#Worst CD-ROMs
11 messages in this thread
There's a lot of talk on this forum about everyone's most favorite CD-ROMs.
What I'm curious about, however, is everyone's LEAST favorite CD-ROMs! That's
right, those CD-ROMs that most disappointed you–whether that be a boring book
on disk or a less than multimedia extravaganza. Let's develop a list and see
which products just didn't cut it!
–Mike Miller, Lover of all things bad
Worst CD-ROm Nomination:
North American Indians from Quanta Press.
Poor interface, no credits or dates given for most of the material on the disc,
fuzzy pictures. Non-responsive technical support.
Allen
Thumbs down to Quanta Press "The Aircraft Encyclopedia". My bundle was
missing the manual. A friend loaned me his which explained that the reason the
program did not work is that the defaults used in the on disk installation
don't work. Dumb! Also you must have the manual with you at all times because
there is no on line help and the interface is so obscure that I still can't
make heads or tails. And I tend to be a rather obscure person.
Mike.
I nominate Sound Sensations from Chestnut. ALL the files are in zipped and in
their own directories! Really dumb.
Mike,
I have to nominate Microsoft's Multimedia Beethoven. It appears to be a
year-old Toolbook creation using Redbook audio (which is causing me problems
right now). I'm surprised at this title since their Musical Instruments and
Bookshelf are great!
Also – Beauty and the Beast from EBOOK – CD-ROM ripoff. Just a story being
read aloud.
George
George,
Actually, I rather like MS Beethoven. The content is good, and I haven't had
any problems with the redbook audio. Your message now has me interested in
Musical Instruments…
I really haven't had any run-ins with bad titles, so I can't add my vote.
But I wonder if there's a way that we can keep a list of titles people DID
like… Rich, if you're listening, is there a way this is done on Compuserve?
— Samuel
> Actually, I rather like MS Beethoven….Your message now has me interested
> Musical Instruments…
Actually, I rather like Musical Instruments. Your message now has me
interested in MS Beethoven <grin>.
What I would like to find (and perhaps this isn't the right thread to discuss
it) is a high quality Windows "bird watchers" disc. I've seen an Audobon
offering, but didn't care for the user interface…lots of ugly text mode
menus selctions that don't take you anywhere (so why are the selections there
in the first place! Lazy programmers, I say). Something along the lines of a
Petersons Field Guide would be nice.
Mike,
Continuing the wrong thread, I found a reference to Birds of North America,
based on Roger Tory Petersons field guides. Sounded great, search features,
calls etc. This was 6 or 9 months ago. I called them and they told me they
had copyright problems with Roger and had not brought it out – did I know
him?!- no.
Applied Optical Media Corp
1450 Boot Road Bldg. 400 West Chester PA 19380
215 429 3701
I was given the Audobon CD and it is nice, quite a few calls and his early
drawings, but not the field guide thing we are looking for. I may try to call
Applied again, maybe we could stir them up. (If youew nt to know about the
mating peregrines in downtown Topeka drop me an E- mail.)
Walt
Samuel,
Well, admittedly my opinion is biased since I can't hear anything! A fix is on
its way though…
The other thing that bugs me about it is that it appears to be a repackaged old
title. I guess that doesn't automatically make it bad – but I expected it to
be part of the MS multimedia 'series' which it clearly isn't. This brings me
to their Musical Instruments and Bookshelf. These are great! The former has
an easy 'look-and-feel', photos, and (of course) great music. My only
complaint is that the clips aren't longer. Even the Cinemania title is fun to
use. Oh well.
George
Beethoven was the first of the musical CD ROM titles so it's a big older,
yes, but I've had no trouble with it whatsoever and it's actually kind of a
neat program.
Family Education Collection.
Bunch of poor educational stuff. "1+1=". Sorry, try again.