Rating: 
Summary: Difficult update path
Review: Good product but purchasers need to be careful about product updates. In their earlier editions NG did not maintain the updates in the market for very long. Individuals interested in keeping their collection up to date may end up needing to repurchase the entire collection to fill in a one year gap. Given the low cost of reproducing CDs this is not easily understandable.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible quality
Review: I am a great fan of National Geographic, partly because of its outstanding quality in prints. This "digital" version was very poorly made: the text and the pictures are all fuzzy. Sometimes the words are barely legible. Reading an article of more than 10 pages is very painful. I would love to see this library completely remade.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best pieces of software I've bought!
Review: I love this thing! Every single article from 1888 til 2000. This is a really treat, being able to look back on history. These articles provide me with a method to get anwsers to my history questions, and these articles come in handy when doing research. The software works great on my PC, under XP, and this software works great in MacOS 9. It doesn't seem to work in X under the Classic environment.
Rating:
Summary: As recent as a big fat NG collection can get
Review: In late 1888, 33 men in the land of America had a massive fascination with The Blue Planet. They all were stunned by its sheer beauty, from its soothing rivers to its gushing waterfalls, from gentle birds to fierce and brutal tigers. So they founded the National Geographic Society. One question remained, though: How do we publish our findings? It was decided that a journal would be printed every month of their findings, and released to an eager public.
When the very first issue of National Geographic hit the shelves in November 1888, people were overwhelmed. At first they hesitated to touch the slim magazine, not realizing at that moment the missed potential of the Earth's beauty. As that thought crossed their minds, they picked up the book. After a few page-flippings, they proceeded to the checkout, to buy it.
People hesitated to collect the new magazine, until 1906, when the famous series of wildlife photos were published in the July issue. Everyone was now collecting National Osographic-- HA! That was a parody done by Mad Magazine. Anyway, the new maps and photos made the magazines highly collectable. NGS maps even helped win a war (see May 1995 issue).
Since then, America, and many other countries, have changed. Every month people swarm the checkouts, eager to read another article about our culture or a piece of precious soil. The main potential, however, is the photographs. People have been stunned no end by the extremes taken in every photo. Whether it's a POV from the tail of a landing plane (1977), or a 3D ride through Mars and the Titanic (1998), National Geographic never fails to please the eyes.
If you look at my title, you'll see that it's "recent". I.E., every issue up to December 2000. Not bad. I have only recently taken an interest in NG. I read the November 1995 article on the Tokyo fish market, and found it very in-depth, stunning. I also enjoy April 1979's The Trouble With Dolphins. Now I have subscribed to this top-notch magazine.
Although it isn't the thick, glossy paper that makes the magazines so durable and long-lasting, the magazine nicely makes the jump to CD-ROM without falling. Some may complain about the digital quality, but it should only be a minor complaint for me. It may put a strain on your wallet, but buy it if you love the great outdoors.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent References
Review: Mine contains 31 CDs; and it's 111 years version. I use Mac and installed it from OS9. Then I rebooted back to OSX (Panther 10.3.5). The software launches fine in classic mode and I have no problem viewing it. I like how the magazine resizes itself based on the size of my window. So I can enlarge it easily just by dragging the window's bottom right corner. My monitor is an Apple Cinema HD Display 23" viewing at 1920x1200. The photographs are gorgeous and their resolutions are good even on my high resolution monitor. Types are a little fuzzy but it's legible. Overall, it's an impressive collection to have. I rated 4 star instead of 5 because of the fuzzy type. Note for Mac classic mode user: You must install QuickTime 6.0.3 in classic.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly Cool
Review: Okay, if you don't love old issues of National Geographic, you don't want this. That said, I LOVE old issues of National Geographic and this is really great! The user-interface is reasonably intuitive, which is rare for such CD compilations based on printed materials (in my experience -- your milage may vary), the text is clear on the screen at large resolutions, and it is basically lovely. I will say that the cardboard folders that the CDs are stored in are somewhat awkward for long-term use, but I can't say it's a big problem. I do have to add that I wish NG had set this up so it worked under Linux. It's troublesome to have to reboot to use this, so it gets less use than it should.
Rating:
Summary: Great but not 100% perfect (BTW, it works on Macs also!)
Review: The amount of information in this cd set is mind boggling and the way it's presented is fine, but the quality of the scans leave much to be desired when viewed on a modern system - The pictures often show jpeg artifacts, the text is sometimes hard to read and smaller pictures are often blurry. Much of the content was scanned some 4 or 5 years ago, which somewhat excuses it's not so great quality. That gripe aside this set is absolutely essential to anyone who's ever enjoyed reading a National Geographic, anyone interested in the progress of marketing and our society (The preserved ads are priceless) and for the armchair explorer - Very highly recommended. Mac users, don't forget: You are not left out! It fully works under OS8 & OS9, although it does not work under OS X or Classic mode.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Reference Guide
Review: This is by far the best software purchase I have ever made for my computer! I seem to always find an excuse to take a look at this extensive database to answerer questions, or just browse the articles and pictures. Some other customers complained about poor image quality and poor print quality. I have experienced neither problem. Their monitors may need updating, or readjustment. If you are a fan of the magazine, or need an outstanding reference tool, this is a good investment to make.
Rating:
Summary: works on XP
Review: This product works fine on Windows XP (Home Edition). (We just installed it this week.)32 CDs can cause the user to spend quite a bit of time swapping discs. Definitely could be constructed with a better interface but it is wonderful to have the entire collection available.
Rating:
Summary: Get Yours While You Still Can!
Review: This wonderful product will soon be extinct because of its system requirements. It can only be used on systems using the Windows 98 or Windows ME platforms. That means that someday when you upgrade your computer to work with Windows XP or some future operating system, this product will cease to run. I checked with National Geographic customer service and they said that there are absolutely no plans to upgrade this product to work with XP. So as wonderful as this product is, you will still have to store your old paper copies of the National Geographic in the attic if you wish to maintain a retrospective collection. This product will not suffice as a long term archive for users. National Geographic gave no official reason why it does not plan to update the product, but it probably has something to do with the outcome of the 2001 federal case: Greenberg v. Nat'l Geographic Soc'y, 244 F.3d 1267, (11th Cir. Fla. 2001). This was a case of copyright infringement that National Geographic lost and then was required to pay a freelance photographer for re-use of his pictures in this CD-ROM product. The economics of intellectual property involved in creating such a product may be cost-prohibitive for National Geographic in the future. Ultimately, a loss for publisher, consumers and copyright holders. So get yours while you still can!
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