Customer Reviews

Microsoft Plus Digital Media Edition - Old Version

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I wouldn't say that this is the ULTIMATE add-on for Windows XP. It has its share of the usual Plus! fluff (Plus! Dancers?) but I use some things (Analog Recorder and Sync & Go) on a daily basis.

The Analog Recorder functions as a slightly fancier version of the windows sound recorder, but the added features make it useful. Besides simply recording the audio to a windows media audio file, it has options to automatically set the input level and, the feature I find most useful, separate it into tracks based on silent pauses in the audio. It can also try to take out pops and hiss if you want, but honestly I can't tell the difference.

The Sync & Go feature only works with a Pocket PC. I think it also requires a memory card (even if it doesn't, it requires enough storage space that you'll want one.) The content you want updated each time you sync your PDA is chosen from a list of windows media player playlists and a meager list of audio and video (~15 min of video from nbc nightly news, a short video of msnbc headlines, npr's hourly news update, clips from comedy central, etc) that is then downloaded from the internet to your PDA. The selection could be better (I do enjoy Tom Brokaaaw's daaaily dose, however.)

I haven't used the other programs included, but I use Analog Recorder and Sync and Go so much that I consider the money well spent. It's a bargain if you don't want to pay for a more full-featured version of one of these programs.

If you keep in mind all that's included for the price, you really can't complain. XP's visual interfaces have always been appealing, and the components of Plus! DME are all nicely done and easy to use. I bought it mainly because I was interested in Photo Story, and now that there is a free online upgrade available (Photo Story 2), you can save projects to edit later. That makes this program much more sensible. It allows final saving in only two formats: "medium quality" (240x320) and "high quality" (480x640). There are also two quality choices for audio. Happily, saved "stories" (WMV format) can be imported into Movie Maker and rendered as full DV-AVI with good results.

The audio capture program is also simple, straightforward, and wizard-based. It lets you trim unnecessary parts before saving. I used it to capture audio in order to make CDs from language lesson tapes. It worked great. I haven't tried it on a wide variety of music, but it worked fine with the music I did digitize. You cannot do any fancy editing, but for importing analog music into your PC, it couldn't get simpler than this.

The Alarm Clock integrates nicely with XP, and I use it often. Plus! DME also came with many new transition effects for Movie Maker which are pretty cool.

There are other features, which are mainly just "toys" to me, but even without them, I feel that the price is fair enough for only the goodies I've mentioned above.

Although I confess that this will not satisfy those who prefer high "tweakability" and professional results, I feel that Plus! DME is worth its price for what it does and will please those who want a simple solution to a few digital media tasks.

OK, my major complaint with the last version of Plus! was that it gave you little to nothing; mostly demo and watered-down programs. Well, although this version seems to be heading in the right direction, it still offers little in the way of usable add-ons. First, I'll address Picture Story, since it seems to be the fan favorite. While I love it's ease of use, the truth of the matter is, you don't need it. Windows Movie Maker, (included in XP and ME), does the exact same thing and offers greater customization and more special effects options. Best of all, it's FREE, and offers ME users the opportunity to create "picture stories" as well (Plus! is now only available for XP). Plus! DME does offer some additional Movie Maker content, however it's only compatible with version 2 (another XP exclusive). Other than Picture Story, there is really very little of value here. The analog recorder seems like a good idea for cleaning up old LP's, however I haven't owned a turntable since the late 80's, so I really can't comment on it. The CD label maker is OK; comparable to the versions supplied with your average burner software. It's a good solution for those who opt to use Windows XP as their default CD-R/RW burning software. The media player add-ons are OK, mostly new skins and a few security features to keep others from listening to your music, (although the only use I can immediately think of is maybe keeping the children from listening to anything you might have containing questionable lyrics). I don't plan to convert my MP3's to WMA, so the converter is useless to me. The dancers and alarm clock lose their novelty after the first 5 minutes. I own a Pocket PC, so the synchronization tools are welcome. It makes converting media files easier and allows you to download media content from the web (although I haven't yet felt the need to do so). All in all, it's "ok". It's nowhere near a "must-have" item. I would only suggest it if you catch it on sale. P.S., like all MS products, it also requires activation and is limited to one computer. Just thought that was important enough to add.

The software on Media Edition has one real gem - Photo Story.

You install Photo Story version 1 that comes on the Media Edition disk then get the free upgrade that comes with the ver. 2 Digital Media Edition download upgrade. Photo Story Ver. 2 lets you edit your story until you get it right.

Photo Story allows you to easily build a moving jpg slide show with added non-copywrited windows media file music. It writes a wma movie file which you can be transferred to a VCD. It will not write your photo story to a DVD. You can convert your wma movie file to a DVD file with other software. I used MyDVD that came with my Sony DVD writer. MyDVD does a direct conversion from Picture Story's WMA to a DVD. The songs you buy from Music Match for 99 cents are copyrighted and will not work with Photo Story.

Here are some examples of Photo Story...

Photo Story is the way to go until you are ready move to industrial strength slide software like Memories to TV. I doubt I'll ever need anything better that Photo Story.

I don't really use most of the programs in this package...except Photo Story. Photo Story is incredible! I have done video CDs for my parents' wedding anniversary, seniors graduating from high school (we have two seniors in our private school and will use the stories at graduation), a teacher appreciation banquet, etc. Just hook your DVD player to a projector, and voila! You're ready to go. The ability to add music really makes the stories moving. My only complaint is that you are limited to one music track, so if the story is long, the song just repeats itself over and over. Hopefully, with the next upgrade, they'll add the ability to use more than one music track. That's the only improvement I see that it needs. Great for creating memories for your family and friends!

It's ironic that a software package that costs only $20 could still be termed "a poor value". While the intentions behind Plus! Digital Media Edition were probably to enhance the XP experience, these features should have been included with Windows XP as a patch given the price of XP and the limited features of Plus! DME.

For example, we have Plus Dancer. This program puts a small, pre-recorded dancer on the bottom of your screen who moves with the music selection that you currently have playing. After about 5 minutes my amusement with this feature was gone. Some of the other features are useful if you are into photo or music editing, but there are far better tools out there, and many are free.

The only feature that I have ended up using was the Alarm Clock. It is moderately useful as I prefer choosing an MP3 track to wake me up, rather than a buzzer or an annoying early morning DJ.

If you are hardcore into photos and music and need something cheap to enhance your projects, this MIGHT be worth picking up. Otherwise, just hit the Net and look for some decent share.ware

I hate Microsoft, usually. With software that crashes more often than not and a price tag that's 3 times more than anything else its easy. But I've got to give it up for this one. I've only used one product and that's the Analog Recorder. IMHO its the best thing they've ever done. I have tons of audio tapes and there was no way I was going back and rebuying them as CDs. This moves all of that stuff onto CD easily and quickly. It can automatically recognize, combine and separate different songs. It even reduces the pop and hiss. After that you just burn and go. At [money amount]its more than worth it when you look at how much money you'll save buying a pack of blank CDs ([money amount]max) vs all of your cassettes all over again as Cds($$$ and that's if you can find them).

This was a great add-on to my Windows XP, it unlocked a whole new experience: everything from importing and syncing music to the little dancers on the bottom of your screen.

I have seen this product and it is great. One great feature is Photo Story, where you can take your photos and add music, narration, and optional zoom and pan, or let the computer take over. There is Plus! Dancer which enables tiny people to dance on your desktop to music playing in your Windows Media Player. You have the option to choose many different dancers to dance many different dances. There is the Analog Recorder, which takes you old records and tapes, and makes them sound better, using the input on your sound card. There is the CD Label Maker, which tells what it does by it's name. There is Party Mode, which is a skin for Windows Media Player, which does not let guests access your files and applications, and they can control the music, and a built in guestbook which scrolls at the bottom of the screen. There are many other applications such as Plus! Converter and more Windows Media Player skins.

The Plus Digital Media Edition programs aren't really junk, and if you don't expect Microsoft to give you very much for what they charge for these programs (and you shouldn't), then you won't be disappointed. The most interesting program (to me) is PhotoStory, which presents tantalizing potential but at this point is little more than a demo. You can make your own "PhotoStories" with your digital stills using pretty sophisticated pan and zoom effects and add narration and background music, but the program provides limited controls and, importantly, once saved the PhotoStories can't be modified at all -- fun to play with but not really very useful. The music programs all together are less useful than the PowerToys programs that Microsoft (uncharacteristically) gives away for free. If you like to play with little programs like the Sleep Timer, Alarm Clock or Party Mode Function, they can be fun, but don't look for anything very practical. The Plus! Dancers is technically impressive, but hogs an astonishing amount of disk space if you download all the dancers and really doesn't do anything except demonstrate the technical expertise of some of Microsoft's programmers. I don't use MovieMaker 2, so I don't know how much this package adds, but I'm guessing it's a lot less than the hype would suggest. The Sync 'n Go and CD labeler capability might be useful if you don't already have several programs that do the same thing, which most people do. In sum, this is an interesting group of programs, but it seems to me it would have made more sense if Microsoft had made DME available free as a demo to promote more full-featured versions of a program like PhotoStory for sale. Finally, I find it very annoying that the download version (which I purchased) is the same price as what they'll be selling in stores. Considering the savings in production, packaging and shipping costs, you would think they'd give download purchasers a small break. But I guess Microsoft doesn't give anybody a break. (NOTE: like apparently all new Microsoft programs, this thing uses the online activation requirement that precludes installation on more than one computer -- so don't plan on buying one copy and sharing it with your friends.)