Customer Reviews

Oxford English Dictionary : CD-Rom for Windows (20 volume unabridged edition)

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It would be foolish and pretentious to review the OED in just a few lines, but I do want to put in some good words for the CD-ROM version. It contains all 20 volumes of the paper version and is much cheaper, but it comes with no microscopes or visual aids.

There are probably many people who, like me, would never have sprung for the paper version. I have no NEED for a dictionary like this one, but boy, did WANT one. It seemed irresponsible to self-indulge at the paper version rate; but at the CD rate it was just a minor sin for which I have already forgiven myself.

Apart from considerations of price, there are many other advantages to this version. Size and volume aside, just the act of looking up a word is much easier on the computer. I can be writing and decide to check on a word. In the paper version this would require getting up, going to the bookshelf, selecting the volume, holding it in one hand while turning the pages with the other...now I punch a key and the dictionary is there. I type the word I want, expand the page, read about it, print the definition and the references if I need to, and then make the dictionary vanish as I return to my writing. Marvelous!

Because it is fully cross referenced, one can do things with the CD version that would be nearly impossible otherwise. For example, one can enter the name of an author and immediately have all the instances in which he/she had been cited in the entire work. Its various indices permit searches by dates, periods of time, by etymology, phonetics, by phrases, and so on.

Instalation is a breeze. Documentation is fair enough. Am I that I waited a little longer than I should. If you crave one, get i

I have long lusted after the Oxford English Dictionary. . . the only reality check was the price. With the unabridged version is on CD Rom, there was no reason to wait.

This version has some added advantages: 1) the font size is variable, allowing the optically challenged to read without glasses. 2) the cross reference to quotations means I can look up famous quotations with only a few words firmly in mind.

I seldom think a CD version as good as paper. In this case, it is. I have owned this dictionary for several months and still drag it around as the CD in residence in my lap top.

The new IT-enhanced OED on CD-ROM is A-OK. I must complain, however, that its greatly reduced dimensions commensurately impact the usefulness of the product. It is no longer useful for preventing doors from blowing shut, reaching up to change light bulbs, nor for crushing cockroaches and other vermin. Most seriously, I can no longer impress the dithyrambs out of my friends when they see it on my bookshelf or on top of their small children. The OED should come out in an expanded version: one single colossal tome that gives a new meaning to the term "coffee-table book".

although i love books and am not a super-techie,the cd is the only way to use this resource. we first bought the book and it was impossible; the 20-volume is too costly, not to mention the space it would take. also,these volumes are very heavy. the cd is pure pleasure. it is large print and fast. if you love words, treat yourself. this is surely Word Heaven.

I had extreme difficulty empathizing with the hero of this rather long book. He seemed determined to soliloqize to the point of absurdity, and by Volume 20, I had given up all hope of hearing from the other characters. However, the protagonist is to be commended for his vocabulary, which is stunningly broad. The joys of this excellent work are many, and fortunately, it will never, ever, be made into a movie.

The most comprehensive etymological and semever produced