Rating: 
Summary: cannot use it in my PC.
Review: I bought this CD set and can't use it in my computer. The tech-support people of its manufacturer said that's because the CD was incompatible with my CPU (Cyrix MII). They said they knew this problem before and are trying to solve it. I don't know why they don't mention it in the "system requirement". So you'd better not risk buying it if you have a Cyrix CPU.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept, horrible execution.....
Review: I bought this set immediately after it was released and was apalled at what I had bought. While the concept of having every issue on disc was a great idea, the use of JPEG images for the data instead of PDF was completely botched.Tech support, back in 1996, said they could have used less compression on the images of the pages, but they would have had to use even more than the 30+ CDs they had in the set and they decided that merely HAVING every issue would make up for any shortcomings in presentation. The end result: a [very costly] set of 30 CDs I hardly ever use and it's a shame as I really wanted to sit back and enjoy as many issues as I could but the text, while mostly legible, is a chore to read. Spend your money elsewhere or go to the library!
Rating:
Summary: Great concept, horrible execution.....
Review: I bought this set immediately after it was released and was apalled at what I had bought. While the concept of having every issue on disc was a great idea, the use of JPEG images for the data instead of PDF was completely botched. Tech support, back in 1996, said they could have used less compression on the images of the pages, but they would have had to use even more than the 30+ CDs they had in the set and they decided that merely HAVING every issue would make up for any shortcomings in presentation. The end result: a [very costly] set of 30 CDs I hardly ever use and it's a shame as I really wanted to sit back and enjoy as many issues as I could but the text, while mostly legible, is a chore to read. Spend your money elsewhere or go to the library!
Rating: 
Summary: Great content, but horrible print quality
Review: I can hardly begin to say how nice it is to have all these wonderful articles at my fingertips. Unfortunately, the print is practically illegible. It looks like the print from a typewriter ribbon that has been used much too long. The pictures are very grainy. Don't but this until you borrow a friend's set and see how it looks on your computer. I'm amazed that National Geographic is willing to sell it.
Rating: 
Summary: Commercials! Low Res Rip-off!
Review: I have to watch a damn Kodak commercial? Nat. Geo. shows NO CLASS with this piece of garbage. Horrible, low res scanned pages - even the text prints out poorly. This was designed for cheap computers of 5 years ago. Shockingly bad.
Rating: 
Summary: History at your Finger Tips
Review: I was born just after World War II, and I cannot remember a month that my parents did not receive a National Geographic. Since my father was born in 1898, one can imagine the enormous number of magazines we had accumulated even by the mid 1950's. Now this marvelous magazine, all issues, is available on CDs complete with pictures, stories, and even the old advertisements. Any topic can be searched. All pictures are fully spread out before the viewer so the entire picture is visible (I'm recalling fond memories of pulling apart the magazine binding to see the full picture). This magazine series chronicles our history, the world's history, in science, culture, geography, space exploration, and much more. It is a marvelous addition to anyone's library. The only caution is that very early issues (1888 to 1919 primarily) were printed in light text and are sometimes difficult to read. The program comes with a text enhancer that helps.
Rating:
Summary: This software is not produced properly.
Review: I was excited when I saw this collection on sale. I remembered pouring over my father's collection that took up a large part of a bookshelf, but only represented a few years of the magazine's history. Now here was a more-or-less complete collection (every issue to the end of 1998) that only took up minimal shelf space. The only bad thing that can be said about this package is that, as noted below, the picture quality is at times annoying. (I recommend viewing it at smaller than 800x600.) Basically, in order to see the photos at their best, the darkness option at the bottom of the screen must be slid all the way to the lightest setting (then it looks excellent), but then to set the text at its most visible, it has to be slid back to the darkest or next to darkest setting (and even then, it can look slightly smudged). Unless you read first, then look at the photos afterwards, you have to keep switching back and forth. Also, when the text is on a non-white background, as for text accompanying diagrams and charts, it is a strain to read. But even then, it is not difficult to read most of the text, and this is still a worthwhile package. After all, you get an (almost) complete collection of the wonderful photographs and fun, educational essays that is National Geographic Magazine (note: you do miss out on things you can only get with the hardcopy like special scented features, holograms and 3D effects (buy the hardcopy if you need such gimmicks), and for the map inserts you need to purchase another cd-rom collection). Even the old ads are a hoot to look at, and the search engine is excellent. And sure, there are 30 cds to switch between, but imagine trying to track down an article amongst hundreds of magazines filling up a room instead. When you consider all of the text you get (110 years worth of magazines, many of which are extremely rare), the price is a great value. Knowing the excellent quality of the magazine, my one fear in laying out the large amount of money necessary for this collection was that say, in 5 years, it would be necessary to buy it again to get those newer issues on cd, but so far I have gotten an update cd that covers the year 1999 and hopefully more will be released. This excellent (though flawed) product is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Rich, Visually Stunning Reading Experience
Review: I was excited when I saw this collection on sale. I remembered pouring over my father's collection that took up a large part of a bookshelf, but only represented a few years of the magazine's history. Now here was a more-or-less complete collection (every issue to the end of 1998) that only took up minimal shelf space. The only bad thing that can be said about this package is that, as noted below, the picture quality is at times annoying. (I recommend viewing it at smaller than 800x600.) Basically, in order to see the photos at their best, the darkness option at the bottom of the screen must be slid all the way to the lightest setting (then it looks excellent), but then to set the text at its most visible, it has to be slid back to the darkest or next to darkest setting (and even then, it can look slightly smudged). Unless you read first, then look at the photos afterwards, you have to keep switching back and forth. Also, when the text is on a non-white background, as for text accompanying diagrams and charts, it is a strain to read. But even then, it is not difficult to read most of the text, and this is still a worthwhile package. After all, you get an (almost) complete collection of the wonderful photographs and fun, educational essays that is National Geographic Magazine (note: you do miss out on things you can only get with the hardcopy like special scented features, holograms and 3D effects (buy the hardcopy if you need such gimmicks), and for the map inserts you need to purchase another cd-rom collection). Even the old ads are a hoot to look at, and the search engine is excellent. And sure, there are 30 cds to switch between, but imagine trying to track down an article amongst hundreds of magazines filling up a room instead. When you consider all of the text you get (110 years worth of magazines, many of which are extremely rare), the price is a great value. Knowing the excellent quality of the magazine, my one fear in laying out the large amount of money necessary for this collection was that say, in 5 years, it would be necessary to buy it again to get those newer issues on cd, but so far I have gotten an update cd that covers the year 1999 and hopefully more will be released. This excellent (though flawed) product is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Neat concept worthless execution
Review: I was very excited about the product. I thought I would spend the next few years exploring the set. I find it impossible to use. It is like reading very poor photocopies of the magazine. the print quality is very poor and the photos are very grainy. On the bright side it looks great on my shelf gathering dust. What a major disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept.......
Review: I would love to meet the person who designed this awful piece of software. As mentioned before the text prints out so badly you cannot even read it, there is no central database for all data, each new cd has to be registered and every time you seem to do something it asks you to enter a cd you just put back in the awkward packaging. Why National Geographic didn't use something like Adobe Acrobat to put this package together I will probably never know. Bad show Mindscape for rendering a potentially fantastic product practically unusable.
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