National Geographic 112 Years CD-ROM Collector's Edition
© 2002 Topics Entertainment
This whopping 32-CD archive brings you every issue of the National Geographic magazine from 1888 to December 2000. That's 1,285 magazines (about 30 feet of shelf space) with 185,000 photos and illustrations and 9,500 articles. Extensive search capabilities include author, title and subject, and you can view all 112 years of covers and tables of contents without changing disks. The magazines serve as a time machine of sorts, with more than a century of advertisements. We found the program easy to use, which is remarkable considering how many CDs there are. It's easy to search precisely, but also fascinating to peruse just as you would your print publications. The product's major weakness is in text resolution, which is blurry both onscreen and when you print. The photos and illustrations, however, look fantastic both on and off screen. Note that there's no way to cut and paste text.
$49.95, Win, Mac
Teaches: geography, social studies, history, science