Customer Reviews

Black's Law Dictionary Digital

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was disappointed with this purchase. The item is listed as "(CD-ROM)". In the box there was only a 12 page booklet. No CD-ROM. The booklet contains a pointer to a website where the program is downloaded using the key in the booklet.

This would not have been too bad if the program actually contained Black's Law Dictionary. It does not. The program accesses the web everytime it looks up a dictionary. Want to use the program when you do not have an internet connection? No can do. This makes the product a whole lot less useful too me. (useless?)

A second fault is there is no actual program to be run. The program operates as a toolbar in your web browser and word processor. Now everytime I browse the web I have to look at the Black's toolbar. I hate extra toolbars. I was hoping for a nice user interface along the lines of Microsoft's Encarta Dictionary. No such luck.

The only saving graces is the quality of the dictionary itself. Black's dictionary is quite good.

First off, if you bought this and then decided to come here to do some research, I hope you kept your receipt and can get a refund.

Like other said, there is no CD or DVD enclosed, just a code to go download a toolbar that plugs into your browser and MS Word. But you need to have access to the internet to be able to look anything up with it.

Which brings this question to mind -

If you have access to the internet, why do you need this product?

Quite frankly, you don't.

If you are a law student (and I really can't see this product marketed to anyone else), well guess what? You already have free access to Blacks dictionary online through Westlaw.

Seriously, even if you are the ultra paranoid 1L who buys every legal outline or supplement on the shelf, this is one that should be left there.

Save your money for something more useful.

I would not mind the lack of CD if you actually downloaded the program.
It will not work stand alone, your computer must be connected to a network for any functionality at all.
Sucks!

Bought this product only to find out that I can't skip the fine print even when I am book shopping. I wanted to replace my old Black's with another desktop reference (computer desktop) that would go with me everywhere I go.

The description does not disclose that you cannot do that! You buy nothing but a key to access their server to pull the content. I already have Westlaw for that!

It's a waste of my time and money. I'll need to get myself an old-fashioned paper copy of the dictionary.

This is certainly useful, but it is mostly overkill. The spelling dictionary is useful and can be imported into any program with a customizable dictionary.

The box is empty, it contains only a brochure with a license key in it.

If you are annoyed that your word processor is constantly reporting id. as misspelled this is for you. Otherwise just keep clicking "add to dictionary" and you will have your own free version soon enough.

I spent my first semester annoyed that the Black's Law Dictionary toolbar appears where it wants every time I start Word. It doesn't care where I move it or if I hide it completely. The only way to keep it from reappearing (and moving other toolbars out of the way, if necessary) every time is to uninstall the program altogether. During winter break, I called tech support, and the guy thought this was strange. A week later, he emails me this:

I'm just writing to let you know our programmers reviewed the issues you brought up with the BLLD toolbar and the normal.dot. To my surprise, they responded that all of your concerns are considered to be normal results of using the BLLD with Word 2003 and Windows XP. Needless to say, they did not provide any "fixes" for what they consider to be normal behavior.

The bottom line is that this product isn't quite compatible with XP and Word 2003, and West doesn't care. As others have pointed out, you have to be connected to the internet anyway, so this program is almost useless.

I completely agree with the others who recommended a "don't buy" for this product. The fact that I am taking the time to write this review and to warn others should tell you something.
If you are in law school, then you probably have access to Black's on-line through Westlaw anyway. So you don't need this product. This product doesn't say on the box that it is an on-line dictionary. The fact that it calls itself a digital dictionary is misleading to me. I bought it because I thought I could use it when I didn't have internet access. Boy was I wrong.
I also encountered severe problems, like Microsoft Word shutting down without notice when I was in the middle of typing my notes/briefs. You guessed it, I lost work because this producted messed up my Word somehow, since it interfaces through MS Word. And yes, I uninstalled the product and dumped the cd in a trash can.

There is no actual CD-Rom. You access a web page and then enter your product key number in order to install the program to your computer (which operates as a web browser -like Internet Explorer or Mozilla-) You can only use the product when you are online.

I know this is inconvenient but I can understand why Thomson West released this product in this format because this seems the best, may be the only way to protect its intellectual property rights where infringement would not be ever possible in my opinion. Think that you have a product that you can install just 2 times which is usable only through the Internet. Theoretically Thomson West, thorough the IP numbers, can determine how many people use the dictionary having the same product key number at the same time. There is no actual CD-Rom. No installation of the whole content of the dictionary to your hard disk (which does not fill much space of your hard disk accordingly.) The dictionary works through the Internet. If you've ever used the Black's Law through the students' westlaw website, you gotta understand what I mean. Just think that you can use it without logging on westlaw's website. Also unlike the website, you can not click on the cases and see the text of the cases.

You can start the operation of the dictionary from the Black's Law dictionary bar that appears in your web browser's tool bar or the bar that appears in Microsoft Word's tool bar. But it is up to your preference whether to use the dictionary thorough the bar that appears in your tool bar of your browser, because you may omit such tool bar (from either your web browser or Microsoft Word, or from both) and create a shortcut of the dictionary through the actual icon located in Program Files/ Thomson West/ Blacks Law/ Blacks Law(.exe I suppose), since nothing related with Black's Law Dictionary exists in Start/ Programs menu. BTW, please note that the Black's Law bar does not appear in the new versions of Mozilla. I contacted Thomson West but they were not able to solve the problem.

In respect of your right to install the product just for 2 times, it should be noted that attempt to install more than the allowed would not be possible because when you access the web page and enter the product key number (I mentioned in the first paragraph,) the system of Thomson West will not allow you to install it again. That's what Thomson West customer service told me. However, they also told that right for 2 licenses is not that rigid. They would allow more installations on case-by-case basis for reasonable purposes. For instance it is possible that in 3 years you may change 3 laptops. I guess they would allow as many installations as you may require if you sincerely show, as the owner of this product, that you require new installation for your personal use because of the fact that you have bought a new computer or you have had to format your computer or etc.

I don't know what will happen if Thomson West releases the 9th edition of the dictionary. For instance when you search a new word which will be in the 9th edition but not in the current (8th edition), will this program yield the result of this new word? This is an issue which you may have to consult Thomson West.

The worst part of the dictionary is its pronunciations. As far as I used, I can easily say that pronunciations are not available for most of the words although Thomson West claims "[i]ncludes audio pronunciations for thousands of words and phrases. You may say "how can you expect from a law dictionary to have the pronunciation of basic English words or phrases such as 'minority shareholders?' Just go and check the pronunciations of these words from a regular dictionary." You would be right. Yet I consider a law dictionary claiming to include audio pronunciations for thousands of words and phrases has to include the pronunciations of at least Latin words and phrases, at least most common ones such as "inter alia."

I rate this product with 4 starts. I deduct 0,5 star because of the fact that you can only use it through the Internet, though I think that Thomson West did the right thing to prevent possible infringements. I deduct the other 0,5 star because of insufficient pronunciations.

To sum, it worths its price (which is the same price with the print edition.) I don't know what you do but I no more use print edition dictionaries which also have digital editions. Likewise other digital dictionaries, you don't lose time finding the page. Very convenient. Besides, it has some pronunciations nonetheless. In any case, it is Black's Law Dictionary...

If you aren't a lawyer and have to deal with legal terminology then this is the reference book for you!

This dictionary can be used by persons who want to get acquainted with legal terminology, but it is a precious tool for translators too. Also, as a legal professional, you may have ambiguities or question marks regarding a term. These ones will disappear immediately due to the multitude of explanations and contexts provided.