Rating: 
Summary: not magic, but close!
Review: a great instructional book, detailing real world projects in a straightforward, step-by-step, easy-to-understand format. This book is not for absolute beginners, as you will need to understand basic flash/animation concepts, but, as a designer who doesn't like to deal with programming except with absolutely necessary, i found it VERY informative and helpful. A great guide to setting up cool looking and useful flash projects without the frustration of having to take a month to learn all the programming stuff...
Rating: 
Summary: Look on web site for files.
Review: After reading the book, I was surprised to see the reviews that mention the problems with CD files. If you take a moment and go to the newriders.com web site, all the files are up there! I'm writing this in case I help anyone who is looking for the complete files. If you continue to have a problem, I'm pretty sure that the author or new riders will be quick to respond. They have been aces in the past and they have a good reputation for contact with readers. Good look, and happy flashing. (you know what I mean. :)
Rating:
Summary: Finally got it!
Review: Believe it or not, I've actually bought two copies of this! I'd been waiting for it ever since I heard about Flash MX, but the first copy that was delivered to my house... wait for it... got stolen! Oh well, I'm sure the thieves are probably wondering what the heck they ended up with. I ordered a new copy and when it finally arrived, I was really impressed. Great projects, and the format is even better. Now the authors list how long it took them to make each file, how big it is etc. The finishing touches will impress you. Five fat stars, just like the cover.
Rating: 
Summary: flash mayhem
Review: By far the WORST flash book I have ever purchased. I am not exaggerating when I say that 75% of the examples have errors in the code. The book comes with a cd of "finished" swf's but even the finished swfs don't work??? This book is more mayhem than magic.
Rating:
Summary: The magic of disappearing acts and files.
Review: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. Where's the magic?? I should have read the reviews before I bought this book. Instead I was lured in by the step by step projects, some of which matches what I want to do with my current project. The CD that came with the book doesn't contain any .fla files or project files in the "projects" folder. Just useless .swf files. The same damn files are repeated in the sample "movies" folder. So as you read the chapter and attempt to follow the instructions to recreate the project, you can't! You don't have any of the files the chapters refer to. You don't have anything to work with except your imagination. I called the publisher and got the run around. Got transferred to five different numbers each with their own automated menu or message. Shame on you New Riders/Pearson Education. Never again will I buy another New Riders book!!!
Rating:
Summary: MX magic is not magical
Review: First I give two huge thumbs up for the two previous books Flash 5 and 4 Magic. I will not say the same for Flash MX Magic. Unfortunately I wasted a weekend trying to understand chapter 14 in this book. The files on the CD and the updates didn't match the files in the book. This book ONLY teaches through example and poorly explains the thought process on why and how things work. The mistakes are so often and so irritating you wonder if the book was ever proofed before publishing. The best metaphore I can come up with is a cook book where the ingredients are mixed and matched from different recipes and you have to guess whether or not you mix, stir or even cook the ingredients to come up with your final product. I lost a weekend of my life to this book. I want my weekend back!
Rating:
Summary: Great Authors - Great Book
Review: Flash MX Magic has an impressive array of authors. Many of these authors I have worked with and respect. All of the authors are very involved in their communities, so I know if I had a problem with the book I would probably get an answer direct from them. As for the material of the book, I found it a good source to transition from Flash 5 to Flash MX. However, it was also poised to help the completely new user, get a primer on Flash. The book covers a wide range of separate projects, which all touch on many new areas in Flash MX. If you are a designer or developer I think you should pick up this book to get started. As always I hold New Rider's books in high regard.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely well written book!
Review: Having read a number of other books about Flash I am happy to say that this was the most informative of all.
I was very pleased to have a number of different authors put their minds together to showcase what can be accomplished using Macromedias latest and greatest.
For someone who is completely new to Flash this may be a bit much to grasp but to truly take advantage of all the new features available I would recommend this as a cornerstone to any Flash user.
I will be expecting to see many more good things from these authors in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: Flash MX Magic worked for me
Review: I am a experienced Flash user and wanted to reduce the learning curve of migrating from Flash 5 to Flash MX. MX Magic provided just enough info for me to accomplish this and still remain productive. It also gave alot of insight into advanced features of Flash. Great book - I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars for customer service... 2 stars initially
Review: I bought this book initially for the panoramic project. Come to find out that the .swf file did not work. Looked on the web site, and at the time, there was no corrected file. I was disappointed because I was going to apply technique to a project at my job.
Then...
I wrote to newriders and they referred me to Matthew David, author of this book. He has helped me out and files will be uploaded on the newriders site shortly.
Whenever you can get a source .fla from 2advanced, which was a nice surprise, definitely worth the price... YES, a tute from 2advanced.
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