Features

• Legacy CAD Symbol Convertor
• Allows engineers and others to create drawings in an intuitive environment
• Includes easy-to-use tools for designing P&ID's and PFD¿s
• Generate component lists and create datasheets
• Intelligent pipe routing and symbol alignment

Product Description

KEYNOTE ... Read more

Features

• Experiment with different typefaces to create the perfect text for your presentation
• Design razor-sharp text, beautiful charts & tables, and professional-quality layouts, all with just a few clicks
• Create high-quality visual effects like transitions between slides, element effects and more
• Intuitive slide navigator and simple thumbnail viewer for more precise controls and better slide organization
• Professional themes and images combined with must-haves like anti-aliased text, dynamic alignment guides and snap-rulers

Reviews (9)

New Turn Your Slide Presentations with Keynote
For most Mac users, slide presentations means Microsoft's Powerpoint. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, in 2003 decided there is the ÔMac WayÕ for presentations. In Steve Jobs words, ÒKeynote makes your presentation really count. Ó

Under the Keynote Hood

You can choose transition, style, direction and speed when you use KeynoteÕs Inspector. Creating object builds adds visual interest to your slide presentation. You can animate the elements on a single slide or in a group of slides.

One click and you alter the opacity of a graphic using the Slide Inspector. Click twice and you can set the playback parameters for a QuickTime movie. The Build window in the Inspector allows you to preview, add, and manipulate transitions within and between slides.

AppleÕs Keynote allows you to include sound for your presentation. AppleÕs KeynoteÕs sound formats you can use are MOV, Flash, MP3 and AIFF.Also, you can add files from iTunesÕ music library to your Keynote slide presentation. In addition, you can add a Quicktime movie to your slides.

Pro Reaction

Keynote has crisp, fresh graphics. KeynoteÕs ÔDrag and DropÕ and exporting to AppleÕs Quicklime both work well. You can import Microsoft PowerPoint or AppleWorksÕ presentations and create a custom theme base on those slides.

You can store your images in KeynoteÕs Image Library. KeynoteÕs Cube and Mosaic Large transitions are outstanding for updating your MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint. You receive a KeynoteÕs User Guide manual. No missing manual here.

Con Reaction

Keynote lacks prebuilt presentations. Also, Keynote has very little clip art to work with in presentations. Also, you have limited presentation themes to choose from in Keynote.

Keynote Cube and Mosaic Large and small transitions do not render well when exporting in MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint or AcrobatÕs PDF formats. Missing from KeynoteÕs User Guide is an index.

Final Notes

You can count on KeynoteÕs sharp appearance, ease of use, and great price. Keynote makeÔs it easy to create professional-looking presentations compatible with MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint. In addition, Keynote gives your presentations attractive slide-transition effects. I use AppleÕs KeynoteÕs software as a companion software for revising my MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint presentations.

Charts and clean presentations...
I work with plenty of powerpoint charts in my work with windows users...but when I need a great statistics chart, I turn to Keynote.I have plenty of control over the output and the results are stunning.

The export to powerpoint works terrific.However, if you build a presentation in Keynote, you may just consider exporting it into Quicktime so that the viewer can simply run through the presentation in pristine quality and enjoy all of the terrific transitions.

I hope to see more office apps like this from Apple in the future.

It knows what you need.
For years, PowerPoint has been the bain of my existence. My boss is obsessed with it. Every week it's another presentation in PowerPoint. Finally, an alternative. As usual, Apple takes the "point" out of a Microsoft product. It seems fair, all things considered.

The user interface for this program is fast and easy to learn. It even gives you several options of themes to use for those deadline crunches that we all run into from time to time. It includes the famous drag-and-drop functionality that we've come to expect.

Most importantly, you can save it out to PowerPoint for those less enlighted souls who still think that a Windows machine will help them keep up with the times.

Bill Palmer's Keynote Review
Despite its youth and inexperience, Keynote represents everything that's right about computing in the Mac universe, and easily explains why I use a Mac.

My full thoughts on Keynote are too long to post here, but if you would like to read all about it, just follow this link (cut and paste it into your browser if it's not clickable):

Bill Palmer's Keynote Review
[website]

Easy, Sharp, Intuitive, Apple
After being a slave to both Mc and PC versions of PPT, Keynote came along and threw off the bonds. As I own my own business and can use what I want, Keynote will replace PPT without hesitation.
Graphic acuity, more choices and freedoms to manipulate charts and graphs with ease.
No problem leaving MS PPT at the curb with the rest of the mutts.. ... Read more

Product Description

PowerPlugs: Charts helps you easily create television-quality charts, without the assistance of a graphic artist. It offers you a wide variety of unique 2D and 3D charting styles with a rich set of powerful editing toolsso you can get just the results you need directly from within Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel! PowerPlugs: Charts has over 100 pre-formatted 2D & 3D chart templates organized into 11 categories: Basic, Big Data Set, Corporate, Gradients, Letter Size Black and White, Letter Size Color, Models, Rendered, Surveys, Textured and Trend lines. PowerPlugs: Charts lets you choose over 31 chart types based on the following types of categories: Area, Bar, Bubble, Column, Histograms, Lines, Pies, Scatter, and Surface. Its unique Data Analyzer feature can automatically recommend the best type of chart to use for your data set. With PowerPlugs: Charts, you'll soon find it astonishingly easy to produce television-quality charts and graphs right from within PowerPoint and Excel! ... Read more

Features

• Creates gorgeous television-quality fully rendered 3D charts!
• Includes over 100 pre-formatted 2D & 3D chart templates to choose from!
• Robust and intuitive editing tools!
• Plugs in seamlessly to Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel!
• Complements Microsoft's built-in charting functions with a greater variety of styles!

Reviews (4)

Good program to get started with flowcharts and diagramming
Recently I faces with a necessity to teach basic diagramming and flowcharting and I found that Omnigraffle is a perfect program to get started and to master all the basic functions. For advanced usage and sophisticated layouts and diagrams I try to use other programs that are also available on Mac, for example, ConceptDraw.

It really is good...
OmniGraffle is for me, the most unique productivity tool I possess.

I teach film and digital media at a local university. All of my handouts to my students are produced in OmniGraffle. It works seamlessly with their companion outliner program; OmniOutliner. I prepare handouts in OmniOutliner first, clarifying my thinking and then I simply load it into Omnigraffle which converts the outline with indents etc. into structured diagrams with the same inter-relationship as the original outline document. Easier to do than explain, I have to say.

They look great, they are easily edited and changed. You can make incredible documents with this program from flowcharts highlighting processes to floorplans, to detailed notes, and step-by-step explanations, etc. etc. etc. Faster and easier than a desktop publishing program and far, far more flexible.

The other reviewer was right, if you work with ideas, this program, especially working with OmniOutliner, is invaluable. There are plenty of outliners for the PC, there are also graphics software, but nothing like this pair for productivity.

One of the easiest and most useful programs I've ever used
As a former software quality assurance tester for a major software company I have to say that this is arguably the easiest and most useful program I have ever used.

Through the years I've had to dabble with Photoshop, Quark, PageMaker and FileMaker.The companies that make these titles like us to think that their programs are easy to use.Well, they need to send some folks over to Omni Group to learn how it's really done.

I've never been able to just sit down and intutiively know how to operate software such as this.OmniGraffle has been the exception.Within minutes I had created a flow chart of ideas that was close to perfect.I didn't even need to look at the directions.Speaking of which, the small manual for this program looks like a booklet made by Dorling-Kindersley.You can't get any more user friendly than that.

If you work with ideas and concepts - creative writing, marketing, politics, business, nonprofits. speech writing, education, etc. - you will find this software useful.It will allow you to easily and succinctly present these ideas to others or just for your own personal use.

Omni Group has a demo version of this software which allows users to have up to 20 graphic items in their document.This might sound like a lot, but it isn't.If you're serious about using the software you'll definitely want to purchase it.

Reason alone to buy a Mac?Maybe.
This remarkable program astonishes people.It may be the finest software I have ever used--and I've used more than my share.OmniGraffle is designed to create visual representations of data, from time lines, to flow charts, to electronic diagrams, to office lay-outs, and much, much more.But this sterile list hardly does justice to the amazing flexibility and ease of use of this program.Everything from object fill, to line width, to line features, to labelling, to color, to fonts, to page lay-out are so feature rich, so user friendly as to put any competitors to rest.There certainly is nothing even close to this software in the Windows world.(If you are using something like Visio for these tasks, you are in the stone-age.)I wish I could include a sample document to illustrate what this program can do.But, since I can't, go to OmniGroup's web site (www.omnigroup.com) to check out their examples.

I'd give this a 10 if I could. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

AppleWorks features six applications for your core tasks: word processing, page layout, image editing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations. This version of AppleWorks opens and saves Microsoft Word and Excel files using DataViz translators, and converts your documents to PDF using Print Preview in Mac OS X. You can add text, images, sounds, movies, spreadsheets, charts, and tables to any document by dragging and dropping. For presentations, you can include titles, captions, pictures, music, and video, sort your slides using drag and drop, and prepare speaker's notes for each slide. You can also use an assistant or template to get a head start on your document, and tap an expanding library of Internet-based templates. There are also over 50 fonts in a variety of styles. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

AppleWorks is a hands down better value than Excel
AppleWorks is a hands down better value than Excel for 99.9% of the people 99.999% of the time. Excel has become so bloated with unneeded features that it is ungainly. More over the Excel interface changes significantly from version to version and Microsoft has to do things in their own special way rather than following standards. AppleWorks reads in and uses almost all of my old spreadsheets from Excel as well as docs. AppleWorks is much more stable and not a processor hog like Excel.

Go Elsewhere
I'm a huge Apple fan and have been using computers for spreadsheets, graphic design, and word processing for years.I have never in my life found a more poorly considered and executed program than Appleworks.It's translation software from MSWord does not work at all--it deletes large chunks of text, rearranges them, and, all in all, causes more work than simply retyping!Its other features are counter-intuitive and frustrating.If you're thinking about saving money by buying this piece of software, think again.There's far better stuff on the market.You'll regret this purchase. Trust me.

In terms of value, best productivity suite available
Like some of the other reviewers, I'm rather surprised at the number of negative reviews that Appleworks has received.While it is true that Appleworks is not as powerful as Microsoft Office, it is much less expensive and clearly represents a better value.The word processer part of it (the part that most people will use) is more intuitive and easier to use than Microsoft Word.True, Word is more powerful; but it costs $350 and requires a manual to use.I have never needed to use a manual to use Appleworks.You have complete control of your documents and you don't have to summon up the help application to figure out how to do common tasks like formatting paragraphs or adding links.Those who have mastered the complexities of MS Word and who require its special features may not like Appleworks.But for the rest of us, it more than meets our needs.

Also, one thing more: I have never had any trouble with Appleworks' translators from cwk to word format.I'm not sure why so many people have reported having trouble with it.I translated an entire book from Appleworks to PC MS Word, preserving the formats and special lettering instructions without any trouble at all.In any case, this wouldn't be a problem if people would show more courtesy to non-MS users (Macs and Linux) andnot insist on sending them doc formatted files.PDF and rtf are far better cross-platform alternatives.

What's not to like?
Ok, I'm am sure that there are features in Word or Excel that some of you might use and the key word is might, but for the other 98% of us. Apple Works is a complete program that is full featured and easy to use. It can save and all of latest Microsoft Office file formats and that is half the battle most of the time with some of the attachments that I receive. Other than that I've been using it for about two months now and it has done everything that I have asked it to do and done it with ease. I have no problems with crashing or quiting unexpectedly under OS X. I start it and it runs and runs and runs. It's a great value even if just to open and looks at an Excel spreadsheet or Word doucument.

Chris

Great Value Suite of Software
I have been using computer word processors extensively since 1986.In 2001, I switched from being primarily a PC user to being a Mac user.And Appleworks is one of the programs I use the most.

I cannot understand the reviews on this page which slam Appleworks (especially the OSX version) for not being compatible with MS Word.I covert files back and forth from PC to Mac with no problem whatsoever.The best printer I have access to is on a PC at work.I usually write documents at home, convert them to a MS Word document, and email them to myself at work.Then at work the next day I print them.No problem.

There seems to be one glitch if you save files as a rich text file.The translator doesn't know the following characters: " '

But if you save it as a MS Word for Windows 98, 2000, ME file, you don't have this problem.

Apple, keep up the good work.The average Joe or Jane should not have to pay hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get a solid word processor.

Tom Paine
Benton, LA
ATPaine@Lycos.Com ... Read more

Features

• Works with Avery, Paper Direct, and more; free paper included
• Easily create professional marketing material
• 1,800+ designs; 2.6 million images and photos; 1,000 fonts
• Create brochures, newsletters, flyers, letterhead, envelopes, and more
• Text-art feature; easy-to-use design tools; built-in address book

Amazon.com Product Description

In just six years, Visio set the standard for business diagramming, so it only makes sense for the company to change the product name to Visio Standard. Given the new flow-charting tools, Internet capabilities, and dozens of other dynamic features that have been added, Visio Standard 5.0 will continue setting clear, effective communication precedents--across your organization and the world! This software allows users to quickly create flow charts and business diagrams to enhance business communications and manage information, processes, and concepts. Visio's pioneering approach to drag-and-drop drawing and its tight integration with Microsoft Office puts powerful graphics capabilities within reach of the mainstream business user. ... Read more

Product Description

Truthfully, you've been actively "planning" your business for months. You know your objectives and have a very clear picture of how you'll attain them. Still, the prospect of committing that plan to writing seems more daunting than any of the real business challenges that lie ahead.

Well, the entire process has just become a whole lot easier with Business Plan Writer Deluxe for 2004. This version combines powerful new features with proven techniques to cast your vision in terms that bankers and prospective investors understand and expect. By answering a series of questions in an "interview format", you'll be able to express your ideas cohesively and concisely - and win the praise and support of your readers.

Best of all, with example text for every section and so many real business plans to draw on, the toughest part of the writing job is behind you. The upshot: you'll complete your plan quickly and with absolutely no writer's block. ... Read more

Features

• Business planning guidebook, The Winning Business Plan included.
• Walks you through the planning process.
• Hundreds of sample business plans.
• Import financial data from QuickBooks Pro and Microsoft Excel.
• Includes Kiplinger's Business Attorney with 75+ essential legal documents.

Reviews (13)

Not too bad (if bought used)
I purchased a "used" copy for about $9 since v20 is out and is almost $90.I'm not disappointed with it since it does just what I want it to do:Labels, Newsletter, envelopes.Things that were a challenge in Microsoft products like Word, etc.I was very pleased with it, but then I didn't spend a whole lot.I'll get v20 when I can get it for $9 but then maybe the current version at that time will have been improved enough to be worth it.

Access is "iffy"
I've owned previous versions of this product, and I enjoyed using them.I found switching CDs a little annoying though, and welcomed the idea of one disk, with most of the art stored online, without taking up space on my computer.

The art is wonderful; my real complaint with the program is the website access.All too often, I find myself in the middle of designing something when suddenly an object cannot download.There appears a blurb from the manufacturer telling you to try again later.Sometimes "later" is just a few moments later, other times it can be quite a while.Also, I find that the thumbnails are a little slow appearing, making scrolling through the art time consuming.I would give this product a much higher rating if it wasn't for this unreliability.I like the PrintShop, but I just bought Version 20 Deluxe, to be installed when I install my larger hard drive.I haven't installed it yet; I'm reading reviews here to see if anything else sounds more promising.

Experienced Print Shop user
I bought the print shop deluxe version 15 because I had been very pleased with its previous editions.Well not with this one. It installed only part of the program, I uninstalled the whole program and started installation again, but the program insists it is already installed. So here I sit with a new program that is useless.Have contacted Broderbund but have not had a reply.Have had the computer checked out and it is the program not the computer causing the problem.

Terrible Software - Does edit photos
This is terrible software.I gave it two stars because it does edit photos and I needed that feature, but, overall I am very sorry that I spent my money before looking at these reviews.

The interface is AWFUL!For example, if you want to add a rectangle you would think you would just click on a rectangle tool and draw it.Nope!Instead you click on "Insert Shape", then you get a dialog box of possible shapes.You have to select the shape you want and the color in this dialog box. Then you click OK.Now you have a rectangle that you can reshape.

The Wizards are OK, but the designs are very lame and unprofessional.The system creates some integrated letterhead and business cards, but you wouldn't want to use them.

I bought this ... figuring, ...how much worse can it be than Microsoft Publisher 2000?Afterall, this isn't rocket science.The answer was MUCH worse!

Is there an award for Worst Software Imaginable?
This is great if you want to send a note to your Aunt Helen. Anything more substantial and it is full of quirks and bugs. Huge Waste of Money----the programmers should be lined up and shown the door or preferably worse. ... Read more

Product Description

Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac Upgrade .Improvements for PowerPoint in Office 2004 for Mac can help manage your time, your slides and your reputation. And with a thumbnail view of your entire presentation, you can make changes and adjustments on the fly, so youâll always appear perfectly prepared and in total control.Features:New Presenter tools ensure a well-orchestrated presentation. You, and only you, will see which slide is up and which ones are on deck, while an on-screen clock maintains the perfect tempo.New, smoother transitions and hundreds of bold, striking animations will keep your audience on the edge of their seats.Slick new templates and fresh, updd Clip Art punch up your presentations.Enhanced Unicode Support more accurately displays your emoticons, while displaying and printing foreign characters with ease. ... Read more

Product Description

This low-cost, easy-to-use magnification program allows you to fine tune the screen for more comfortable viewing. With 20 levels of magnification from 100 to 200 percent, BigShot allows you to focus on your work without straining to see the screen. BigShot is ideal for home and professional use and works great on laptops and desktops. It's the easy-to-use solution to everyday computer eyestrain. EnableMart is an authorized Ai Squared partner. ... Read more

Features

• 20 levels of magnification from 105% to 200%
• Unique zooming modes allow you to magnify the full screen or just the active application
• Change magnification levels using the mouse
• Intelligent tracking of all program activity keeps important information in view
• Always-on-top toolbar gives you quick access to BigShot settings

Features

• Modify professional templates with special effects -- or add your own artwork to create unique letterhead, business cards and envelopes
• Built-in slogan and tagline generator to help you come up with the perfect tagline
• Export your logo as a GIF, JPEG, bitmap, PNG or TIFF file
• Include your new logo in your email, newsletters and Website promotions

Product Description

When it comes to making business cards that express your professional image, no one knows your business better than you do. So why trust your business cards to expensive designers and printers? With Art Explosion® Business Card Factory® Deluxe 2.0, you can create professional business cards you’d swear were commercially printed in just minutes. Guaranteed.

Business Card Factory is incredibly easy to use. Simply choose from over 4000 easy-to-customize designs for virtually every type of business. Or, if you prefer, create your own designs with more than 35,000 clip art images including 750 logo elements. And with this new version you can even create matching letterhead and envelopes for a consistent and professional company look. We've included more than 1,500 ready-made designs to get you started!

Once you have your design in place, print professional-quality business cards on a variety of papers. Choose one of many micro-perforated card stock options available from Avery and other manufacturers for sensational business cards with razor-sharp edges. You can even use pre-printed papers from Idea Art, Paper Direct and more. Or if you want to order in volume you can send them for professional printing right from inside Business Card Factory!

... Read more

Reviews (1)

It does the job
I got tired of having tons of unused business cards with outdated info and I've decided to try making my own cards when it's needed. I bought this program and some Avery CleanEdge paper and installed it on my laptop. What was my impression? Well, it was easy as promised. Of course, many of their 4000+ design samples were not very impressive, but I found something very close to what I was looking for and customization took just a few minutes. When I entered my Avery paper code, it picked picked it up and printed just perfectly, the cards came out looking really good. So it does it's job and I've got what I've been promised in a very quick time. I can't say anything bad about this software, so I gave 5 stars.

But I want to give you a little warning. if you're technically savvy and not going to use really advanced features like matching envelopes, blanks etc, then you can probably get the same thing done in regular Microsoft Word. It will take a little bit longer, but it's pretty much the same standard document editor with some clip art collection. So before you buy make sure you understand clearly what you want to get and it's really beyond what you can do with your favorite text editor. ... Read more

Features

• Easily produce professional-style DVDs
• Capture video directly from camcorder to DVD or CD
• Archive and share movies, photos, business presentations, and more
• Edit +RW and -RW DVDs again and again
• Create CD labels and case covers

Reviews (13)

Stay Away
Take my word, stay away. This program has bugs.

It can create VCD on a CD-R with a CD-R drive.
You don't need a DVD burner to create movies you can view on your DVD player; A VCD is burned on a CD, you can only burn about an hower of video but you don't need a DVD burner. If you burn several short videos it is easy to create a custom interactive menu. This program doesn't do anything but burn videos, it doesn't burn music CD, it doesn't burn a data CD, it does what it does well and I'm glad I have it.

Nice, but could be Much Nicer
First of all, this program is worth its price. It's straightforward, stable, and creates very nice DVDs -- once you get used to it.

Major gripe: It cannot accurately calculate file sizes. It may show that a certain DVD program will fit on a DVD after file conversion when it actually won't: it ends up creating files which are too big, ultimately giving you a notice saying "will not fit onto disk" after hours of transcoding.

Minor gripe: It will not let you set the default font type, size, and color for project menus, meaning that if you have 6 clips (titles) with 6 chapters each, you have to manually set the font and its properties individually 36 times, not including the top menu.

Don't let Movie Factory do your video encoding. What I do, and recommend, is using another program to edit and prepare each clip, including the encoding to DVD-ready MPEG. (I use Ulead Video Studio 7, and it does a great job.) Then import the MPEG files into Movie Factory and have it make the DVD. That's what works great for me.

It's a combination that's inexpensive and gives impressive results.

Don't waste your money
I wish there was an rating option of less than zero.After spending hours trying to make this piece of crap work and upgrading my DVD-RW to a SECOND ULEAD compatable device, I've given up trying to copy VHS tapes to DVD using this.If its not telling me my input device isn't compatable then its telling me it can't calculate the space.I went back to Sonic MYDVD and in about 30 seconds I'm copying VHS tapes.Its obvious the world of computer video software is in its infancy and there's bound to be problems but when you have vendors like ULEAD claiming that their products are all things simple, then the industry will have problems converting more people.

Good author/burning, basic menu/editing, pitiful transcoding
Ulead's Moviefactory 2.0 (MF2) is among the cheapest DVD authoring tools available.The same price group also includes Cyperlink's PowerProducer and Sonic's MyDVD.But MF2 has the best features and is the most reliable among the three.I've been using it to record TV programs and burn them onto DVDs, and the results looked very close to the original broadcast with no audio sync problems.It has worked perfectly with my DVD rewritable drive (Sony DRU500AX) and has not created a single unreadable disc.I've used several brands of discs: Memorex +R 1x and 4x, -RW 1x, and +RW 2.4x, Verbatim -R 4x, Ritek -R 4x, and also generic brands like Meritline -R 2x, Princo -RW 1x, and Leda -R 4x, and they have all been burned successfully.The readability of the burned discs is also what I would expect.The more compatible -R discs were playable on all my DVD players and drives, while the +R, -RW, and +RW discs were playable on only some of them.(The compatibility of recordable DVDs is a known issue in the industry.)

To use MF2's built-in capture tool, you need a video capture card. (Mine is an ancient Pinnacle Studio PCTV tuner/capture card with BT878 chipset, with generic WDM drivers for Windows ME).MF2 is able to capture MPEG files with DVD-, VCD- or SVCD-compliance.For DVD-compliant MPEG capturing, you can only choose among the preset bitrates: CBR or VBR, 4000, 6000, or 8000 Mbps.You can choose between MPEG Layer II or LPCM audio, but you can't set the audio bitrate.You can choose between interlaced or non-interlaced capturing.Since most TV broadcasts are interlaced, capturing at interlaced mode is preferred; but be sure to choose the correct field order, or jerky motion will result.You cannot adjust advanced settings such as GOP count, number of I-Frames and P-frames, etc. to improve your capture.There is, however, a "quality" setting to improve picture quality.Set it as high as you can, but without burdening the CPU so much that it would cause dropped frames.On my Intel P4 2.4MHz, while capturing at VBR 8000 Mbps with MPEG Layer II audio 384 Kbs (my preferred settings for high-quality captures), I could set quality up to 12 (max is 15) without dropping frames, with CPU utilization at about 85% during capture.It is a good idea to monitor CPU utilization (with a tool such as CPUIdle) during capture.If it is near or at 100%, dropped frames would be very likely.Also, any activity that would increase CPU utilization, even as minor as moving your mouse, should be avoided in order to achieve no dropped frames.Video capturing is the first and most important step in DVD creation.Without a video source with good quality and DVD compliance, it would be necessary to re-encode, or transcode, the MPEG source, which is a laborious and time-consuming process.

MF2's own transcoding ability, however, is horrendous (and PowerProducer and MyDVD are even worse).Transcoding is done automatically whenever a non-compliant source is detected, or you can force MF2 to transcode.The resulted video is often filled with skipped frames and audio sync problems, indicating MF2's inability to alter video resolution and resample audio bitrate reliably.When I need to transcode, I use an external tool like TMPGEnc, and pass the resulted MPEG file back to MF2 before authoring the DVD.The best way is, of course, to avoid having to transcode altogether by obtaining a high-quality, compliant source material.

Thankfully, MF2 can author and burn DVDs reliably.You can author and burn to disc directly, or you can author to hard disk first and burn it to disc later.You can also create an ISO image of the authored files, and later burn the DVD from the image file.MF2 can also reliably detect the burning speed of a disc.

MF2 lets you add chapter stops and design menus for your DVD, but they are for the most basic purposes only.Menu design is template-based, and there is no "free-form" design.Chapter stops are added after video capture, either manually or automatically at an adjustable time interval (some software can create chapter stops during capture, but not MF2).You are only limited to adding a main menu and a chapter menu on your DVD.You cannot create additional screens for your own special purposes.You can, however, create "slide shows" -- a series of static images.There are a lot of menu templates to choose from, with a variety of background graphics and button placements.You can also import your own background graphics and add background music for your menu screen.You can also omit the menus altogether (which I often do, because the menus created with MF2 surely aren't going to impress anybody).

There are certain advanced functions that MF2 and other products in its price range cannot do, such as adding multiple audio tracks, subtitle tracks, multi-angles, 5.1 audio tracks, AC-3 audio processing, and more sophisticated menu designs.Software with these features usually cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.Software with advanced video editing tools cost even more.

And MF2 is also very basic in video editing.It doesn't let you combine two video clips into one, insert transition effects, nor manipulate the audio.About the only useful thing it lets you do is extract portions of a clip.

A trial version of MF2 is available at Ulead's web site.It is fully functional for 30 days, with a limit of 20 pictures per slide show.The full version has no such limit.

Ulead also released a patch for MF2 on 8/22/03, notably adding PAL capture ability and fixing a few bugs. ... Read more

Product Description

Adding music to your PowerPoint presentations is easier than ever, thanks to PowerPlugs: Music for PowerPoint. Add looping high-energy background music to your entire PowerPoint presentations with just two mouse clicks. PowerPlugs: Music adds looping music clips to PowerPoint slides, without annoying pauses or icons that must be clicked on to start the music during the presentations. There are two volumes available. Each volume has 30 professional soundtracks made up of 180 unique music clips. PowerPlugs: Music supports WAV files. PowerPlugs: Music For PowerPoint Volume I Includes: Style 1: Action Current Events, Extreme Sports, Heavy Thread, Information, International Spy, Road Rage, Rock Runner, Secret Agent, Wave Rush, World News Style 2: Club Groove Aero Disco, Eighties Pop, Euro Pop, Party Groove, Progressive Trance, Pumping, Soma Lounge, Swinge, Techno Dance, Wellness Style 3: Corporate Bridge, Bright Guitar, Innovation, Morning High, Pacific Paradise, Place in the Sun, Progress, Sand Storm, Staccato Rain, Steady Drive ... Read more

Features

• Includes a variety of music styles that suit the needs of virtually any production!
• 30 professional soundtracks including 180 unique music clips!
• Proven to boost your audiences' enthusiasm levels to the max!
• Incredibly easy to use -- plugs right into PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002 (Office XP) and 2003!
• Extremely affordable!

Reviews (1)

(Zero Stars if I could) The worst font software ever!
As a graphic designer, I bought this software for use with my freelance work.This software boasts 750 fonts.Nowhere on the box does it happen to mention that the fonts can ONLY be used for personal use.I had to open the box first, after I had purchased the program.Now, all 750 fonts in the software are completely useless to me.Heck, they could offer 10 million fonts in their software packages if they want, but what good is it if I can't use them for my freelance work?Aside from being deceived about the fonts, the FontManager software they boast about requires the CD be inserted into your computer for it to work.That means that if you're designing something (as you would presumably be doing with this font software) you couldn't insert other CDs, like for instance, stock art CDs -- all because this inferior piece of junk software must use that CD drive in order to work.I wasted $30 on this useless piece of junk.Please don't make the same mistake. ... Read more

Features

• iPod synchronization, so you can take your notes with you.
• FlashNote menu bar tool to search and view notes while in other applications.
• QuickNote lets you compose notes on-the-fly from any application.
• Tabbed note viewing so you can keep multiple notes open in a single window.
• Drag photos to notes from the built-in iPhoto and clip art browser.

Reviews (18)

I Am Disappointed
I just purchased Quicken Home and Small Business Legal Suite 2003.I am surprised that the software is no longer supported and that no updates are available.I am also surprised that there is not a residential lease document.There was a residential lease document in Quicken Business Lawyer 2000.

There are also far fewer legal forms available in the software than were available in earlier versions of the software.

Quicken Lawyer Bundle 2003
This is exactly what every small business person, good neighbor and informed consumer needs!! Excellent product, simply has everything we wanted and more...easy to use...very self-explanatory and has great on-screen guides.

No support?
I bought this software a few months ago but didn't get around installing it until today. When I tried to register the software I got the message that the software is no longer supported! I was asked to call an 800 number to get a discount on an upgrade. This is the first time I ever ran across a name-brand software package that discontinues support before the software is even one year old! While I may still use the software I found it appalling that the publisher of this software dares to force customers to pay for an "upgrade" immediately upon installation of software that they just purchased.

Support ended after just a year and a half????
I am an owner of Quicken Lawyer 2002 Personal Deluxe. I had to reinstall the software when my computer quit. I bought a new one and installed QLP2002. When I went to use the automatic web update of the software, I was informed that "This version is no longer supported, and Web Update is not available... we recommend that you upgrade... for only $29.99. It is an outrage that Nolo has revoked patches they had previously made available. The lack of any support is the reason I will NEVER purchase another Quicken Lawyer product.

No long-term support?
I am an owner of Quicken Lawyer 2002 Personal Deluxe, which according to Amazon is just ONE VERSION BACK from this one.When my computer went south last week, I bought a new one and installed QLP2002.When I went to use the automatic web update of the software, I was informed that "This version is no longer supported, and Web Update is not available... we recommend that you upgrade... for only $29.99."

While, yes, I'm sure that legal things do change, they do not change that much, and I find it reprehensible that Nolo has revoked patches they had previously made available.Imagine any other manufacturer doing that -- "sorry, Office 2000 is no longer supported, so you can't download the patches we previously made available to you.Either use Office 2000 with none of the bugs corrected, or pay $400 for Office 2003."Ridiculous.So, while I did like the software, the lack of any longer-term support is a real turn-off for me. ... Read more