3 comments about Adobe Illustrator CS3 Upgrade.

1. I am not happy with the service on this order.
   The first product shipment did not work. When I called to get a replacement I was told I would be shipped the replacementAI CS3 software by expedited method and it came regular delivery. I was also promised a coupon for money off my next Amazon order which I never received.



2. This is the standard vector graphics program in the world - bar none. It takes quite a bit of time to master the program and then once you master the program, you have to be a artist to truly do some of the phenomenal stuff out there. I'll never master this product but I can't imagine working without it.
   
   On the upgrade from CS2:
   
   - It went very smoothly for me.
   - The addition of collapsing panels really makes me getting to my desktop much easier even if you're a TAB hide or ALT TAB hide type person like me.
   - There are numerous little refinements to the product.
   - Would I upgrade? for the collapsing panels, I think its worth it but other than that, don't know if there's a ton more to the CS3 version.
   - Slicing is the same, graphing is the same, pretty much same tools.
   - A few enhancements on transparency etc but nothing to sing home about.
   - You get the nice extra CD which contains some helpful tutorials for the CS3 line
   
   Cons:
   1) horrible licensing arrangement. You get 1 primary and a backup installation. I happen to have 5 computers at home that I sometimes use and I had to purchase a second license eventhough I'm the only one who uses them and I still have a computer that doesn't have it. Microsoft's Licensing agreement for Office and Windows is much more flexible and reasonable to the modern home user....I mean work laptop, home laptop, home desktop and basement den desktop (not unreasonable right?)....maybe I'm just a nerd.
   
   2) CS3 does lock up a bit more and crash a bit more than my CS2 - but then again, I'm running it on Windows (no mac jokes please) ... although I hear its the same codebase for CS3. Don't know --- my experience is that its slightly less stable than CS2 eventhough I do keep up with the patches
   
   So why 5 stars? Its an indispensable tool that is so far ahead of the competition that frankly its silly to discuss anything else.
   
   Bought from Amazon -- 5 star service there.



3. Adobe Illustrator CS3 upgrade works great for me as a graphic designer. I am able to save and open the most recent file types as well as the previous file types. The new addition of the collapsible tool bars works great and really clears up the previously cluttered screen space. Now I have more screen area to see what I am actually working on. CS3 also adds new intuitive ways to organize your color swatches. Also, I haven't had any program crash occurances since I have installed the new CS3. This program is a MUST for Professional and new designers alike to create high quality vector images.

5 comments about Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 Anniversary Edition.

1. Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006The program itself is awesome!! You can do a lot of neat photographic tricks with it. However, the seller-Brownie Books is a different story! They descriped the product as new, but the box was damaged and no manual was included. I have sent them an email complaint, so I am waiting on their response to selling me damaged goods. I feel like I was taken for a sucker!!



2. I bought my first edition of this software at the suggestion of my daughter who is a technology specialist in a local school system. She had researched this extensively and thought it was the best. I use it every day. In fact I use this more then any other software on my computer. I have just retired from my profession and have been reviewing and restoring 50 years of my own negatives and pictures. In addition I have many hundreds of my parent's negatives which go back to to the 1920's when they were missionaries to Japan. It is heartwarming to see these return to life after all these years.
   
   I recently upgraded my computer to a faster version with more storage. My daughter immediately advised me to get the newer edition of Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition so I can use it with Vista.
   
   I have enjoyed this software. It is easy to use, fun to use and totally satisfying. I am watching my family's legacy coming back to life.



3. This program was much like my previous program I had before my PC crashed 3 times. It's a new PC! Anyhow, I love this program now because it has so much on it that you can do with a picture and you can put text on the picture also, which I really like. You would love this program!!



4. I can't say how good it is for those who want to do super fancy work with it, but I can say that this is GREAT for the beginning photo hobbiest. I lvoe the auto correct features, and the different texture type view that are available are stunning! I do wish that it had (maybe it does and I can't find it) the ability to pick an area of background, and duplicate it elsewhere. It does allow me to do that within about a 2 inch range, nice, but a bit limiting. All in all, this program is exceptionally easy to use and learn, the results are very very nice, and for the price I think it's the best out there



5. I switched from XP to Vista and missed my MicroSoft "Picture It"; this replaces "Picture It" and is even better.

5 comments about eMedia GuitarPro 5.1 Win/Mac.

1. Guitar Pro is a great software, but I am giving only 1 star because of eMedia's quality control - only eMedia Product Demo was in the box.



2. My copy of eMedia GuitarPro 5 turned out to be a demo only version. I tried to resolve this with Amazon and EMedia, but could not. eMedai declined to provide any assistance, referring me back to Amazon. A replacement copy had the same problem. I recommend against purchase.



3. I also bought this in April and was sent a demo CD. I was pretty angry/disappointed, especially because I was so excited to finally get to use Guitar Pro on a Mac, but I figured that mistakes happen and sent it back to Amazon for an exchange. Then, A week later, I got the same demo CD! I sent everything back and got a full refund on my purchase.
   
   So it's been a few months and I'm still interested in buying Guitar Pro--the software is that helpful. I'm just wondering if eMedia or Amazon have resolved the obviously prevalent quality control issue.



4. This is super cool for learning guitar tabs.... there are web sites that have a lot of songs and you can see and hear the tab as well as different instruments in the tab..... really nice and fun to use.



5. this program is great and easy to use and good for either composing or for learning songs. almost any song you want is available tabbed out and free for download online. the CD i got didnt install right and threw errors, but you can download it using the product key that comes with the CD.

5 comments about Roxio Easy CD & DVD Burning.

1. This is the second time I am writing this review. I don't know what Amazon did with the first one!? Anyway, do not waste your money on this software. I have already destroyed my disc by putting in my shredder. Boy, did that feel good! This product has so many problems that I thought I was back in the early '90s when almost all software had bugs and needed endless patches and fixes. I think Roxio should recall this product and give us all our money back!



2. This product is not the real thing. It doesn't function at all. In all categories, I receive a message stating "your free trial period is completed." I paid for this item and it is totally useless to me! I didn't ask for a free trial period period! I tried the Roxio website for FAQ--no help! I wrote to the company and also--no help! I truly expected to receive a fully functioning product when I purchased it from Amazon. I uninstalled and reinstalled the product. Nothing but frustration through the process. It doesn't work!



3. I loved it before I bought a pc with vista and now sadly it is not compatible.



4. I bought that combo package and the software crashed my pc's.
   Got the free upgrade to Version 9 from Roxio since Version 8 was so awful.
   Version 9 worked some...at least I could copy a cd/dvd once in awhile if I were lucky, before it hung or blue screened (on xp).
   Even after that, it interfered with my wireless network card and slowed my entire pc down.
   I didn't know about the slowing down of the whole pc til today. I bought my wife a new computer because the one I installed Roxio crap-ware on was nearly unusable.
   Today for the heck of it, I removed all the roxio from that computer and it's once again a fast, usable pc as soon as the roxio stuff was removed. Full virus scan reported no viruses either. Just Roxio - which destoys everything.



5. I bought this Roxio software and installed it on my XP system and up came a Corrupted Error report. When I went to get the details this is what came up next: "Unfortunately, the error report you submitted is corrupted and cannot be analyzed. Corrupted error reports are rare. They can be caused by hardware or software problems, and they usually indicate a serious problem with your computer."
   
   Before I installed this software I created a Restore Point. I unstalled this program and returned to the Restore Point and the message came up "System fully recovered." Whew! Stay away from this loser Roxio product. Oh yes, I tried getting in touch with Roxio without success, but that is another story.

5 comments about Greeting Card Factory Deluxe 7.0.

1. I just bought this program and installed it yesterday. The problem with lines appearing on the printed card in a known bug with v.7.0.0.x of the program, and has been resolved by the publisher (Nova Development). In fact, when I launched the program for the first time, it alerted me to the fact that an update was available, and downloaded and installed it when I gave the OK. Nova Development refers to this as a "major support patch;" it's about 3.8MB in size. The patched version of the program is 7.0.1.1 (as of 1/22/08). [...]
   Also, note that Microsoft .Net framework 3.0 or higher is required for GCF 7 to launch. I didn't have .Net installed, and had to download and install it before GCF 7 would run. (This isn't documented, and the launch error dialog didn't help; I had to call their tech support group to resolve this, but the guy I spoke to was friendly, competent and helpful.) I installed the latest available version (3.5) of MS .Net.
   
   By the way, I only gave the program a 3-star rating, because I haven't had time to put it through all its paces yet.
   
   Hope this helps.



2. Do not buy this version. It doesn't work...they've taken out features from V6 like searching images. Printing doesn't work. It's horrible. I've bought every version of this greeting card factory deluxe. I absolutely love them. I would always buy the new version when it would come out. When I got version 7....forget it. They screwed up this time.
   Buy version 6...it's the best one so far.



3. Once you get the 7.0.1.1 patch, it works fine. Lots of graphics to choose from that are lovely, and NOT like the poor cartoon-ish figures that came with Print Shop, which are more like clip art. These are very professional looking. It is very user-friendly. The only thing I don't like is the catch-all Favorites folder. I'd like to make my own categories within Favorites (i.e. teens, holidays, sympathy, etc.) And there is the usual gap between cards for small children and adults, with very few teen cards. But after six months of using it, everyone has liked the cards I made.



4. This program has lots of cards to choose from and you can make so many of your own. This program is an excellent program.



5. This is an excellent product. I purchased it for my dad for Father's Day and he loves it. Has everything you can imagine, with an added novelty nowadays, an actual instruction booklet you dont have to download an print up 100+ pages. Would recommend this over any of the Broderbund products.

5 comments about Popcorn 3 (Mac).

1. Roxio continues to disappoint with this product. Video quality is mediocre at best. This product does a lot of strange things that are annoying, such as tagging all converted video as TV in itunes. The software will let you create a dvd with multiple video_ts folders (with menu), but it will not let you shrink to fit before burning, which is just plain stupid as it will shrink to fit almost every other option. I have encoded many dvds using popcorn and the free handbrake software produces much higher quality video files, there really is no reason to own popcorn.



2. If you are thinking of buying Popcorn to use the Tivo-toGo feature to encode Tivo files for your iPod or to burn onto DVD, do not spend your money before checking out Tivo and Roxio discussion forums to see if some well-documented problems have been fixed.
   
   Popcorn worked well until the Tivo Fall '07 update was pushed out in October. Tivo files transferred since the update will usually play on your laptop or desktop, but there are serious problems with the export for iPod and DVD functions. At first, the export functions would not work at all in many cases. Roxio eventually got a fix out that allows it to work most of the time, but there is a continuing problem with audio synchronization. Audio is often out of sync with video by anywhere from a half second to three or four seconds.
   
   The annoying thing is that it's completely unpredictable; some programs encode perfectly, some are all but unwatchable. There is no pattern except that 30-Minute programs seem to encode correctly more often than longer shows. My own experience is that you have about a 50/50 chance that it will work correctly.
   
   There are alternatives out there; they may not be as fast or convenient as Popcorn, but they actually work every time. Toast 8, by the way, has the same set of problems.



3. DVD Burning: Popcorn 3 has done fine burning DVDs, and indeed the new version successfully burned a VIDEO_TS that the my Popcorn 2 failed to do.
   
   TiVo: It only half works: it has a good viewer of your networked TiVo recordings, and can download them just fine .. although it pretty slow. But it simply cannot convert to a format without the audio getting out of sync.
   
   So for Mac users, you can likely get along with tivodecode + Visual Hub for transforming from .tivo to .mpg + conversion to other formats.
   
   This is, however, one more example where Roxio simply doesn't give a damn about Mac users. I try to avoid them and will do so much more in the future, unless they exhibit a considerable change of heart.



4. I was really nervous about buying this product based on the earlier reviews. And to my disappointment, out of the box it was completely unusable on Leopard. HOWEVER -- I found a update on the roxio website that fixed my issues.
   
   I would say this product is best for the basic needs of a Mac Tivo user. All I want to do is to move Tivo recordings on to my MacBook so I can watch them on the plane. For that purpose, it works just fine -- plus the interface is MUCH better than the PC version. They seemed to fix the audio sync issue along with other tivo-related issues mentioned.
   
   I am not a big Roxio fan, having had prior issues with other products of theirs...but this update seems to provide a workable Tivo interface for Mac without having to buy the more pricey Roxio Toast 8 Titanium (Mac)
   
   
   Again - out of the box it wasn't usable for me - I had to get the update for it to work on my MacBook
   
   Here is more info from the Roxio website under Software updates for Popcorn:
   
   Popcorn v3.0.2:
   
   * Popcorn 3 is now compatible with Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard)
   * Resolves issue where DVD chapters were not correctly preserved as bookmarks
   * DTS audio is no longer incorrectly identified as MPEG-1
   * Language of audio tracks is now correctly displayed to user
   * Users can now properly switch between PAL and NTSC output settings for DVD-Video
   * Should no longer receive error 1634955892 when using physical DVD source
   * Exporting from DVD source should no longer cause error -43 or -206
   * Resolves issue where exporting to 3G format would generate an error message
   * Resolves synchronization issue experienced when using 24fps H.264 content
   * Resolves issue where disabling Fit-To-DVD compression generated -50 error
   * Resolves issue where Fit-to-DVD video compression calculation was incorrect
   * Resolves issue with black frames appearing in video after conversion
   * TiVo recordings created after TiVo's Fall 2007 DVR update will no longer cause the application to hang during encoding
   
   Toast Video Player v1.0.2:
   
   * TiVo HD recordings now play back at correct speed



5. Popcorn 3 (Mac) This Software has been a total wste of time and money. It quite frankly has totally failed to work onmy iMac G5 running OSx 10.4. I spent a week working with the Roxio trouble shooters trying to get even one successful DVD crunch and burn to no avail. Don't waste time or money on this software.

5 comments about Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2008.

1. I bought Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2008 shortly after Christmas and it is now February and i still haven't been able to use it.When it arrived,the case it was in fell apart.Then when i was installing it it would not go any further that disc #3 and then stopped installing.I have sent Hallmark numerous e-mails and they say they are sending me a new disc #3 that will arrive in 10 days,but that was January 14 and i still haven't received it and it is February 5th.I used previous versions for many years,but this problem has really turned me off using Hallmark in the future.



2. I suggest not to buy it....the 5th disc does not work, no help from tech support that promised to send something in email, that I never received (no toll free number). On their tech support site I found a patch that I downloaded....That does not work. 5 hours of my life I will never get back.
   I am going to demand my money back. DON'T BUY IT!!
   Christin Hutchison
   Woodland, CA



3. Slow to install but a lot of projects and cards. Have not gotten into all yet.



4. I'm thrilled with the new Hallmark Card program...it can do so much...I
   recently updated from the 2003 program.



5. If you have the 2007 edition, there is NO need to buy this. I'm so disappointed in this Hallmark program. I wish it had better graphics to choose from. Most of them IMO were cheesy cheesy generic-like clipart. It gets the job done, but it's not fun.

5 comments about CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12 [OLD VERSION].

1. Awesome product! So user friendly, and a must have for all graphic designers and desktop publishers!!



2. I am very impressed with the improvements in CorelDraw 12. I couldn't be happier. I have always used CorelDraw for great black & white diagrams, but this version seems best of any. I was very impressed that I can ungroup, move around points and lines in the individual sections, and they will all remain selected while being moved, then go back to the original pick tool and regroup them again. So much easier! I'm still learning and finding improvements, but it looks cleaner and easier to use than ever before. If you can get your hands on a copy of this program, jump at the chance. The tendency to crash of version 11 is gone! It's going to be really fun.



3. I have noticed favorable reviews here, with the reviewer asserting intimate knowledge and experience with this suite, its forerunners, or several other programs. I cannot address how someone with a decade of experience might react to this tangled mess, only how someone with slight familiarity with a paint program or similar might react.
   
   First, opening the box and installing the programs is a chore. Unlike the dozens of other programs I have on my system, rather than taking half an hour, or so, installing these programs took the better part of two afternoons...it was if the developers consciously decided to find another way, rather than standards users are familiar with, to do everthing. Particularly annoying this the spyware, in the guise of searching for updates, which is at least difficult to remove, if not impossible. The tool which Corel, alone among software developers, seems to have been forced to put in their help files on their inadequate site, doesn't work, at least the way the instructions read. Hopefully, with several manhours more effort this spyware can be removed from my system.
   
   Worse than this though is the tutorial, presumably for first time users to familiarize themselves and get started with this product.
   
   First lesson "Using the toolbar to start a drawing"
   
   On the toolbar click "New" button to start a new drawing...so far, so good. This desirable state of events quickly ends, however, for the second instruction begins"
   
   "From the Zoom levels list box"...and nothing more. No hint where this box may be found, nothing in the totally inadequate help file nothing....the "tutorial" is then over for the new user.
   
   Sit and stare at the graphic representation in the middle of your computer screen while you contemplate exactly how much a program which displays a picture of a piece of paper, plus took a manday or so to install spyware on your system, is worth.



4. I have been using CorelDraw since it first came out. This software has helped me create stunning results effortlessly. Also, CorelDraw's layout and ease of use beats Adobe products hands-down! I love CorelDraw and hope they stay in there as they have a "winner" of a product despite Adobe's overly-touted, expensive and snobby software. Hang in there CorelDraw, you're the very best... I love your product! Been a loyal fan of yours for years and years...



5. I got this to make simple designs, for shirts, etc. I must say that it is extremely complicated. It's way too picky about what you can do and how you can do it. Not user-friendly at all. I've gotten a basic understanding of it over the past several months, but generally, it's just way too much. Too complicated. It did come with several other programs, such as a photo program, an animation program, etc. but all in all, I wish I had Photoshop.

No comments about Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium Upgrade from CS3.

5 comments about Autodesk AutoSketch 9.

1. If you are the average person (like me) wanting to create a drawing be prepared to take a study to learn this program. Otherwise you will not get the drawing you want. Too hard to understand.



2. I bought this to throw together some quick drawings for clients, but it is so clunky, that I just use my full version of AutoCAD 2006. I admit that I have not spent any time trying to set it up, and I have spent years setting up AutoCAD.



3. I bought this product to do 2D mechanical drawings. I work at a research center that has a small machine shop and in which I do quite a bit of work. I've used AutoCAD in the past and thought that this would make AutoSketch easy to learn.
   
   I was wrong. I found it to be clumsy and slow and difficult to learn. Ultimately, I purchased AutoCAD LT and I still haven't found anyone at the center who wants AutoSketch for free.



4. i have Vista on my computer and im having trouble installing it.....i havnt had a chance to get online to see if theres a patch or fix for my problem



5. Re: Mr. Thompson's comment
   I made a macro to do the transform operation he is referring to. I select the object(s), press the transform macro I created, then hit the first point and second point. Viola! This program is so easy to use. I figured it out in like 2 hours... Of course there were a lot of things I learned as I went along and if you use it every day you get real fast. It is easy to make precision drawings. Adding dimensions is simple. There are a few things that you figure out as you go along that make your life easier. selecting a color and hatch fill are so easy (2 clicks - click fill solid or hatch and the select color) no problem with the border line whatsoever. I figured that I knew this program so well I could figure out Auto CAD easy enough.... not so... AutoCAD is definitely more complicated. It makes line drawings very well. It has simple 3D effects (basically orthogonal, parallel and perspective extrusions) but not any kind of 3D modeling. A great program. If that's all you need don't waste you money on something more like AutoCAD.