Click here to see the index of Craig's columns.

ARE ALL IN ONE APPLICATIONS BETTER?

When asked to review software that claims to do the work of what would normally require several applications, I am reminded of my father's reference to our handyman as "a jack of all trades and expert at no one thing." His intention was to be something less than complimentary with that description and over the years, I've found it tends to hold true not only to people but to other things as well. Take audio equipment for example. Most audiophiles agree that separate components produce a better sound and control over a stereo system with everything built into one box. But does multifunctionality mean less quality in a software product?

I would argue that assembling several quality stand-alone programs within an application that allows the interactive sharing of data between them may produce an exception to my dad's adage. Many would agree that Microsoft Office is an example of such an homogeny. Word, Excel, PowerPoint are available separately yet work nicely together in a nearly seamless harmony within the Office environment. And the fact that they are all developed by Microsoft certainly helps to maintain a degree of uniformity. But what happens if a product brings together several applications from different companies into one box? I guess it depends on who is bring them together. And in the case of Broderbund Software, things are looking pretty good.

When authoring a CD or DVD, you'd find yourself needing several products to rip, edit, burn, enhance, convert, play, print and more. So Broderbund decided to release their Extreme Media Digital Studio to help you get the job done from start to finish. Extreme is actually a collection of five applications from different companies brought together within an application that makes them appear seamless.

Photo Editing powered by PhotoSuite lets you work with still images, Video Editing powered by VideoWave lets you edit and publish videos. Digital Music powered by CakeWalk Pyro is the application for music and sound, CD Burning is achieved via NTI CD-Maker Plus, and adding Custom CD Labels to the disk and jewel case is accomplished via The Print Shop Label Creator.

Broderbund has put all of this into their Extreme Media Digital Studio and it's a beautiful thing when you have a product that makes sure everything works together. If it's a rainbow-colored disk, chances are that Studio will work with it. Studio works with CDs, CD-R, CD-R/W and DVD. Studio also lets you work with the newer Video Compact Disc (VCD) standard.

A VCD is an ordinary CD that contains moving pictures and sound with the capacity to hold up to 74 minutes on a 650 MB CD using a compression method known as MPEG. What all this means to you is that you can actually create a quality stereo video disk on a CD burner that will play back on most any home DVD player. With the proper decoders, a VCD will also play on any computer equipped with a DVD or CD-ROM drive. The image quality from a VCD is about the same as a high-grade VHS tape. You can also store still image photo albums and slide shows with background audio on a VCD.

Extreme Media Digital Studio sells for $59.99 and works with Windows 98 or higher.

www.broderbund.com

Reader reads them all

Flash memory is a wonderful thing. These tiny wafer-thin cards can contain megabytes of memory that doesn't forget even when there is no power. Flash memory is found in all sorts of computer and consumer electronic devices such as digital cameras and PDAs. But the single most frustrating thing I have with my flash memory cards is their variety. Compact Flash, SmartMedia, Sony's Memory Stick and Secure Digital all have their own standards and shapes. But now there's a single reader that accommodates all of them. The ML4-USB 6-in-1 Reader/Writer has slots for every one of the aforementioned Flash memory devices. It even has a slot for the IBM Microdrive media. The unit attaches to any USB equipped PC or Macintosh and sells for $59.95.

Datafab Systems, Inc. Walnut, CA (909) 869-9000 http://www.datafab.com/products/data/ML4-USB.htm