Print Artist Platinum 22 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used Print Artist since 1997 and have loved it. It has always been very versatile, easy to use, and had a good selection of clipart. I was extremely disappointed in version 22, now from Nova Development instead of Sierra. At first I thought I had a bad disk, I couldn't get the program to launch at all so I exchanged it. The exchange process was quick & easy with Amazon. After trying the replacement and getting several IT personnel involved we finally gave up and I returned it and we reinstalled the older version. Also, Nova does not support the versions produced by Sierra so I couldn't even access my old files. What a waste of time and effort.

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PRINT ARTIST PLATINUM 22

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Broderbund Print Shop 21 Deluxe Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been using Print Shop for many, many years, primarily to make greeting cards and note cards. I've upgraded as upgrades became available and today upgraded from version 20 to version 21 deluxe. I also use Norton A/V which has been around for many years and is in very widespread use.
It seems that the two are almost terminally incompatible. PS v. 21 has many projects that are only available online and must be downloaded. There are many of these in the Printed Greeting cards and constitute all of the projects in the Photo Picture Cards and the Creative Touch cards.
Although, at the price charged for this software, EVERYTHING SHOULD BE ON THE CD"S AND SHOULD NOT REQUIRE ADDITIONAL DOWNLOADING, when downloading is tried, you will get the message "The online server can not deliver the file".
When you search their nearly non-existent technical support section, for a solution, you are told "It has been found that certain software security systems do not allow communication between your computer and Broderbund's file servers. You will need to contact your security software's company for information on how to allow this communication or SIMPLY DISABLE THE SOFTWARE TO ALLOW IT." (Emphasis mine)
It thus seems that the makers of PS 21 (Broderbund? Encore? RiverDeep?) could not be bothered to work out these incompatibilities with one of the most popular and widely installed anti-virus software programs on the market and put their program on the market anyway. Their solution to the inevitable incompatibility which they knew full well existed: Simply disable your anti virus protection......and risk having your system destroyed.
Is this worth paying them another $42 for a questionable upgrade?
I plan to uninstall v.21 and return it tomorrow; stay with v. 20 and cross Broderbund off my list for all future purchases of this type of software.


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If you're ready to add a creative touch to your photos and other digital images, then Print Shop 21 Deluxe is for you. With over 320,000 images and graphics, plus another 17,500 project templates, Print Shop 21 Deluxe gives you everything you need to get started. An advanced photo editor offers expert editing results to make your photos perfect every time. You can easily incorporate them into any project, create slide shows, burn them to a CD, or even resize for your mobile phone. An enhanced photo-quality printing and new borderless print features mean your projects will have the refined look you want! Photo Shop 21 Deluxe even helps you manage your time with Calender Creator Express, and its new address book and mail merge feature give you effortless mailings every time.

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Printmaster Gold Version 18 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Gift from my wish list - now sorry I asked.
Must go online to receive access to more than half the projects!
This is not acceptable for me. 2 stars because there are nice projects without going online.

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Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 4.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I wanted to get started with digital scrapbooking, but most websites I read focused on Photoshop Elements, and purchasing digital paper and elements individually. I wasn't sure that I wanted to spend that kind of time and money, so I decided to give Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 4.0 a try. I've been using this software for several months now, and I really like it! It comes with lots of ready-made templates, which really are completed layouts--just add pictures. The templates are fully editable, though, so you can still add, delete, resize, or move any element or picture. You can also start from scratch, and build your page using the wide variety of backrounds and elements that they provide. If you aren't satisfied with their offerings, you can use any papers or elements that you can find on various websites--the program recognizes most regular file types (such as .jpg, .gif, and .png). Though some of the provided graphics are typical clipart, and not really what most scrappers would use, they still offer quite a lot of backgrounds and embellishments that are wonderful. (And contrary to another reviewer, you CAN change the color--right click the item, choose "edit photo", then the "adjust color" tab.) The software also comes with a pretty good user's manual--that seems rare for software these days! Very useful for getting an idea of all the different things you can do with this software. You can also save completed pages as a .jpg or .pdf file for printing or to give to other people.
There are a few things I'd like to see improved. 1. I'd like a better tool for finding and importing the photos. 2. I'd like more templates in the landscape format. 3. I'd like a viewer that would show 2 pages side-by-side.
**Important Note** Read the system requirements carefully! The entire program gets loaded onto the hard drive, and takes over 3 Gbytes. It's also a resource-hog when running; if your computer is too old, you will NOT have fun trying to run it!
All in all, this program is easy to learn and use. It gives you as much or as little control over the layout as you want. And with all of the various graphics that are included, it's an incredible bargain!

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With the Nova Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 4.0 you can preserve precious memories with version 4.0 of America's #1 best-selling scrapbook software. Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 4.0 offers the ultimate collection of 6,000+ exclusive templates as well as 60,000+ beautiful graphics and 5000+ photorealistic embellishments sure to capture the excitement of any occasion. You'll also be able to create spectacular CD Photo Scrapbooks you can watch on TV, and as an added bonus, personalized photo calendars!

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The Print Shop 22 Deluxe Review

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(More customer reviews)I was shopping for an alternative when it occurred to me to review...I've used Printshop since ver. 10, and I know it pretty well. I use it a lot both for work and personal and usually from "scratch". A few things have improved but not enough to keep me committed to it. The art gallery directory is ridiculous, you can't search for a subject, the silly names are like "he likes ice" for a picture of a panda and it is full of old cards and really silly items (pretentiously called "premium images", maybe young kids like them) and many duplicates of images, sadly I've never figured out how to access images from earlier versions, which were superior. Some nice tools of the past like "transparency" seen to have disappeared ;-). It has a tendency to do odd things like "forget" the earlier version of a project or change font sizes when you cut and paste, or refuse to copy...I've run it on a few different computers and it does this on all of them. Today it changed my #10 envelope size every time I closed the project so I had to keep redoing it and couldn't find my address book so I couldn't use mail merge. It gets confused about using legal size paper, changing the layout when you reopen the project to fit letter. I've never been able to work the text in "table", the columns are difficult to size and print set up has a wrong page that has never been corrected. Do NOT call fee based customer support, they charge whether they know how to resolve the issue or not, after telling the tech what I had already tried he had me re-try, charging me all the time, I paid half after some argument and in retrospect should not have paid at all. There is really no technical support. It is easier to use than full programs but has surprising limitations and quirks. I use it all the time and can do a lot with it, but it can be unnecessarily frustrating.

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The Print Shop 22 Deluxe offers the best in total personal creativity.350,000+ images & graphics PLUS 20,000+ Project Templates!Packed with new features and tools, you have everything you need for satisfy your creative side.Enhanced photo editing features provide professional looking results to make your photos perfect every time.Easily add them to any project, create slideshows, burn to CD, or resize for your mobile phone.New project size options, photo quality printing and borderless print features mean your projects will have the refined look you want!Even manage your time with Calender Creator Express, the address book, and improved mail merge for effortless mailings every time!

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The Print Shop 23 Review

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(More customer reviews)I had used Print Shop # 6 for many years, when I had to replace my computer with Vista, needed a new version of a Print Shop. Ordered Print Shop 23 only to realize the spell check was not working properly, returned it and received a replacement only to realize it has the same problem. After having a moderator on a forum group check it out, she had the same problem. Since I do most of my writing in Print Shop, spell check is important to me. The program needs to be rewritten in my opinion.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Gaby

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Its easy to create amazing print projects in a snap. Start with 19,000+ unique and creative templates for a wide variety of projects, including greeting cards, invitations, labels, signs, banners and more. Customize your project in seconds with the easiest design tools around. You can add your own text, photos, graphics and word art. Comes with 270,000+ high quality clip art images, photos, borders, frames and embellishments. Plus, EASY photo editing tools like red-eye removal, crop and flip to make your photos perfect. Its so easy to create and print your projects with everything you need for incredible design in the palm of your hands.

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PrintMaster Platinum 2.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been a loyal Printmaster user for years. I have upgraded many times because of the ease of use and the variety of design elements available. I recently got a Mac so I purchased the new 2.0 version to use with my new Mac computer. WOW, AM I DISAPPOINTED. The product STINKS!!! Everything that I loved about the older versions is gone. First of all, you have to install all of the art onto your computer. This is a 23G program! But still, the templates are limited, the clip art is awful and I can't seem to layer them onto my own designs without the white background showing around the clip art, so if I have a colored background in my design, I can't get the clip art on my project without the white around it. I imagine it can be done because the white is not in the ready-made templates, but I can't seem to edit it out. If anyone knows how, please let me know. I can't copy and paste outside clip art into it either. It just puts a box with the name of the item and there is no way to activate the contents. As I said, I have been using PrintMaster products for a long time and I can usually figure out most software programs without a problem, but this version has me so frustrated that I will probably uninstall it from my computer. It is not worth the enormous amount of space it takes up. Sadly, I probably can't return the opened item so I am just going to have to eat the $39.99 I paid for this inferior version of a once-loved product. I will try to contact the company to see is there is a satisfaction guarantee, but I'm not hopeful. I would NOT recommend this version of PrintMaster.
UPDATE: Thank you Amazon for your great return policy. You sent a return shipment label and bar code immediatly when I asked to return for a refund on this Horrible Product. Initial shipping was free, so for less than $5 for return shipping, it is well worth it to be rid of PrintMaster 2.0. AMAZON IS THE BEST!

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PrintMaster Platinum 2.0, the quintessential toolkit for creating thousands of amazing projects.With an enormous library of elegant templates, beautiful artwork and expressive fonts, producing "store-quality" creations has never been easier.


Create Personalized Print Projects in Minutes
New--Easy-to-Use Software Drag-and-drop photos, text and design elements with incredible ease and quickness.
PC and Mac Compatible Use the program on a PC or Mac and create, edit and share files seamlessly.
Easy Design Tools Edit photos to make them perfect, add text and add amazing artistic effects with an arsenal of creative tools at your fingertips.
Perfect for Every Occasion Choose from a gallery of spectacular designs to capture life's special moments--birthdays, graduations, holidays, weddings, anniversaries and more.
Tons of Projects Select from ready-made designer templates or start fresh with a blank template for:

Easy to Share Print at home, email or publish your latest creation on the web to share with friends and family.

What's New? PrintMaster Platinum 2.0 is the next generation in print software.Completely built from the ground up, this comprehensive toolkit takes advantage of the latest technology to significantly improve ease-of-use and provide you with the utmost design flexibility.
All Content Inside the Box All designer templates, graphics and fonts available on discs so no downloading is required.
PC and Mac Compatible For the first time ever, you can create, edit and share files between PC and Mac users.This is a great cross-platform software program to have in a home with both PCs and Macs.
Streamlined Workspace With a sleek new workspace, it's easy to find and switch between the various tools quickly.Create anything you want with a robust collection of photo editing, design and text tools at your fingertips.
Drag-and-Drop Quickly add photos and graphics to your workspace with speed and ease.
Auto-Fill Wizard Too busy to look through your photos?Save time with the convenient auto-fill wizard that searches and imports photos automatically.
Advanced Color Match Technology Click on an object with the eye-dropper tool to find the perfect color match.
Text-to-Shape Create text to flow around a circle or square for a contemporary look.
Slider Tools Compress or amplify graphic effects by sliding the cursor left or right.
Thumbnail Preview Easily switch back and forth between multiple pages in a scrapbook project.
Integrated Professional Printing From within the program, directly order your greeting cards, scrapbooks/photobooks and calendars from an online photo site to get "store-quality" printed designs shipped right to your home.
Check Project The project check feature helps you check for errors and misspellings in your projects.Examples of common errors include photo or text boxes going off the page.

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ACDSee 9 Photo Manager Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)ACDSee photo management absolutely beats most (if not all?) of the photo management utilities typically shipped with digital cameras, hands down. However, free applications such as irfanview are really beginning to come together where this program is falling apart--namely ease of use and functionality.
ACDSee has become a feature monster. The program does a tremendous amount of background processing and is constantly cataloguing and indexing your images. This is a problem if you work with a large number of new images on a regular basis. There is no obvious way to stop the database from cataloguing everything it encounters, and as time goes on this too easily corrupted database brings the program to its knees. The number of system errors and program crashes I've encountered with version 9 is absolutely pathetic for such an established name in this business. Multimedia is not handled well, best advice if you have an assortment of media types is to turn video previews OFF and just leave multimedia functionality alone.
PDF "photo albums", highly configurable contact sheets, exportable file indexes and lists, descript.ion generation, HTML photo albums, simple slide shows, these are all great features I love to use with ACDSee. They don't seem to hinder normal operations of the browser so no harm done. The ease of using the conversion tools and lossless JPEG operations, as well as the excellent EXIF tools and batch renaming by EXIF data also just can't be beat. The interface is very flexible and anything can go just about anywhere, or go away, also a huge plus. The program has definite qualities.
ACDSee needs to scale down the browsing app a LOT and get back to basics. I don't need a complex database when I'm rotating and deleting a thousand images I won't likely need again and using the browser to examinine EXIF data. I resent the fact that the search feature has become so highly dependent on building this consumer-oriented proprietary database (how many stars did you give your image and was it a pretty picture of puppies or babies or gramma's birthday?) it is barely functional for raw file searches. I have learned not to trust centralized absolute-file-location-dependent databases, particularly when tied to specific applications. I prefer organizing by files and folders and maintaining flexibility, and this program no longer caters to my methods. Unfortunately basic file management (cut/copy/paste) through ACDSee is extremely slow with a large database, but use any other app to move or rename a file and your database info relative to those images is orphaned and lost.
(Nitpicking: The font viewer needs work, it would be very useful if it could be configured to display characters other than "FONT". Unfortunately de-selecting the font extensions did not restore the original associations to Windows Font Viewer so I had to do that manually. I'd also really like it if ACDSee didn't keep reminding me of other "great ACDSee products", I've clicked most of the "do not show this again" boxes but still see things from time to time.)
For basic image browsing and pre-photoshop operations such as organization, elimination, and lossless exif rotation I have almost fully converted to irfanview. Because of the instability as your database grows, the constant indexing and cataloguing (think infinitely spinning hourglasses and delayed blank file listings when you'd rather just be viewing images) add all the junk features pros don't need and can't remove--and this has become a potentially annoying application.


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