CompuServe Messages

This is a completely unsolicited message regarding my early foray into the world of CD-ROM. In short, if any businesses related to consumer CD-ROM are reading this: Pay attention. It's a mess out there. If I did not have both a strong stomach and a strong desire to get "into" CD-ROM, I'd have given up a long time ago. There are one or two retail (mail order) sources who claim (their own words) to be the "definitive source on CD-ROM." These places could not even answer the most basic questions regarding the products that they carry. I made repeated phone calls and had the same experience every time. There is very little walk-in retail information available here in the L.A. area (not a small market, I presume). The one store, COMPUSA, that I walked into, could only tell me the basic price and the brand name of the units they sold. Not much else. As for DAK, well — The average consumer, interested in CD-ROM, would find him/herself lost amidst bad advice, inaccurate information and difficult to obtain product. If all this isn't bad enough, the software situation seems even worse. There's a lot of software out there masquerading under different names and different versions. If you try to compare what you're getting from one "bundle" to the next — good luck. Are you getting the "Guiness Disc of Records" or the "Guiness Disc of Records (Multi-media)." Are you getting Compton's Family Encyclopedia with a Sony interface? The Compton's family encyclopedia with the Brittanica interface or the Compton's Multimedia Family Encyclopedia. Three separate products, according to Brittanica software. Are you getting Grolier's Illustrated with sound? Or Grolier's Illustrated without sound? Or the Software Toolworks version? [More…] There are 2 Replies.