The Complete National Geographic

by Mindscape

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002S93P
• Item model number: 112671
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 10, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,953 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #32 in Software > Education & Reference > Geography
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

This CD-ROM collection from National Geographic Interactive brings every exotic corner of the universe explored by National Geographic as close as the computer. Peruse all the stirring imagery, fascinating reporting, and nostalgic advertisements without sacrificing shelf space. Content on these 30 searchable CD-ROMs is printable in black and white or color.

From MacAddict -- Subscribe now!

The makers of this disc meticulously compiled 108 years of National Geographic magazines, sometimes combing garage sales and used-book stores to find them. They then scanned 2,200 pounds of material to make 30 searchable CDs. But apparently they forgot - or couldn't figure out how - to turn up the scanner resolution.

So, for two Ben Franklins, you get access to every page of every National Geo, complete with a passable search engine. But to read it, you're going to have to work those peepers.

The total package - 188,500 pages wrapped in 30 chronological CDs - totals 300 gigabytes for the National Geographic buff.

The Last Words:

Mark: Whether onscreen or in printout form, the text is virtually unreadable. The result may be useful to archivists and researchers, but as an educational tool, it's no substitute for a library card.

Judy: Despite an expansive collection of information, Web access, and the basic zoom-in, zoom-out features, the disc is difficult to maneuver.

Joe: So what's the jump between 40 visually sharp CDs instead of 30 subpar ones? Give the folks at National Geo a pat on the back for the effort, but don't give them your Visa number until they make it readable.

Rating:1/4

©1999 MacAddict

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, but still worth a look, July 31, 2007

By 

Nathan Redmond "Brade Runnar" (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic (CD-ROM)

We need not discuss the greatness of National Geographic Magazine; people already know it's the best source of geographic knowledge these days. This review concerns the product.

As many, many people have pointed out, the JPEG compression for the magazine pages is at times atrocious. The text is barely readable at times, but thankfully, the majority is readable. The pictures look somewhat good, although compression artifacts are visible at times.

For a product produced in the late 1990's, it's pretty good. However, with the advances of modern technology, higher-quality picture compression and DVDs, the Society should consider putting out another Complete National Geographic collection on DVD. If Mad magazine updated its already-good Totally Mad set with the Absolutely Mad DVD-ROM, why can't the Society be bothered to put out another edition of a product with unrivaled potential? Especially seeing as a lawsuit over this product (and its updates) has recently been resolved in the magazine's favor.

The potential for a "National Geographic: Complete 119 (or 120) Years Collection DVD-ROM)" product is enormous. Who knows; they might even be working on another as I type.

Anyway, the final verdict: while this product is by no means reference-quality, it is worth picking up until the Society decides to release another, higher-quality DVD edition.

EDIT: I have recently found that if the program is installed from the disc which contains issues from January-December 1997, a feature to darken the text on the pages is added to the zoom-in mode. There are three settings: low, medium and high. There is also a "Reset" button to restore the text to its original form. Darkening the text improves the quality of illegible text, but causes picture quality to drop if set to maximum. Still, this feature is appreciated.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Crappy, June 12, 2008

By 

Mr. Tammany Hall (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic (CD-ROM)

I bought this as a research tool, but it's almost unusable. I had no problem with the 95/98 format, because XP has a tool to overcome that.

The problem is that the searches are clunky, you can't search PHOTOS at all, and the indexed searches are clearly NOT pulling all searches.

If you have one hundred years to browse through this behemoth in search of what you need, then by all means, buy it. If you are planning on quick, efficient searches to pull up images or even articles you need, then you're screwed.

National Geographic has a halfway decent search tool on their own web site, and most large or college libraries also have enhanced Nat Geo search tools that would be more helpful.

This product is just a poorly-indexed waste of time and effort.

Avoid.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Time Geographic Lover, May 22, 2007

By 

R. McRae (Saugus, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete National Geographic (CD-ROM)

Just for the sheer history of it. Do you remember those pre-Home Computer, after school hours spent in the library, researching the different sets of encyclopedias and those wonderful National Geographic magazines? When the opportunity to own the complete catalogue from the very first issue arose, my wife and I jumped at the chance. For she also remembers many a day, traveling the world through those magazines, and the countless pages of world class photography. Not the easiest to maneuver the text on CD-Rom, but well worth the time. Have shared the wonderful resource of information with our children also.