2 stars (Slow and difficult to learn) - I purchased Finale Guitar to finally get onto paper all of the hundreds of guitar arrangements I currently play from memory. It was a reasonably priced non-shareware guitar notation program so I thought it would be better. Well after using the program for several months, I am still having to go to the help files just to do the simplest of tasks. First of all I am a computer programmer, so I regularly learn and use all sorts of computer programs. I understand that everything has a learning curve, but this program is very frustrating in that it is not at all intuative. The main frustration comes from the fact that EVERYTHING that should be simple and out front or copy/pasteable is buried in a menu and dialog box somewhere. Also not all of the objects on the page can be simply "copied and cloned", then properties of the copied item changed, like a word processor. Even selection of things to be copied often requires some special dialog to copy it in a certain way. In other words if you are expecting to be able to put a chord on the page, then copy and paste it 20 times and simply change the attributes of all your copies to new chords, you are out of luck, you will basically have to do each from scratch. Also if you need to change the key without transposing the notes you are out of luck. Most operations cannot be done with copy/paste, you must go through all the gyrations of buried menus over and over, not much of just right clicking to get a properties window that does what you expected. It appears that they tried to simplify things by forcing you into a 'mode' for every separate operation rather than just picking one simple sequence that people understand and making all operations conform to that. I was not looking for a program to do midi playback/creation I wanted an easy and powerful notation program to get stuff on paper, so I am not reviewing the sound/midi aspects. This may be powerful but it's difficulty and ... MakeMusic- :: Music :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Notation :: Effects :: Composting :: Video :: Sound Libraries :: Midi :: Sequencing :: Creation :: Finale Guitar 2003
1 stars (Returned it) - Wow... The guy at company support told me it only works on documents with less than 50 pages. That was after I scoured the web site for info. I sent it back unopened (so the star rating is for the deception on their site). This is a bad company... I use Adobe Professional instead. 3 stars (Left me wanting.) - The product falls short of its marketing hype. The User interface is somewhat quirkey. Over all the product is satisfactory for my needs. However, the tech support leaves a lot to be desired. Using the online trouble report screen gets you a sparse response that will require a follow up call to get an answer. The biggest problem I have come accross is the fact that you can only use the program if you are an administrator in OS X. Since all users have access to the program this is a major short-coming and there is no work-around (according to tech support). They do have a toll free phone number but it is not posted on their website. You will get it on the signature line of the technicians email response. Overall a good product that has left me frustrated. 4 stars (Good product) - It is nice to see that a company has a working OCR software under OS X. The software works well despite many scanner compatibilty issues. These issues can be resolved by getting the latest twain drivers or plug in from the scanner manufacturer. Biggest complaint is lack of customer support and tech support. After leaving many voicemails at various extensions no one called me back until one month later! If you don't mind the wait the software is well worth it. ... I R I S :: Scanning (Scanners) :: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) :: Document Management :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: :: ReadIris Pro 9 for Mac OS X
2 stars (Quicken for MAC disappoints) - Quicken 2005 works ok, but it has a couple of big problems that make it virtually useless for me. I've used Quicken on Windows for 6 years and have been able to download asset classes for each stock, bond, or mutual fund I own. I manage my investments using assset allocation - ie, by trakcing the % of my holdings large cap, small cap, international, bonds, and cash. Quicken 2005 for Mac doesn't have this function. Also, the whole program works in 9-point font only. Rows and rows of little tiny numbers and you can't change it. Not so great for the aging population of consumers. 2 stars (For those looking for something OTHER than Quicken) - I've been reading the Quicken reviews on Amazon and on other locations, and have been sufficiently scared away from purchasing an upgrade to work with Mac OS 10.4. After much searching, I found that there IS another money management system that works with the Mac, called Moneydance. I don't know how well it works, although the reviews I've read have averaged 4 stars. They offer a free trial version to download from their Web site (which is, it seems, the only place where it can be purchased); hopefully, I can determine whether it's going to work for me. So there is more than Quicken for the Mac. Move over, Intuit! 1 stars (WARNING! Will Not Work With E*Trade) - I suppose I should have checked with Intuit's list of supported financial institutions, but neither E*Trade Financial or E*Trade Bank are supported for this version of Quicken. I find it hard to believe that one of the world's largest all-Web financial institutions would leave Mac users out in the cold. What is more frustrating is that it worked fine for Windows -- it seems like a simple file format problem that could be easilty addressed by Intuit & E*Trade. So take this review with a grain of salt -- I cannot really review a product that I have been unable to use at all! ... Intuit :: Invest (Investment) :: Personal Finance (Financial) :: Accounting (Account) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: :: Quicken 2005 for Mac [Old Version]
5 stars (An easy version of Photoshop for kids!) - This program is great. Bought for my 6 year old son who displays a lot of creativity but is already knowledgeable of the computer, so thought this would be a good program to utilize his skills. I found that click and create was similar to Photoshop which is amazing because he'll already be learning skills for when he's older. The navigation is easy and Mia, the character, is adorable. My son's favourite part is making the gift cards where he finds excuses to make cards all the time now for the littlest of occasions! Great product. ... Kutoka :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Social Science (Studies) :: Culture (Cultural) :: Art (Arts) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Kids (Children :: Kids (Ch :: Click -amp- Create With Mia
5 stars (Fun Fun Fun!!!) - This product is amazing. After learning my husband was taking me to Mexico for our 25th anniversary, I was nervous about going into a foreign country without knowing Spanish. This game is amazing. It is the fastest way to learn a language without long drawn out grammar explanations. Afterall, I just wanted to learn the basics, phrases for restaurants, banks, airports, shopping etc. This game was so much fun, you couldn't tear me or my husband off the computer. We kept wanting to play because learning was so much fun. The phrases I learned contributed to a much more enjoyable trip and now I have enrolled at the local community college to further my Spanish. This product is perfect for any one travelling and wanting to learn the phrases and colloquial expression fast. ... Kutoka :: Learn learning :: Portuguese :: Spanish Espanol :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Social Science (Studies) :: Culture (Cultural :: Eazyspeak Spanish Levels 1 and 2 (PC - Mac)
5 stars (Perfect for little ones) - Finally, fresh new characters which are adorable. I am a converted Kutoka buyer as I have now bought a 3rd item from them. I was so impressed with the Mia Reading and Mia Language that I wanted to try this multi-subject game for my twin girls in kindergarten. This game is a great compliment to mia reading as it reinforces literacy and other subjects like math and problem solving. We haven't played with the art part yet but I still think it's a great value for the other subjects. I'm really impressed how it helps to develop their cognitive skills and patience as one of my girls has a problem with concentration but found through the problem solving activities that she is overcoming these difficulties. Great product. Even my neighbours kids come over to play it! 5 stars (Help for PC user Joel G ) - (Responding to Joel G's review below) It's unfortunate that your child was unable to enjoy Didi & Ditto because of a technical problem you had with your computer. The majority of Didi & Ditto players are running Microsoft Windows and enjoying this great educational software. If you send us an e-mail message at service@kutoka.com, I am sure that someone from our technical support team will be able to help you resolve the issue you seem to have experienced with your computer display. Also note that all activites can be unlocked in the Activities menu by pressing the F6 key on your keyboard. A full list of the game's keyboard shortcuts can be found in the user's guide which is accessible from the Start menu. Hope this helps. 4 stars (Learning fun) - My 4 year old son received this as a Christmas present. He has really enjoyed playing it so far. He can do most of the activities without help. There is one part where you have to ride a cart down a mountain and click buttons to duck or jump, which I think is pretty hard for little ones (it actually took me a couple of tries to make it down the mountain). There are many different learning... Kutoka :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Kids (Children :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Didi - Ditto- Kindergarten
4 stars (It works with OSX Tiger, but...) - Seller says this doesn't work with Tiger, but it works. All GPS road map doesn't give the shortest route and this is no exception. Mine came bundled with a GPS receiver that I was surprised worked very well. I just wish I can just install US roads without installing Canada and other non-essential that takes up hard drive space and slows down the search. I'm sure Canadians would want the same if they want to use this and not have to install US info unless they want to. Could be made simpler and faster intuitive locate of streets. I don't need every thing that says San Antonio like a bake shop when I am looking for the city map of San Antonio or just a street. 2005 is almost over and I don't see any updates on their website. Overall I would give this a nod if you want to bring your iBook or PB and use it as a GPS road map, otherwise, spend an extra $300 and get a handheld black and white screen GPS. 1 stars (Embarassing) - Route 66 should hang their developer heads in shame for putting this product out. The app seems to be a bare minimum port from its Windows version. The first indication of this is the ugly port of the "help" contents (which are an obvious attempt at mimicking the Windows help system, via a Java applet) UI - No keyboard shortcut to go between zoom in/out and drag. No way to convert GPS coords to decimal, or to search by lat/lon. The UI is a clunky artifact of the mid-90's, if not before. Type in a search and hit return... nothing happens.. you have to click on "Find". Compare and contrast simple navigation to Google Maps! Case closed. Speed - I'm running on a 1.33 ghz PowerBook, with the most recent Route 66 patch. Using 16mb of cache (in the preferences) doesn't help much. This is 2005.. surely you would expect a dedicated app to outperform Google map. Not this one. I am not kidding when I say this is slow. You may say "well, run it on a dual processor G5!"... and I would counter with "I want... Route 66 :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Hobby Hobbies :: Map Info (Mapinfo) :: Route :: Travel Planners (Planning) :: Maps (Mapping) :: Reference :: Computer software (pr :: Route 66 Route USA 2004 (Mac)
4 stars (Parlez-vous fran?#ais?) - This interactive learning experience is fun, colorful and very humorous! It makes learning enjoyable! The only drawback to this program is that it is quite difficult to understand at first. You need to have substantial knowledge of French to be able to catch on to the process; luckily there is an English translation to everything so that you can figure it out. Overall I found Asterix to be a good learning tool in my ongoing effort to learn French. ... EuroTalk :: Learn learning :: French :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Learn Mexican Spanish
5 stars (Rosetta Stone is the BEST!) - I tried other language software, tried to save a few bucks. It was not worth it. Rosetta stone works, it is sort of fun and before you know it you are learning the language in a way that stays with you. 4 stars (Which dialect of Vietnamese is taught?) - My disclaimer: This is not a review of the software's useability. I am extremely satisfied with the software's ability to teach me the content as intended by the publisher. However, if you are in the U.S. you may realize that a great majority of the Vietnamese population here is South Vietnamese. This is because during and after the Vietnam War, the majority of refugees was from the non-communist side (south). Therefore, if you encounter Vienamese speaking people in the U.S. there is a good chance that they will speak with a south Vietnamese dialect. Once you are done with the course, you will be able to speak moderate Vietnamese with a NORTHERN accent and dialect. The northern accent is quite different from southern (vastly more different than English with a southern vs. New York accent). Additionally, the vocabulary is 5-10% different. So you'll be able to get by, but if you go to Little Saigon in whatever city, don't be surprised if language is not exactly as expected. The U.S. population if Vietnamese ir primarily southern. Now, if you are going to Vietnam, and want to learn the language for travel purposes, this program is probably quite adequate. Just like anywhere else in the world you will find different accents and dialects in the region. Anyway - have fun learning Vietnamese - the software works. All the pro's and con's have been reviewed elsewhere - so I'm not going to be repetitive. 5 stars (Minh noi tieng viet!) - The Rosetta Stone products are great. I have bought Vietnamese level 1 and Japanese level 1 and 2. I consider vietnamese to be a much more difficult language to learn since it is a tonal language. This software helped me a lot and now I am ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: Asian :: Learn learning :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: :: Rosetta Stone Vietnamese Personal Edition Level 1
5 stars (Great bunch of apps at the right price) - I was pretty excited as soon as I heard about this product and got it right away. Audio Hijack - works perfectly as advertised. I've been using this to record music from VH1.com to fill my library and I figured out also how to use it to record the soundtrack from music DVDs and from iTunes. It's brain dead easy to use and the quality is good. MusicMixer - after a pretty lengthy amount of time it had scanned my library. I have about 5000 songs and it took over 4 days. But it was worth the wait - it definitely makes some smart choices and groups songs that sound good together. Spin Doctor - I haven't tried this one yet - but my father has a bunch of stuff he's hounding me to try it out with. Seems like a good addition. iPodder - I like this one. Fits really well with iTunes and there's a ton of interesting stuff to fill my commute time now. Speech software - I don't really have a need for this one and the voices are a bit corny - although there's a coupon on the disc for better voices from another company. All in all I'm happy with this purchase. Unlike the previous reviewer who seems to have a personal vendetta against the music industry I'll focus on this product. Roxio certainly does not hide that these are products that have been available for a while from other developers - what Roxio brings together is 5 great apps for the right price. The Mixer is $30 by itself. AudioHijack is $16. iPodder is $24. Speech is $16. None of them are free - contrary to what the previous reviewer says. If you bought them all separetly you'd spend alot more - so even if you only use a few of the apps you're coming out ahead. Ignore the crazies and focus on the software and you won't be disappointed. It really does make your iPod better. 2 stars (Software is available elsewhere for free, Music Magic Mixer is disabled.) - When I heard that Roxio was making this software suite, I was thrilled and the reviews were gr... Roxio :: Sound Libraries :: audio :: Music :: MP3 MP 3 Player :: Portable Audio :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Self Help :: Personal Improvement :: Computer software (pr :: Roxio Boom Box - Essential Software for your iPod (Mac)
5 stars (I'm already speaking dutch!) - The format for this language-learning program is excellent. The biggest problem I found when i tried to teach myself Dutch, was that I had no clue how to pronounce what I was reading. With this program you have 2 native-speakers saying each word (a male and a female), which is enormously helpful in learning the pronunciation. Another great feature is the record button, which allows you to record your own voice, and then instantly compare it to the native speakers. I love this! In fact, my pronunciation was much closer than I imagined it to be. And my boyfriend, who is from the Netherlands, was very impressed with how quickly I was able to pick up so many words and phrases, and say them like a seasoned speaker, and not with a silly accent. There are also quizzes and games, which offer more ways to learn, touching on all aspects of comprehension. I highly recommend this software. Not only was it painless to learn, it was a total blast! Even my 5 year old son loves to use it. ... EuroTalk :: Learn learning :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: :: Talk Now- Learn Dutch - Beginning Level
3 stars (Quasi-Immersion Works Fairly Well) - The Rosetta Stone method teaches you language the way you learned it as a child - by associating words to visuals. There are no translations in the program, so you really have to do the mental work to understand what is being presented to you. In that way it's a great program. For me, one of the drawbacks is that the same visuals and phrases are repeated over and over within a lesson. This has the effect of reducing lessons to a Concentration game, where you are remembering which words go with which picture, rather than actually absorbing why you are saying what you are saying, or how what you are saying works as a structured language. I find I have to force myself to be more deliberate when completing the exercises. Another drawback is that after completing fifteen lessons there still has not been any exercise where I have been asked to construct a phrase on my own. As such, the program is good for building reading, listening comprehension, and pronunciation skills, but not for speaking. The most fascinating aspect of the course is how different Turkish is from Romance and Germanic languages. Really the only things they have in common are the Roman alphabet and some cognates. Turkish manages to feel ancient while still living. Consider this: the word for man is "adam". Overall I would say this product is by far the most disciplined teaching tool I have seen for Turkish. It is equal to a semester of language instruction in terms of the number of lessons and the time required to complete them all. And for this reason alone I would say that the price is right. 5 stars (Turkish Rosetta Stone) - After my first lesson I was able to understand and speak more than over a years worth of personal training. I first learned of the product from an airline publication and was "bargain" hunting for the same product. Amazon saved me almost 50% off what the airline publication was charging!!! The lesons are complete and... Fairfield Language Technologies :: Learn learning :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: :: Rosetta Stone Turkish Personal Edition Level 1
Barcode Software/ Mac Macintosh Machintosh Appl 
