#Magazine Article
8 messages in this thread
I'm working on an article about multimedia for CompuServe Magazine.
What sort of a multimedia system would you recommend to someone just getting
into the field? How much can one expect to spend? Are there any pitfalls one
should look out for?
I'm looking forward to seeing your views, either here or via CompuServe Mail.
Best, John Edwards, Contributing Editor, CompuServe Magazine
Rather than try to compose an answer for each possible definition of
"multimedia," why don't you share yours so we can tailor ours?
"Multimedia" is a marketing buzz-word. It is devoid of intrinsic
meaning.
To my definition, multimedia is computing that mixes text, graphics
(still and/or animated), video and sound. –John
You're still so general as to make specific recomendations more than
a little difficult. If you can leave out the video, that's all the
computing I've done over about the last 10 years (since getting
machines capable). I imagine that it's most computing being done
with modern machines, and just about any choice (Amiga, Mac, MPC)
would be fine. If you require video, I guess my opinion won't count
anyway, because I don't use video.
Your definition of "multimedia" is like saying, define "computing".
Multimedia has become a meaningless catch-all phrase. Is the Vic-20
a multimedia system? It is capable of text, graphics, video, and
sound. Is my Gameboy multimedia? It is capable of those same
elements.
If you want to define what you mean I'm sure you'll get lots of
input. But, do you mean presentation systems like Scala, maybe
combined with CDROM for kiosks, do you mean talking encyclopedia
software? Do you mean the DeskTop Video stuff that is being done for
SeaQuest and Babylon 5 (and others) with the Amiga/Toaster?
I'm talking about desktop multimedia on CD-ROM — education
applications, games, encyclopedias and so on. –John
John,
I have used a CD-Rom with my Amiga 3000 for 3 or 4 years. I use
it as a high volume storage device. Sure I have such multimedia
products as "Time Table of History – Science & Innovation" and
"American Vista", but the greatest use is from collections like the
public domain collection of Fred Fish disks and picture collections
such as "GIFS Galore". When I need a utility to solve a problem I
can always find a public domain program on the Fish disks. When I
need a texture or a model for 3-D rendering or 24-Bit painting there
are disks full of textures and models.
If I were going to play games I would pick up a CD-32 by
Commodore. This machine is taking Europe by storm. Buying one of
these would be much cheaper than adding drives sound cards etc to
your clone.
Don
———————————————-Don- via Whap!
It's also devoid of grammatical accuracy, since 'media' is already
plural. Multimedium would be better. As you say… a marketing
buzzword.