No comments about Sci-fi & Fantasy Clip Art - Atlantis to the Stars.

4 comments about Hyperscore Music Composition Software for PC.

1. A friend bought this for me and I didn't think much of it at the time. Had some time to kill one day and popped it in. I haven't stopped playing with it since. The wife and kids love it too. I strongly recommend this for anyone who ever wanted to play music but doesn't know how. Or for someone who does play music, this is an incredible tool to enhance their song creation ability. Makes for a unique gift and creative learning tool for anyone with a computer. A++++++



2. I heard about Hyperscore from TV show, Scientific American Frontiers hosted by Alan Alda and I bought Hyperscore for my sister as a gift. She loves music but has no experience of playing or composing music. She loves it and started to jam with her friends. We made a couple of tunes together and had a really fun time. It doesn't require any complicated skills or conventional music background so makes us easy to start. :) I think it would be great for teachers or parents to teach young kids and have fun together.
   
   It worths every penny!



3. Fun to use for a while, but after a few hours I was wishing I could actually score the music. Very hard to compose with multiple instruments/voices since it's sooooo tough to align the measures. And since I know how to read musical notation, I feel I'm giving up an very useful tool. Positives: Easy to learn and appealing graphically.



4. The idea and design of Hyperscore is fantastic. It takes virtually no time to get a melody playing. After that things don't go so well. Composing something more complex is not as intuitive as that first melody and lining-up notes, chords, volumes etc is a real chore.
   Support is poor with the official forum ignored and no evidence of product development. For the price I wish I'd saved a bit longer and bought FL Studio.
   As a teaching aid this software might be well received but as a composition tool it is sadly lacking.

No comments about Musition 3 Single User Academic for Windows.

No comments about Web.Com Site Builder & Hosting Suite.

5 comments about Pinnacle Express.

1. I purchased Pinnacle Express to transfer my Pinnacle Studio 7 Projects to DVD. Unfortunately, the two products are not well integrated. Express will only import AVI files; thus, the projects that I made in MPEG 2 format had to be redone. Analog input is not supported, only digital via firewire. When scenes were relocted, the final product had hiccups on transition. Editing in express is limited and clunky, particularly when compared to Studio's polished editing features. Also, the maximum movie length is about an hour when including a menu. Other DVD authoring software is capable of up to two hours. On the plus side, the menu creation feature is excellent, with a number of preset menus as well as the opportunity to create custom menus. If you want a program that will capture and burn your DV movies with limited editing, this product will meet your needs. As for me, I will probably purchase Ulead's DVD Workshop after my trial month is up.



2. It is the software for the beginners of video editing. It is very easy to use. I use this software to create my video on SVCD format and find no problem on my Windows XP system. The video quality is pretty good. This software really provides the basic features for most of home users without paying extra money for advanced seldom used features. With more features in video editing software, that suggests more likely the system will crash during operation. ... it is the great deal for the price I paid.



3. It is the software for the beginners of vedio editing. It is very easy to use. I use this software to create my vedio on SVCD format and find no problem on my Windows XP system. The result of vedio quality is pretty good. This software really provides the basic features for most of home users without paying extra money for advanced seldom used features. With more features in vedio editing software, that suggests more likely the system will crash during operation...



4. I bought this at best buy and was concerned about the compatability with my HP 200i which uses the Dvd+r and Dvd+rw
   after a quick link for dvd+r, I tried to make a dvd.
   No problems and it was easy.
   Oh yea I Have studio 7 and unlead and imported both in pinnacle express and it read it quickly and authored them without problem. I dont understand the other review which said it is not compatable, mine is 100% Oh well hope this helps and God Bless You!!



5. This software is geared toward the consumer market for those who want to quickly export home video to DVD. If paired with some low-priced video editing software like Pinnacle Studio 7, you can quickly capture and edit video (using Studio 7) and then burn your product to DVD. This tool is, however, limited in functionality. You won't be able to build submenus, create chapter points or create custom menus from scratch, but for most people it'll do the job. If you want more control and customization, you'll have to use high-end (and higher-priced) software like Adobe Premiere, Ulead's Media Studio Pro/DVD Workshop, or Sonic's DVDit! (which also lets you encode AC3 audio).

   One caveat: The quality of the final DVD product always depends on the MPEG2 encoder which the software uses. Pinnacle Express uses a fair-to-decent encoder which renders a good product if you encode a capture from a digital video source, e.g. a DV camera, etc. (at an aspect of 720x480). Encoding video from an analog capture (e.g., a TV-card) produces a less favorable result and noticeable artifacts are present. You can use freeware tools like Virtual Dub and TMPGEnc to clean/tweak the capture and produce a better MPEG video but the latter encoder, while excellent, is very slow.

   If you plan on burning VHS movies to DVD, I recommend you use an analog-to-digital converter, like Canopus' ADVC-100, to capture and then use authoring software, like Pinnacle Express to burn to DVD.

No comments about Adobe Photoshop 5.0 Upgrade For PowerPC Based Macintosh Computer, Apple System Software 7.5 or Later.

3 comments about Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0/Premier Elements 3.0 [LB].

1. I am a big fan of Photoshop Elements--the power of this graphics program lets me do nearly anything in digital graphics with the exception of setting up color for commercial printing (for that, you need full-bore Photoshop, which has CMYK and other color set up for printing.) I've used this program since version 1.0 and, with your computer properly configured for video memory and RAM, you can really do a lot.
   
   Now Adobe has added "Premier Elements"--which is the video manipulation features you've been wanting. Now, I have limited video capability (no web cam, a digicam that does short avi's ) but I actually do make slide shows quite a bit to demonstrate art techniques. I found that Premier Elements makes it very easy for me to create a simple but stylish video that can be exported to Quicktime or Windows media formats or to movie formats. From absolute beginner to finished first video (an art show for Youtube), it maybe took me 30 minutes. Now, I can create one in about five to ten minutes.
   
   The Premier Elements workspace looks a bit different than the Elements graphical workspace, but the look and feel is familiar enough that a user of Elements will feel relatively at home. There is an ADD MEDIA (plus sign) button. After setting up a project name, I clicked this and added stills in jpeg format from my picture folder. I then created titles in the Title screen. There are pre-made titles you can use, with themes like birthdays, sports, business, or you can make your own. You can choose to have your titles fade, scroll or stay still.
   
   To put the preview video together, I just ordered the stills by dragging them from the media box into the timeline below. Need the stills longer? Click and drag with the mouse and a red bracket shows where you are extending the time. Frame by frame can be shown by zooming in (simply click the Equal sign) or can be hidden by zooming out (hit the Minus sign.)
   
   In between the frames, you can add transitions like fade, spiral, shutter, pixelate, additive or subtractive dissolve. You hit the Effects symbol and drag your transition choice between the frames you choose. Simple. Hate the effect, previewed in your monitor box? Just hit Undo.
   
   Then you can add music by adding a mpeg or other audio format file to your media box. Then drag it below in the sound section of the timeline (shown by a speaker icon.) Shorten it or lengthen it with the click-and-drag of the mouse. Export this to your format and Lo--you have made a video. You can add features like timing frame change to points in the music, and there are a lot of other features to add special effects.
   
   I found this software intuitive and easy to use. It helps to be able to go from Elements (where you might be manipulating a picture or clip) directly to Premier. A great package, and one that should be useful to most anyone at home or in the office. Big thumbs up.



2. I like the design of Photoshop Elements, but once you get more than a few thousand photos into it, it starts to slow down, eat memory and get into very long lag times. The main reason to not buy Adobe Photoshop Elements though, is that Google has a program that is very similar in design, but much better made. It's called Picasa and best of all, it's free. (Do a Google Search for "Picasa")
   
   Premier Elements however, is aweful. I hope someone can recommend a good alternative because Premier Elements is about as good as a car that doesn't steer very well and is missing the brakes.
   
   I forgave Adobe when it didn't run on an Athlon XP, even though this CPU is not that old... I installed it on a new Core II Duo Dell laptop to get around that.
   
   I forgave partly when I lost hours of work to a crash that shouldn't have happened... The crash was due to an Adobe bug, but I had to take some blame for failing to save. I was surprised to find that auto save was set to the default 10 minutes though, as it sure seemed like I lost more than that.
   
   So, I set the auto-save to 5 minutes... In fact, I started seeing the "Saving" progress bar start showing up about every 5 minutes. Then it crashed again today.. I thought I was covered, but after relaunching all my work was lost. Again, I though maybe I was doing something wrong. So I looked in the folder structure and found an "Auto-Saves" folder. It even had some very recent "project files". But guess what... I opened the most recent of them and found that none of my changes for today were there.
   
   So aside from the unnecessarily complicated user interface, slow performance, and severe instability (all shown to be Adobe's fault by testing on multiple systems with no difference in behavior), this software will also throw out hours of your work after pretending to let you save it.
   
   This is so bad that I am going to take another serious look at finding valid alternatives for my other Adobe software. I used to think Abode was one of the better companies. But this shows that they are willing to release dangerous junk... How can I ever trust them again?



3. I never recieved this item I purchased.Wrote so many e-mails and the seller never responded. Even called and no one called me back. I WILL NEVER do business with them again! I am very disappointed and desire greatly a full refund of $25.94!

No comments about Sesame Street Music Maker.

5 comments about Adobe Premiere 6.0 [OLD VERSION].

1. With this application and a suitably powerful computer you can create sophisticated videos that not too long ago would have taken about thirty thousand dollars to produce with tape machines, a vision mixer, and sundry peripherals.

   Premiere 6.0 can handle all the cut or transition edits, apply rolling titles / credits, and add soundtracks. The resulting production can then be exported to tape or a variety of computer files such as AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, and RealMedia. Premiere 6.0 can also work directly over fireWire with a DV machine for importing and exporting video. Very handy.

   The RealMedia export option is worth pursuing, since it’s the fastest to render out. On my Celeron 500 with 128 MB of RAM, a six minute clip takes about forty minutes to render an RM file, all the others taking about two hours and forty minutes. The RealMedia option does require a little bit of setting up to avoid disappointing video quality if you stick to it’s default selections.

   ...

   My only real gripe is the sketchy help guide, with many pages too large for the viewing window. Why can’t the purveyors of PDF do a decent Acrobat manual like they do with that application, instead? Go figure.




2. trust me, msp is the worst, just get the demos of this and msp 6 and you will find out, it renders 5 times longer(on my AMD/Athlon, 1.3Ghz, 256ram, 60gig hd)than MSP 6.0 VE. This is not a good buy, you will be definetly disappointed.



3. I jut purchased my first editing program adobe premiere 6.0 and it's really fun but.... I was amazed that if you owned a pc that I couldn't import music right off of a music cd. I have another program that came with the computer I purchased and it imports music cd's just fine with out having to covert them to a wav file. I paid how much for premiere, and it can't do what this free program can? Ca'mon premiere lets step it up and add this wonderful feature.



4. Adobe Photoshop took me a while to get used to when I first got it, but learning to use Premiere was a lot easier though I'm still learning. I would use it more often if it didn't take up so much RAM. After I upgraded my OS to Windows XP, I've used Windows Movie Maker for my basic video editing needs. Recommended only if you're in need of professionalism.



5. Oh, i so wanted to give this program 5 stars. However, the glaring weakness that is the helpfile chops off a whole star. Considering my utter frustration as i plodded and plunked away trying to learn the program, i could have chopped off 2 stars for the aggravation. But I am not going to chop the whole tree down because of a few mushrooms growing on the side. Once you learn the program, it is a lot of fun. For us guys just trying to edit the family videos, its got more than enough features. If you want to go further, it has lots of other stuff though I will admit, im just in it to make cheesy little horror films with my buddies and edit the family videos. I can't speak for the professionals who do this for a living.

   But really, adobe, make the dam help file usefull. I had to go to some guys webpage to find out how to do cuts within individual clips. As it turns out, it is the easiest thing to do once you know the program but for someone new to the software or technologically challenged, you had better treat us with kid gloves and that means spell it out for me. I dont want to know all these long winded ways to get the job done when theres a one step solution to the problem. Dont get all wordy and hide the answer in a menagerie of techno babble! For a begginner, all this jazz about in and out points and their ilk is nonsense. Just tell me where that razor button is and lets cut this clip.
   For someone new to digital video editing, this program can seem daunting and confusing. But stick with it. Once you get going, you'd be suprised what you can do to the family videos. You can add music, adjust its volume in relation to the main audio, add effects, transitions, text, re-arrange parts of the video and compress the end product down so you can share with all your relatives who will marvel at your creativity.
   How much better or worse this is than other packages out there, I don't know. This is the first one i got and i am happy with it...now.

5 comments about Ballistics.

1. an absolutely unbelieveably fun game. The fastest racing game I've ever played. Fast reflexes are required. Also don't get it if you get disoriented or dizzied easily. Otherwise for all racing fans, this game is a must buy.



2. The graphics are great, it reminds me alot of Pod Racer and Wipeout XL. The main twist of this game is that you don't really steer your vehicle down the track its more like incrementally changing positions during the race; so playing Ballistics with a keyboard only is very possible. But the game can move along at a very fast pace, I mean real fast, which adds to the fun.

   This is a great racing game.




3. LOVED THE DEMO,SEARCHED FOR THE GAME WHICH RUNS BETTER THAN DEMO WITH NO LOCKUPS AND ONLY INFREQUENTLY SPORADIC CRASH TO DESKTOP WITH MAX SPEED ON RACETRACK.......TOLERABLE UNTIL I CAN FIND A FIX......



4. WOW! What an awesome game! It's futuristic racing, except you're racing inside of a giant, metal, electromagnetic tube instead of on a concrete track. Indeed, what a great concept of a game. The best part of the game is that there is no limit to the speeds that you can achieve. Reportedly, some people have been able to achieve speeds of over Mach 2, over twice the speed of sound. There seven tracks to race and about 14,000 different combinations to upgrade your racer and his/her machine. If you have an almost up-to-date video card, these graphics are truly out of this world! You've gotta get this one!



5. As a racing game it's pretty good. It's pretty old with decent graphics for the time.
   It takes a little more skill than most would imagine.
   Albeit a good premise, it seems under budgeted so can't really knock it much.
   Honestly the quick speeds are great. but... that's where the downfall begins...
   It honestly has picked up on a trend with most games, where you get a mind blowing machine with high top speed, but... you normally can't go that speed.
   
   It really would have been a lot better if
   
   1: it came with an level/skin editor
   
   2 Better multiplayer abilities.
   
   3: Better Variety in bikes,parts and pilots. (only choice is a preppy college looking guy, and the parts are usually useless and trivial except for the best parts.)
   
   4: Gotten rid of the cooling as breaks and heat destroying the machine.
   I mean really it's like how the world is cooling stopping the machine through friction? and if you d/c they say you go slow due to air friction. uh duh air friction is there no matter what the rocket strapped to my butt should still move me quickly. the idea it's held to the wall with magnets would have made more logic about the breaks.
   (but of course this stuff is trivial.)
   but what isn't is the fact that when you get injured (gain heat)
   the heat doesn't' dissipates but your boost does...
   
   5: Had a practice/time trial mode.
   this game logs EVERY race, and if you crash/quit etc etc it counts against your dainty record.
   
   6: had more variety in obstacles and paths in the map.
   The game is pretty much a twisty road with road blocks.
   
   7: If the physics were consistent.
   in rookie the player can do pretty much anything and just act like a battering ram, but in pro or ballistic the slightest touch (or finicky collision hulls) can send them flying.
   plus it's odd, how is it that i can go 2400mph and smack right into a pillar and just kind of bounce off a little.
   usually it's the same 123 kick routine. and it gets old fast.
   8: had better ai. (especially if they don't bloody cheat.
   these weirdos can go with full boost and go through objects.)
   
   9: gotten rid of those almost invisible purple lights that bloody stops a player in their tracks. (or at least made them more visible.
   
   10: AT LEAST 1-2 BLOODY MAPS THAT A PERSON CAN ACTUALLY GO 2400MPH + (I've actually gone that fast in the current maps but its' bloody awful time doing it. it's usually go really fast and then clunk and repeat!)
   
   on the good side though.
   the game can be very addictive, and the courses do require
   a keen learning curve.
   it is very fun to achieve the seemingly random awards like daredevil or ballistic which can be a very very exciting.
   breaking the sound barrier is very very very fun.
   it is over all a very good game.
   
   
   although i listed all that it is a very good game, made by a seemingly new company. it can quickly get exciting, especially when the player goes over the speed of sound, or goes so fast that the world seems to go backwards.
   
   
   Graphics: Above average
   Music: Mediocre
   Game play:Good
   Re playability: Too a point.
   Over all quality: Oddly enough very high.
   
   Even though I probably sound like I'm knocking the game,
   I really like this game.
   Also take into account that i am fairly picky and this game seems to have been
   made by a seemingly new company.
   I highly recommend this game for anyone who likes racing games.
   it can quickly get exciting, especially when the player goes over the speed of sound, or goes so fast that the world seems to go backwards.
   but chances are if you don't you'll probably turn it into a coaster in about a week.
   it is definitely a game for people who are tired of gran turismo clones, and should be in a racing fans collection. I also wish that their would have been a better response to this game when it was released.