Customer Reviews

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary CD-Rom Multimedia

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Good software engineers are hard to find. Unfortunatly for us, the author could not find one to implement this CD-ROM dictionary.

Only a small subset of the words are actually available with audio pronunciations--most are not. The interface does not conform to standard Windows user interface conventions so even simple tasks like copy and paste are difficult to perform. It does not seem to allow me to paste a word into the "find box"--I have to manually type the word I want to look-up. Also, it does not offer a convenient method to look-up a word that is used in one of its definitions--all enteries must be typed manually.

The dictionary on CD-ROM is a good idea and audio pronunciations would be great, but I'm going back to my paper dictionary until I find a well designed CD-ROM implementation.

I recently bought the Taber's CD version, and although it lacks some features that I wish it had, I am satisfied over-all. The cut and paste function must be done using CNTRL+ C to copy and CNTRL + V to paste, or by pushing the "copy" button on the definitions pages. There is no "paste" button. The interface isn't as intuitive as some software I've used, but if you read the instructions that come with the CD it makes more sense than trying to figure it out. It has a powerful search tool, animated illustrations, and video. As an editor, most of my work is already on the computer, so using the CD version, despite its imperfections, beats going to the shelf and leafing through the book anyday.