on my 7th Birthday and it dosn't even work. I hate it. ... Read more

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 (4)

Don't forget to factor in manuals to the final price.
I grew up on Adobe products. They used to include great manuals and tutorials. Now I have paid more and received less. I am trying to learn how to use GoLive but the online manual doesn't make a whole lot of sense. How come a printed manual isn't included? Oh, I have to pay more for it? How come I seem to be paying for printing costs then? Customer support? To get real help I'll have to pay for it. I used Adobe Premiere for Mac but that product got abandoned. I will not buy another Adobe product until they either give more or charge less. If you are getting started with web design I would suggest going somewhere else. That being said... Illustrator and Photoshop are both still great products and the upgrades were easy for me to understand (probably because the last versions I had included a printed manual and tutorials). Let's face it, if it wasn't for OS X, I would have just stuck to the older versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, and PageMaker and bought Dreamweaver instead. Photoshop CS - Classroom in a Book = $45. Illustrator CS - Classroom in a Book = $31.50. GoLive CS - Classroom in a Book = $45. InDesign - Classroom in a Book = $45. Acrobat Pro - Classroom in a Book = $45. $211.50 in manuals right there. Its a good product but it keeps on costing you in time and money.

Excellent design software
No software is perfect, but Adobe comes as close to well designed, intuitive, user-friendly software as I have ever seen. Photoshop and Illustrator have always been the industry standards, and here they are both improved - particularly the digital photographer will be happy with the new photo filters in Photoshop CS, and the much improved file browser and the new filter gallery are also excellent additions. As far as publishing programs are concerned, InDesign is a greatly more intuitive program than Quark at a fraction of its cost, and because its pallets function much the same as in Photoshop and Illustrator, it is an easily acquired program if you are familiar with Adobe software.

I use these programs on a Mac OS X platform and for me they are very stable. I have had none of the crashing problems or tech support difficulties that another reviewer of the Adobe Creative Suite has had. For anyone using many design programs at once, enough RAM is always a requirement for smooth operation. But if you have enough RAM and a Mac platform, you should have no significant problems at all. PCs crash more by their nature because their operating system is not as stable as a Mac's, but still Adobe products are not only more intuitive than Microsoft's (for example), they also will crash far less on a PC than most other types of software (like Microsoft's).

Photoshop and Illustrator have always defined the state of the art for photo editing and raster graphic software respectively, and here Adobe is carrying on the tradition. InDesign looks as though it is fast replacing Quark in the publishing industry as well, so if you are a creative professional you will be more than happy in the end to own the Adobe Creative Suite. What else would you use?

i used to like adobe...
...then i needed to contact their technical support because illustrator crashes when you try to label layers. they go out of their way to make it as difficult as possible. no email support. instead you have to ring an area code 206 number and wait until some overworked undertrained person tells you to reinstall the product or the operating system... very helpful. just like their software.

i'll look elsewhere the next time i look for an illustration package or a graphics editor. and i won't even bother discussing their inept page layout program.

glad I got it
I just bought it off of AMazon a week ago (which is the lowest price for the full version I have been able to find so far) and IM glad I did. For new people to the software, you may wanna stay with your older version for a bit and just get used to it before shelling out the money, but if your serious about design and making your workflow work to the max for you, this new collection is a must. Tight integration and the help of the version Cue additional file managment software will help even the messiest designer keep thier files inline. If design is what you want to do, then theres no better package to get. Ive been using Photoshop for years and Illustrator and Indesign for a while now and this is defenitly an inovation in design.
I gave it 4 stars due to small problems I had installing the whole suite at once. I have never had the problem with anything else and it was frustrating. But after that its smooth saling. ... Read more

Features

• Software for writing, playing, printing, and publishing music notation
• Scan in printed music; high-quality sounds for playback
• Saves time; elegant and intuitive; school feature sets
• Publish music world-wide or create personal CDs and MP3s
• Designed for students, educators, and professional composers

Reviews (1)

The best in the world
This software is absolutely the best out there.
It does notation, scanning and web publishing, and includes world class sounds and the ability to burn CDs. ... Read more

Features

• A fast way to turn your PC into a digital production studio
• Record from CD, microphone, LP, cassette, or musical instrument
• Edit recordings with a wide range of tools and effects
• Liven up presentations, recordings, and music
• 30+ digital audio effects and processes; over 1001 sound effects

Features

• Celebrate your faith with grace, imagination, and style
• Create cards, banners, stickers--even entire Web sites
• 4,800+ inspirational art images; 2,000+ project templates
• Straightforward design tools and abundant help features
• Complete your project using the new Finish Project button

Reviews (4)

Hated it!
Did not like the program or the graphics. Returned it! Recommend
Hallmark software or Microsoft Print It! for home publishing of cards, banners, etc. They are the best.

a little upset
I had an older version. Bought this for an upgrade, found out there was no spell check. Loved the upgrades, hated no help with spelling.

American Greetings Spiritual Expressions
Outstanding program! I hate figuring out how to do things and need a "no-brainer" program for address labels and business cards which I use to make all kinds of things for my Developmental Kindergartners. This is the easiest program I have ever used for that. They also have exceptional clip-art. Buy it! You'll love it!

Expressions of Faith
This program is wonderful. I just updated to version 7 from an earlier version. The main thing that caught my attention was the ease in using the program. It's easy to move around in, make changes, more art work, and makes life easier when I need to make a card, certificates, banners, bookmarks, mini-cards. I have no desire to go looking for any other programs of this type. It blends well with my CreataCard version 7. I'm glad they came out with it. ... Read more

Features

• The ultimate genealogy program for building your family tree
• Research, preserve, and share your precious heritage through informative and artistic family trees
• Convenient tools and vast resources
• Packed with 20 CDs of valuable historical information and a host of great new features
• Discover a rewarding hobby that lasts a lifetime and beyond

Reviews (4)

Easy to use software....
I have used Family Tree Maker software for 10 years or so now. It is a very intuitive piece of software that has evolved over the years. Even if you are brand new to genealogy, you can get started with this product. Don't count on the CDs to be your gold mine to your family history. If you are looking for your history, start asking questions of your family now. Start researching on www.rootsweb.com now. Be patient...developing a tree can take a while unless its already documented somewhere.

Do you really need the expensive collection package? probably not....but you can start recording little bits of info even with the basic package of FTM.

Great Software
This is a awesome software that helps you with your family history. The collector's edition has so much more information than the standard edition. I am extremlly impressed by this software. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to know more about their family tree.

Highly Recomend
I highly recommend it to anyone looking to know more about their family tree.I bought this set & I love it. It was very helpful.

Why Not to Buy
I bought this product to find out information about my family, but this isn't what it says it is. This product is for people that already know about their family not people trying to find out about their family. You get a lot of disk but any information on those you have to go to Geneology.com to get the information and then the free subscribtion that you get to Geneology.com you only have access to a few things but not what you need from the disk, that is extra if you want to use it. I haven't been able to find anything about my family or my husbands family from either of these programs. So if you are trying to find information about your family I would try a different program because this one doesn't help. ... Read more

Features

• Complete set of 2500 fonts for adding character to your writing and making it stand out
• Maintain their sharpness at any size, with any application
• Protect your system from accidental deletions and preserve all your favorite fonts
• Easy-to-use one-click installation and advanced font management tools for creating great-looking documents

Reviews (15)

Amazing program, the most powerful I've ever used.
First off, this is a great program, I don't know what I would do without it. It is so easy to trim video to exactly what you want, and the preview window usually renders in real time to show you almost exactly how the finished product will look. VED accepts almost any kind of video file and can render to just about any other format. Unfortunately, the included separate DVD writing software is crap, however, I can render to very nice MPEG 2 video and then use software like Pinnacle Studio (Much better for DVD than editing) to turn the edited video into a great looking DVD in no time. As for the included content, it's really not very impressive, but I use my own music and sound effects collection anyway, and some of the included stock footage is pretty good. I was thrilled that version 1.5 added a third video track as well as chromakeying (AKA Green/Blue screen). Some features I would love to see in future releases include reverse video and audio, rendering to different aspect ratios, and high resolution rendering (maximum now is 800x600). Still, VED is an awesome program and I wouldn't trade it for anything else I've ever used. Good job Nova!

Another video editor with A/V sync problem
I was hoping to get a video editor that does not have A/V sync problem that seems to plague all other video editors including Video Deluxe 2.0 and Pinnacle Studio 8.x. Unfortunately, this one has the same A/V sync issue if the video being rendored has lots of motion and scene transition. If the video has lots of transitions, the audio and video will lose sync and many video frames will be dropped (this is during the rendering phase which is NOT done in real time). This makes the software useless for me.

Navagation proves difficult.
Ok I have this program & have installed it & uninstalled it a number of times on my computer. I love all the cool effects it has, but I have had problems actaully trying ot use them!! I LOVE WMM2 & have found that VERY easy to navigate, but it doesnt have nearly the amt of cool effects as this does! If someone could help me out, I'd appreciate it!
I would love to continue making more BTVS videos, & hopefully get my $$'s worth out of this software!

Awesome video editing software
This software rules! I've wasted money on MGI Videowave, and Ulead Videostudio, but Video Explosion is better than all of these. It's incredibly easy to start making movies. I like the ability to use slow/fast motion in my videos, as lots of my video includes jumping off cliffs, surfing, stuff like that. You can choose what format to create your movies in, so its easy to make a short clip for an email, or a medium-quality movie for a CD-ROM, or a high quality DVD. I use a digital video camera, with a firewire (IEEE) cable to transfer video, and the end movie is just as clear as when I play it on TV directly from the camera. Its true that this software doesn't include a good DVD burning program, but I've been using 'Sonic My DVD', which came free with my Dell computer and it works great. All my family and friends think I should go into professional video production, but they don't understand how easy it really is. I haven't even begun to use all the sounds and short video clips that came with the software. If you're trying to edit home movies from a camcorder, then buy this software, you won't regret it!

Make your videos into DVDs....NOT!
If you are looking for a video editing software that is both powerful and easy to learn look no further. I have used Videowave, Pinnacle, and Showbiz all of which have their inherent problems mostly associated with causing my 2.8 gig AMD processor running MS XP Pro to crash repeatedly.

On the other hand if you desire to make DVD disks of your production avoid this program like week old sushi. The included obsolete version of MyDVD can't read the native Video Explosion files requiring an additional rendering and resultant resolution loss, that is when it even works. This is a monumental mistake for Nova Development the makers of Video Explosion. I predict this omission will soon prove fatal to an otherwise superior product.

Nova Development are you listening? Provide us with the ability easily to burn a DVD directly from the editing screen without resorting to the obsolete unworkable second party add on. Until this "oversight" is rectified I am recommending Pinnacle Studio. My quest for a workable video editing program will continue,... stay tuned. ... Read more

Features

• Expands and improves use of iPod with Windows
• Quickly and easily transfer music to and from the iPod
• Improved support for international characters
• Displays album art; supports play counts; drag-and-drop interface
• Compatible with Audible files, AAC files, and auto WMA-to-MP3 conversion

Features

• Features internal 32 bit floating point mixing, up to 96kHz stereo
• High-precision mastering and special effects filters -reverb, compressor, procedural equalizer, distortion, phaser, flanger, bass boost and more
• Full-featured sequencer lets you create songs in pieces and weld those song pieces together into a full composition
• Work with a wide range of effects for your added instruments -reverb, phaser, flanger and more
• Route the mixer tracks in new ways to create complex mixing chains

Features

• Children learn to read, play the piano or keyboard, and compose
• One full year of animated, narrated interactive lessons
• Library of over 100 songs to listen to and learn to play
• 10 great interactive music games
• Composer helps children create their own music

Features

• Comprehensive family history software for producing family trees
• Easily gather historical data with nearly unlimited file size
• Advanced editing system--view and edit while browsing the name list
• Safely combine duplicates with IntelliMerge
• Link pictures, sounds, and video to your family members

Reviews (2)

Best Program For The Family Historian - Beginner or Pro
I have been a Legacy user for eons :-) and highly recommend the program for anyone wanting to organize their family research data easily, quickly and with much fewer keystrokes than in other programs. I think I have used almost every gene. program on the market over the years (most with a much higher price tag), but none even comes close to Legacy. Simple enough for the beginner, yet advanced features that makes even the most demanding genealogist smile. Great reports, quick and easy data entry (with repeat buttons and clipboards for fast entry of data to multiple records without retyping!), has a place for every tidbit of info you collect in your research, pictures, video, sound files etc can be attached to one or many records in a snap. Excellent sourcing, unlimited events... I could go on and on... Legacy is a very fast and stable program and won't hog your computer's memory. I highly recommend it!

Best on the market
I have both Family Tree Maker v11 and Legacy Family Tree v5 Deluxe. Legacy's program is a thousand times better, a thousand times more stable, a thousand times more detailed. It is truly the best and most sophisticated program on the market for genealogy. Everything the Millenium Corp says about their Legacy Family Tree program is true, and the support for the program is stellar! They make Broderbund's Family Tree Maker look like a Sesame Street program for preschool genealogy! And, you can try the program before you buy it by downloading a trial version from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com. Try it, you will be so happy you did! The purchase of v5 Deluxe was worth one hundred times more than what they charge for it! ... Read more