The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years Collector's Edition

by Encore

Product Features

• works with Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 10 x 3.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005R1OB
• Item model number: 705381169000
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,953 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #36 in Software > Education & Reference > Geography
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Product Description

This amazing archive delivers 112 years of National Geographic magazine to your desktop--all 1,285 issues. With 196,000-plus pages of engaging text, over 185,000 photographs and illustrations, more than 9,500 articles, and 100 years of original, classic ads, this is a very special archive and a perfect complement to National Geographic Maps: The Complete Collections.

Amazon.com Review

National Geographic magazine has been published since 1888, and for some people it is an absolute must-have. Older editions are especially difficult to obtain, however, and would-be collectors search high and low for them. Therefore, anyone interested in having access to the magazine but who doesn't have the space for all the paper editions (or the money to pay for them) should be tempted by National Geographic: 112 Years Collectors Edition. Its 31 CDs provide scans of every page of the magazine, cover to cover, from its very first edition through the December 2000 issue.

Obviously what you don't get with the electronic version is the thrill of having the paper magazines readily at hand. But strong compensation for this is the search engine that allows you to look for articles, illustrations, the famous National Geographic maps, and even advertisements on whatever topic interests you. Some of the scans of earlier magazines can be a little difficult to read (the paper quality was poorer, we suppose), and because these are straightforward scans of entire pages, you can't cut and paste text or search the full texts of articles. But you can print pages to read away from the computer, and browse, browse, browse as well as research specific topics.

National Geographic: 112 Years Collectors Edition is a superb collection--and it is even packaged so it fits neatly on your bookshelf. --Sandra Vogel

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea .. But Don't Toss Those Hardcopies Just Yet, December 26, 2001

By 

Matthew Daniel (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years Collector's Edition (CD-ROM)

I installed this software for my stepfather and had a good chance to check it out. If I were rating the content of National Geographic, I would give it 5 stars but this electronic rendition hardly does the material justice. It's true that all the articles and pictures are on the numerous Cds (why not a DVD version?), but be warned that the homegrown browser is clunky, and only permits one level of zoom. That's a real shame because you're looking at an image of the article that's not very easy to read unless you have an awesome monitor and you fiddle with the display settings. Those with less than eagle eyes will struggle mightily to read these article with same ease and comfort as an e-book or Acrobat pdf file. Since the articles are images and not actual ASCII text you can't select or copy bits of text. Printing was a disappointment since I had to print the images along with the text and I didn't get just the single page I wanted. The printed version was no easier to read either.
I liked the simple and advanced search facility, though I question how thorough a search can be when only the abstracts exist as electronic text. The objective and insightful articles are timeless and deserve to be truly electronic so they can be read and searched outside of this proprietary and cumbersome interface.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this product or the Maps!, December 24, 2002

By 

Brian (Appleton, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years Collector's Edition (CD-ROM)

Two years ago I received the complete NG set along w/ the maps as Christmas gifts. It soon became readily apparent that the images were very difficult to read. No matter what I did would change it. They have this slider bar thing that makes the text darker and lighter, but this is just a feeble attempt to get around their problem. I returned the product to Best Buy, and have hoped ever since that the company that makes this product(Topics Entertainment) would eventually re-due it so that the images would be readable. When I saw this "new edition" come out (NG 112 years) I promptly bought it for myself as a Christmas gift. Being a bit leary, and knowing that Best Buy doesn't let you return opened software, I emailed the company (Topics) to ask if the problem had been cleared up. I waited at least a week and did not receive a response. Tonight, being Christmas Eve, I couldn't wait any longer, and promptly opened the box and tried it out. To my dismay, nothing has changed. It is the same old piece of junk as before, with a few more of the difficult-to-read issues thrown in. In my opinion, this product is terrible. I honestly can't read more than a couple pages without starting to get a headache. It is an embarrasment that a company as well-known and respected as NG could have allowed a 3rd party software company make such an inferior product! Oh, well, I guess I will have to wait until the next edition comes out and try that. By the way, I'm still going to try to return this product as I feel it is clearly defective. Hope this helps anyone else that may have similar concerns.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars [...]should have negative rate numbers for this product!, June 19, 2002

By 

Nuno Miguel da Silva Micaelo (Bustos Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years Collector's Edition (CD-ROM)

In a few words:
Impossible to read on screen.
Impossible to read on paper.
Impossible to zoom in properly.
Don't by it!