American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7

by Riverdeep

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000066EW7
• Item model number: 385292
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,892 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #84 in Software > Graphics > Home Publishing > Greeting Cards
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The ability to create a large variety of print projects from home is definitely a handy thing. Being able to do it with ease is even better. American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 allows for both, despite some minor flaws.

The software is on two CD-ROMs and if you have the hard disk space, do a full install of the software and content. Otherwise, you'll have to have the program CD-ROM in your CD drive during use so you can access certain projects and images. But even with a full installation, you still won't have the whole package.

Platinum 7 requires you to have Internet access to get everything advertised. More than 8,000 of the images and 3,500 of the projects need to be individually downloaded from their Web site when you want to use them. If you've got dial-up service, this could become annoying really fast.

Launching CreataCard brings up a garish home screen mimicking a card store complete with revolving spinner racks. While everything you need to start any of the 30 plus project types is in front of you, there is no organization. However, once you find the project you want, working with the design tools is straightforward and simple.

With Platinum 7 you can truly create something for every occasion. Even if there are no pre-constructed templates, you can design things from scratch without difficulty. The new photo editing tools allow you to clean and crop photos, as well as add special effects. Another fun new tool is the Party Set Creator, which walks you through the creation of a matching set of party items. A Finish Project Wizard was also added, letting you quickly end a project in one step.

American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 is a solid choice for creating print projects on your PC. While it does have a couple of shortcomings, there are plenty of tools and features to more than make up for them. --Joshua Goldman

Amazon.com Product Description

Discover the creative way to make someone's day. Whether you're celebrating a holiday or birthday, commemorating an achievement, or simply having fun, American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 delivers the tools you need to express yourself in style. Create cards, calendars, banners, stationary, crafts, and more. Utilize the expanded array of editing tools and amusing special effects. Share your creations with family and friends using new e-mail tools. Design and coordinate party invitations, place cards, banners, centerpieces, and even party hats with the Party Set Creator. Enhance your designs with more than 15,500 images in every style, and explore more than 9,100 sentiments for the perfect message every time. When life calls for something truly special, American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 makes your message magic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Download everytime the 8,000 thumbnails + larger images, October 5, 2002

By 

Missing In Action "miaaim" (Franklin, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 (CD-ROM)

I own Creatacard Platinum 6 and tried Platinum 7. I returned the product after I discovered that you have to download the 8,000+ thumbnail images every time you clear your IE Browser's cache. That's half of the 16,000 thumbnails. Also, any thumbnails that you have looked at using the "Show Detail" says it is downloading to your hard drive. NOT! It downloads to your IE Browser's cache. Unless you have saved that image you viewed in detail by exporting it, you have to spend a lot of time trying to find the thumbnail (more download time) then download the image AND export it unless you save it in a project. The v6 comes with 3 disks but v7 comes with 2 disks. I cannot believe this company thought it was a good idea for people to have to always download the thumbnail of images and detail images. This product wastes your time trying to view images that you paid for by having to download the thumbnails and the larger detail image. Avoid v7 of this product.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well, I don't know, August 7, 2002

By 

atmj (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 (CD-ROM)

As a previous owner of Creatacard 3, I jumped when Creatacard 5 came out. What a disappointment. It was merged with Printmaster, the wonderful easy to use interface was all botched up and most if not all the cards were duplicates of Creatacard 3.

However, I bit the bullet, kept Creatacard 5, sold my old version of 3 and then kept my eye out for a new deal. Then Creatacard 6 came out. I thought great, but when I read that that number of cards were not an incremental change over 3 or 5 I said forget it.

Well now Creatacard Platinum 7 is out and here's some stats.
This from the Broderbund site:

more than 6,800 creative possibilities
Note this means:
Projects on CD: 2,381+; Projects Online: 4,419.
more than 11,300 premium quality images in every style
Note this means:
Images on CD: 3,101+; Images Online: 8,199.

However I received this in an email from Broderbund. Presumably, they are referring to Version 6 when they say more than?
Enjoy over 600 NEW projects and images (18,100 total)
NOTE this means:
Images and Projects on CD: 5,482+;
Images and Projects available online: 12,618.

More than 400 NEW greeting cards (4,300 total)

Over 900 NEW sentiments to add to any project!
more than 9,100 exclusive sentiments

So armed with this information, I look up the stats on Creatacard Platinum version 6.

6,300+ greeting cards
15,000+ art images
9,400+ projects
8,200+ sentiments.

From above Creatacard Platinum 7 (not including items online)
4,300 greeting cards (400 new I guess, but 2000 less overall)
3,101 images on CD (11,300 overall)
2,381+ projects on CD (6800 overall)
9,100 sentiments

It would seem from Creatacard Platinum 6 to 7 there are
2000 less cards
12,000 less images on the CD (not including online)
7,000 less projects on the CD (not including online)
900 more sentiments.
Even considering the online images and projects the numbers come out less than Creatacard 7.

Needless to say. I'm still not buying.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, November 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 (CD-ROM)

Don't waste your money on this product. This software is garbage. It is archaic software with a crude, inflexible, disorganized user interface. It was next to impossible to get this software to print correctly. I tried it on HP, NEC, and Cannon printers and it has never worked correctly. Broderbund customer support is unable to offer any useful assistance. Don't waste your money on this product.