I was just looking at the web page for the upcoming Classic Toy Trains Magazine DVD collection. The site indicates that a minimum of 2 GIG of disk space is required, even when running the product from the DVD. Why so much space? What is the mechanism?The recently discontinued HSL DVD collections worked with a browser. What does this DVD use?
The DVD archive is actually a software product, which gives it improved functionality in the how the magazine pages are organized and displayed. It is also indexed and searchable by keyword.
A full install requires considerable disc space, as you noted. That's not surprising when you recall we're talking about 214 complete issues totaling 26,234 pages. Once loaded, you would not need to reinsert the DVD to access your magazine collection.
There is also an option for a minimum install. This would save hard drive real estate, the drawback being the necessity of inserting the disc each time.
Carl
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Carl Swanson, editor
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
I hope a demo, along with a list of features will be made available.
Any more information about this product?
Will each issue's original advertisements be included?(Sometimes they are a valuable resource for research)
The digital files were shipped to the DVD manufacturer this week and we hope that the DVDs will be shipped to us by the end of August.
Yes, the issues will be complete with the original advertisements. That is part of the fun. You'll see long-forgotten firms that made detail and accessory items and a lot of familiar retail establishments that are no longer in business. Plenty of great history and some superb model railroads.
Bob Keller
Having the ads will be a big help in the user being able to obtain long-out-of-production items. Once a product is identified by its official name and manufacturer, it's a simple matter to plug those into a browser's search utility.
This looks great! Of course, one of my issues is the lack of a DVD slot in my latest computer...
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
USB disc reader - available at Amazon for $25 to $40. I have one I bought at Amazon plugged into my work computer because the aging built-in Superdrive is getting quirky. Also have one at home. If you have a USB slot, you can use this.
Since there aren't any demos or screen shots available, I hope a few folks will post reviews of the product.
Check the blog for a couple of screenshots.
I received the magazine DVD collection earlier this week, and installed it on my desktop computer today. Took 45 minutes for the full install. The provided directions were fairly straightforward.
Spent about an hour perusing the digital magazines. The search feature is defaulted to Titles and Sub-titles. After not getting very many hits for what I was looking for, I changed the search to Full Text. That really brought results!
It's nice having the magazines conveniently grouped together. When viewing a magazine, I found myself using the Zoom-in magnifying function quite a bit. The software defaults to single page view, but I switched to double-page view so it appeared more like a magazine.
In conclusion, I feel the DVD collection is a quality product. Even though I have every hard copy CTT magazine from the first issue on, the search capability in the software makes finding an article or subject a breeze.
Robert
http://robertstrains.com/
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