Cd-Rom For Skiers Is In Beginner’s Stage
Product: Skier’s Encyclopedia CD-ROM
Description: An interactive CDROM for either Macintosh or Windows with text, animation graphic and sound.
Pro: As far as I can tell, the main benefit of this CD-ROM is the detailed and easily scanned Atlas and Almanac section in the Skier’s Encyclopedia. There are 434 ski areas listed - every ski area in the country by all accounts. With a simple point and click of the mouse you can zoom in on a run you want to check out before going, experience a 3-D (albeit a little fuzzy) tour over selected slopes on every mountain resort, and bring up before your eyes complete and detailed information such as where to stay, cost of lift tickets, entertainment, other activities in the area, vertical feet and just about any other answer to most questions you could think of asking and perhaps a few you won’t.
Con: This can’t be a complete skiing encyclopedia because no mention is made of cross-country skiing, and last time I checked, it was a skiing sport too. The interactive lessons are rough and lacking the necessary elements to keep it interesting - not much interaction but push, point and squint here. Equipment advice? Come on! While the basic informational text on choosing particular categories of equipment is helpful, the accompanying video and sound-bite is nothing more than an informational advertisement that at best only gives one story and one company to choose from and at worst becomes dated almost as quickly as you buy the CD.
Comments: CD-ROM is all the rage and the effect of this technology is trickling down into the outdoor industry in the form of instructional/informational CDs a number of which I have reviewed for you in months past. The Skier’s Encyclopedia is not the worst of the lot, but certainly not the best - Media Mosaic’s Mountain Biking reviewed a few weeks ago is still the Creme De La Creme. Still, this will certainly bring a smile for the Almanac and Atlas section alone.
Suggested Retail: $49.95.
Company: ROMBOY, 5200 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601; (800) 754-5008.