Customer Reviews

The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years Collector's Edition

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

 

 

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.

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.

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

This CD-ROM collection is not what I expected it to be. I can't believe National Geographic is even releasing this... And considering today's level of 'digitizing' methods, this collection is very poor. The text is hardly 'readable', and viewing is unacceptable. I wrote to the software manufacturer (I believe its a third party) and not one reply. So I'm completely disappointed. Don't waste your money on this one. The map collection is a 'relief' though in comparison.

The scans were made at horrible resolution and quality such that it's nearly impossible to read as the other reviews say. Some of the more recent issues are scanned at higher quality, but it's easier to obtain hard copies of those issues.

The viewer software could also be a lot better. It doesn't let you zoom in past 100%.

32 cd's is an awful lot to keep switching, especially if you're looking for a specific topic and the results are spread between several CD's. A DVD version with 4 or 5 CD's would be much more appropriate.

On the positive side, having all the issues available in an electronic format is a great idea and that's why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. The poor software design and scans make it impossible to appreciate.

Although I, like the below reviewers, found the interface inefficient and cumbersome, there is no way other than owning the entire magazine collection (and dusting same)to have this absolute treasure trove. I have read of modern history in the making as the description of the turn of the last century revolution in Turkey unfolded in varius reports, watched countries develope and disappear in the decades of the 20th century. I am seriously in love with the pictures, reportage, and wealth contained in a handful of CD's. It is more than worth the price and inconvenience!

Although national greographics is such a wonderful magazine, this release is not worth your money.The scan resolutions are so poor, the text barely readable and 31 CDs is too much. Even the user interface is not friendly and does not allow multiple pages to be opened simultaneously. I say this is one of the worst products available and its a complete waste of money.

The 32 CD's while complete are of dubious quality. The 'front end' is terrible.

I recently(may2002) received a letter informing me that there is a new end user agreemnet and would I sign it....I dont plan to as the user agreement I have says I can "do as I wish' with the product.

So get a used one and make lots of back ups.

I bought this collection when it first came out and I think it is wonderful you might have a hard time reading the articles but that's what the magifing glass is for I also use it for my grandchildren's school projects they don't have to cut out pictures from the magizines all you have to do is print out a copy

The software package does not have all the bells and whistles that I would like, but I get hours of enjoyment reading old articles. Despite what you have read in other reviews, the articles are perfectly readable when viewed in a magnification mode. Some of you reviewers better see an optometrist. I found the browser to be very straightforward and easy to use. It has the feel of actually flipping through the magazine, but you don't get the benefits of viewing an electronic document because the pages (text included) are jpeg files. No cut and paste here. You can however search for articles by subject and flip through magazines by page, article, year, or decade. My primary complaint is all of those CDs--a DVD collection would be more convenient. 32 CDs occupy a lot less space than 112 years worth of magazines though. Hopefully National Geographic can work out its legal problems with this software package so they can release an update that addresses some of the complaints you have read about here. Right now it's the only game in town.