Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive Collection--with some minor limitations.
Review: Amazon has the best price going for this clip art series. Period.This collection of images, fonts, and whatnot is truly extensive. The enclosed drawing program, DrawPlus 5, I'd like to call "Illustrator Lite"; it has some functionality (you can export your work as GIFs, TIFFs, JPEGs, and such), but its usefulness will only get you so far until you'd have to upgrade to the real deal. As far as the clipart and photos go, this is no ordinary collection. If you're a desktop publisher or graphic arts moonlighter (aspiring to full time), this is a gigantic amount of material to use for your clients. The pictures are fantastic, the clipart is comprehensive--you'd probably find just about anything you can think of, or at least have the basic building blocks to customize what you need--and the fonts are a nice extra. However, most of the fonts in this collection you'd probably already have, especially if you have MS Publisher or any Adobe product (who has the best font set in the market). I have issues with the catalog search engine. It's useful up to a point, but I don't end up using it much. If you have Windows XP, you'll be using the Windows Explorer photo feature more than the search engine, anyway. The image book (thank gods!) that comes with this set is the size of your average Merriam-Webster dictionary, and it's ESSENTIAL for this collection. The CDs are arranged in the exact order that the images appear in in the book, so using the book, then using Windows Explorer will be a much better searching feature than the included search engine program. For Macintosh users, there are instructions in the book as to how to use the discs. I can't attest to it, but I assume you can use the CDs in Macs as well as you can use them in a regular PC. The big blue book (the book is big and it's blue) doesn't have an extensive listing of the photos on the CDs. What you see in the book is only a representation of the category; you'll have to search the entire disk to find specific images that you want to use. Thus, you're browsing blind as far as the book is concerned. All in all, a wonderful comprehensive library of images. P.S. Note to Pagans: the images in this collection are rather stereotypical. (I.E. green-faced witches, mostly cartoonish wizards, etc.) No specifically named clipart pics point to "our" holidays, even though they have an "other holiday" category in the set. However, the mythology clipart is extensive, colorful and tasteful. From those sets and other parts of the collection, you should be able to either find, adapt, or customize the art you need for specific Pagan-centered projects. Bright Blessings and happy desktop publishing!
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive Collection--with some minor limitations.
Review: Amazon has the best price going for this clip art series. Period. This collection of images, fonts, and whatnot is truly extensive. The enclosed drawing program, DrawPlus 5, I'd like to call "Illustrator Lite"; it has some functionality (you can export your work as GIFs, TIFFs, JPEGs, and such), but its usefulness will only get you so far until you'd have to upgrade to the real deal. As far as the clipart and photos go, this is no ordinary collection. If you're a desktop publisher or graphic arts moonlighter (aspiring to full time), this is a gigantic amount of material to use for your clients. The pictures are fantastic, the clipart is comprehensive--you'd probably find just about anything you can think of, or at least have the basic building blocks to customize what you need--and the fonts are a nice extra. However, most of the fonts in this collection you'd probably already have, especially if you have MS Publisher or any Adobe product (who has the best font set in the market). I have issues with the catalog search engine. It's useful up to a point, but I don't end up using it much. If you have Windows XP, you'll be using the Windows Explorer photo feature more than the search engine, anyway. The image book (thank gods!) that comes with this set is the size of your average Merriam-Webster dictionary, and it's ESSENTIAL for this collection. The CDs are arranged in the exact order that the images appear in in the book, so using the book, then using Windows Explorer will be a much better searching feature than the included search engine program. For Macintosh users, there are instructions in the book as to how to use the discs. I can't attest to it, but I assume you can use the CDs in Macs as well as you can use them in a regular PC. The big blue book (the book is big and it's blue) doesn't have an extensive listing of the photos on the CDs. What you see in the book is only a representation of the category; you'll have to search the entire disk to find specific images that you want to use. Thus, you're browsing blind as far as the book is concerned. All in all, a wonderful comprehensive library of images. P.S. Note to Pagans: the images in this collection are rather stereotypical. (I.E. green-faced witches, mostly cartoonish wizards, etc.) No specifically named clipart pics point to "our" holidays, even though they have an "other holiday" category in the set. However, the mythology clipart is extensive, colorful and tasteful. From those sets and other parts of the collection, you should be able to either find, adapt, or customize the art you need for specific Pagan-centered projects. Bright Blessings and happy desktop publishing!
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't work at all
Review: I have FOUR computers (I'm a programmer), and I could not get these CD's to work on any of them. The browser software included just hung for several minutes until returning an error. I couldn't even just browse the files on the cds (I tried several cds). There's something wrong with the way they are recorded. I even tried on my dvd reader. Just pop any cd in the computer and the whole machine freezes. Again, it isn't just one computer, same story on Windows 2000 and XP. Completely unusable.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Collection Ever!
Review: I just received my box last week and it is great. All of the images are inside the box and the printed catalog makes finding the exact image I want to use very easy and no downloading is required. I thought it would be good, but this is GREAT! If you want clip art, this is the one to have.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting Better
Review: I must say, the clip art in this edition has gotten so much better than my previous buy. However, I am very disappointed with the quality of all of the photographs. They are blurry, have compression noise and are not very well composed. And do I really need 10 copies of each photo....um NO! My little point and shoot digital takes better pictures than these...think I'll take my own.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelmed!
Review: I ordered this package since I just needed a few images for a project I was doing and it looked nice. When it came in the mail I could not believe how heavy it was and there was so much inside. It comes with a huge printed image manual which makes finding any image easy. It is over 1800 pages! This was so much more than I expected. I just ordered a second copy for my friend. 5 stars!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very Well Organized, Easy to Use
Review: I own a number of clip art products, and Art Explosion 800,000 is by far the best. I've seen them bigger but never better. I run a freelance design business, and the quality of the graphics I use is of critical importance. I can tell you that the quality of the graphics in Art Explosion 800,000 is first-rate.
It's true that there's no online searching, but it's also true that you don't need it. I've found that other clip art publishers use searching as a crutch. You see, so many products are so poorly organized that the only way you have a hope of finding a useful image is with a sophisticated searching tool. Not true with Art Explosion. Art Explosion 800,000 is impecably well organized by category and subcategory. Absolutely everything is exactly where you'd expect to find it - and the images are listed in plain English (not the old DOS 8-dot-3 file names you still find in most other collections). So it's as easy as it gets.
No question that this product is at the top of its game for good reason. I definitely recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable collection of clip art and photos
Review: I've purchased every edition of Art Explosion clip art and can not imagine working in graphics without them. The photos alone would be worth thousands if purchased from other companies and the variety of clip art is phenomenal. The manual is about three inches thick and easily enables you to find any subject you can imagine. I've never done a review before, but Art Explosion is a steal.
Rating:
Summary: Look Elsewhere
Review: Outdated Horrendous software. No search function. Terrible interface. Images so so. You have 50 hours in a day? Then go for it.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Mac version?
Review: This is a great product. I know it's available in a Mac version and I wish Amazon would offer that. I guess I'll have to buy it somewhere else.
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