Apple Reviews

This is a great package for companies / individuals who mass produce corporate sites. Most important, you don't have to worry about copyright any more!

Put your music on DVDs... play them in your home stereo... party on.

Plus, burning software that has always been the best!

The programs included in this box was Toast© Titanium 6 and Toast© with Jam 6. For simplicity sake I will refer to them as "Jam" and "Titanium". Both programs are very easy to use. Just drag and drop and you are on your way.

"Jam" deals with just audio files. That however is mildly putting it. You can make CD's or DVD's like a DJ, digitize analog records and tapes plus make more in depth edits to your tracks in Peak Express. "Jam" is pretty easy to use the interface window gives you all the info about your tracks. You can adjust the "Cross Fades" in between your tracks or you could completely remove them to create a party type mix where the music never stops. You can "Trim" tracks so if you want that track to end sooner you can tweak your "Gain" and "Fade" to really control that track. You know for the songs that have endings you could do without you could quick "Fade" them. After all of your tweaking just burn your CD or DVD straight from "Jam" no need to go to another program. After you select your "Write Speed" for your CD or DVD you can select the option of also having the program eject the media when finished or send it to your desktop or just wait for you.

"Titanium" handles "Data", "Audio", "Video" and "Disk Copy". An interface window similar to "Jam" opens up with the different "Media" tabs on the top of the menu and the "Basic" and "Advanced" features on the left pop-out menu.

For "Data" burns you have six choices when it comes to how you want to be able to access the media later. Choose the one you want, then just drag and drop your files into the interface window hit the red record button tell it what write speed you would like and it starts a burning.

Audio files you just drag and drop and arrange the tracks to your liking. You don't have the same options of adjusting or tweaking your audio tracks like you do in "Jam" you could adjust the pause in between tracks but that's about as much tweaking that you can do. It would definitely be better if you did your adjusting in Peak Express before bringing them into "Titanium". You have five choices to choose from as to the type of media that you want to burn.

Video files just drag and drop your photos or videos into the interface window. You have three choices to choose from. In this program you don't have templates like you do in IDVD or DVD Studio Pro so if you just want something basic this will work great. "Titanium" creates a basic "Menu" so your finished product still can have a bit more professional look. The "Menu" you can have up to three "Buttons". The "Buttons" you can customize a bit; name it, the photo "Button" can be any slide or any frame within the video and adjust the duration of the slides, (if you want them to change automatically or manually). Then hit the red button and a burning you will go.

There is also a neat feature called "Plug and Burn" Just hook up your DV camcorder to your computer put in a DVD and you can burn your tape straight from your camcorder to a DVD. "Titanium" captures the video and puts it on your disc for you. "Titanium" will even rewind to the beginning of the tape for you before it starts recording.

The "Copy" tab lets you make an exact copy of any single-session disc. Audio discs, backup discs, MP3, IDVD and Mac and Windows discs. You have five choices in this mode. It will allow you to do this even if you only have one drive you just have to swap discs when prompted.

Both programs were very easy to use. A step above the basics, but limited when compared to IDVD or any of the higher dollar programs. "Jam" is great if you really want to start getting into controlling your audio tracks a bit more. I would call these programs low-medium range when it comes to skill levels in CD & DVD authoring. They both give a nice intro before getting into some of the higher end and more complicated programs, like IDVD and DVD Studio Pro.

The addition of Jam has allowed me to make an Awesome musical DVD album!
Jam's new high compression allowed me to make not just a musical DVD but add pictures to view as well for a party i had which was very entertaining to those just sitting around. One DVD with music played from the time of set up until the next morning! AWESOME!

This upgrade offers interface and other improvements, plus OS X compatibility. OS 9 users get document auto-activation of fonts. When you open a document under OS 9, Suitcase automatically activates any fonts used in the document. Unfortunately, OS X doesnÕt support this feature. OS 9 users can activate fonts using the control strip or the application. OS X requires that Suitcase is running before activating fonts. You can set it to auto open on startup. Then minimize it and leave it in the dock and it will be there when you need it. You can activate fonts from the Dock or the application. Suitcase will also collect fonts to a single folder for sending out print jobs. You also get FontBook, an excellent sample page printing tool. The OS 9 features work under fine under Classic mode. OS X supports the new cross-platform OpenType fonts. ItÕs ease of use and OS X support make it a must have upgrade.

One of the first software that I purchased for my MAC G4 using OS X was Extensis Suitcase 10. What I love about OS X is the ability to use PC and MAC fonts together and with Suitcase 10, the ability to store those fonts somewhere and activate or deactivate them through Suitcase 10.

Extensis customer support has been excellent answering my questions immediately. Also, with every OS X update, especially now with Jaguar, there has been updates with Suitcase 10.

Suitcase 10 has received perfect ratings from many magazines and reviews have been wonderful.

I know there are a plethora of font managers for the MAC at this time but Suitcase 10 is worth the money and worth the investment. It's easy to install, easy to add your fonts, put them in categories and look at the fonts if you deal with many of them, like I do.

Also, they have released updates to work directly with Adobe Illustrator 10 and Adobe InDesign 2 for font auto-activation which is awesome!

Highly recommended!

I must say, I wish I had discovered this type manager for my Mac a long time ago. I have been using Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.5 for almost 3 years now and during that course of time have had many problems with it. Besides the fact that I found ATM very "non-user-friendly", it was constantly corrupting my typefaces and conflicting with my virus protection software. I finally got rid of it after upgrading my operating system to OS 9.1 when ATM was no longer compatible.

I first learned about Extensis Suitcase when I began a new job working as a graphic designer for an advertising firm. They ran Suitcase 9 on all of their computers. I immediately fell in love with its reliable usability and accessibility... so I put it on my Christmas wish list.

I installed Suitcase 10 on my own computer a week ago. (I am running a G3, 256MB RAM, 500mHz processor, 50GB HD machine). While the installation, setup and customization was very tedious, it was well worth the time. The way that Suitcase works is you basically dump all your fonts into a folder on your hard drive (not the system font folder) and then install Suitcase. You then proceed to import all of your fonts into Suitcase and organize them to your preference (serif, sans serif, decorative, script, etc.). Once imported and organized, you can activate and deactivate them as you need to use them. You can preview the appearance of your fonts in a preview pane. Suitcase reads the fonts from the separate folder on your hard drive so as not to slow down your computer. You can also customize the program to deactivate and reactivate certain typefaces as you open and close programs like Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.

I had a few problems at the beginning where Suitcase was bitmapping certain fonts. Apparently this was a common situation as I easily rectified the problem through the trouble-shooting section of the Extensis website. Other than that, Suitcase has given me NO problems and I have been very happy with this product so far. I recommend it to any print or web designer who has an obsene number of typefaces on their machine (like me) and wants to keep them all. Don't waste your time and money on Adobe Type Manager.

(I might also note that Suitcase 10 is Mac OS X compatible... for when I finally upgrade to that)

I bought the Sony Digital Photo Printer (DPP-SV77) about a year ago with the intention of using it for all my
photo printing. It is easy to use, compact, and fits anywhere. It produces a great looking photo. The photos that measure 4 by 6 inches are perfect for printing postcards or borderless prints.

Negatives: It prints too slow, and it's hard to find the glossy sheets of printing paper/print cartridge packets
that are much too expensive. I'm wondering if they are becoming obsolete??

This makes nice quick photos, but for enlargements and other custom work, this will not be the one to use.

I give this product 4 stars, deducting one star because of the negatives.

If you enjoy printing photos at home from your digital camera, then the Sony Digital Photo printer is a must! I purchased this item a few days ago and have come to the conclusion that the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The PROS: (1) According to Sony, pictures will not fade or yellow for at least 100 years (ink jets do not even come close to this timeframe); (2) Beautiful pictures that rival (even beat) those developed at a photo lab; (3) Pictures will not be ruined if they accidentally get wet - they are protected by a special laminate coating process; (4) Printer was very easy to use and set-up (if you have Windows XP, make sure you download and execute the XP driver from the Sony website despite the fact that the read me file on the CD-Rom says XP drivers are included). The CONS: (1) Print speed is slow - about two minutes for a 4x6 photo; (2) The Sony 4x6 photo paper is rather pricey ...(3) The printer will only print 4x6 and 3.5x4 photos - another printer is needed for other print jobs. One more thing to mention....you can use a Compact Flash Card with this unit but you must purchase a PCMCIA card adapter ....In closing, I must say that I am extremely satisfied with this printer and do not regret this purchase!!

We use this printer as a standalone photo printer with our Sony digital camera and 128 meg memory stick. Well worth the investment. Photos are professional quality. Yes, the paper is expensive, about 50 cents a photo more or less. You get a new cartridge with each box of 25 photos. Printer is a little slow but it really is like having a photo lab in your house. It's the first photo printer the rest of the family can use without dragging me over to the computer. That alone makes it worth it.

There are several reasons why I do not recommend this printer:

1. Lack of Customer Support. Sony is notorious for bad support. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried getting support via email, chat and phone and did not get any help.

2. Picture Quality. While the pictures are sharp, the colors are really off. When I have tried printing several pictures, they come out with a yellow tint. These same pictures were sent to an online printer and came back okay.

3. LCD Screen. Even though Sony makes the screen really easy to use, it does not always reflect the exact way a picture comes out. I found myself wasting a lot of paper because the picture on the screen looked good but then printed out too yellow, etc.

4. Documentation. The documentation they include with the printer is very poor.

I received this printer for Christmas and I am definitely thinking about bringing it back. It is definitely not the quality I expected from Sony.

"Wow!" That's just what we thought when we hooked up Sony's latest DPP-EX7 digital photo printer. The DPP-EX7 is an on the spot photo editor, borderless coated printer, and memory accessible device (no need for a PC). These qualities make it the perfect printer for quick high quality prints. Today Bytesector will explore the ups and downs of this printer. (full review @ Bytesector.com)

This is a great printer if you are using a good camera like the dsc-v1. The only thing is it takes 90 seconds for one photo but the photo IS worth the wait. Good quality.

I bought this printer a week ago and am extremely satisfied with its quality. The photos come out in about 90 seconds, and are impossible to distinquish from photo-lab prints. Pictures were taken with a Sony DSC-P5, a 3.2 megapixel model. I've read complaints about photos not coming out so well on this model... I imagine they are not using a Sony camera. It's got a memory stick reader for a reason =)

This printer is all you need, and its the cheapest one offered by sony right now. I did some research and all three currently offered printers use the same printing technology (dye sublimation), it's only the features that effect the price. The $500 model has an lcd screen, the $250 is extra tiny but can only do 3x5. this $200 needs a television or your computer, tho.

Cons: noisy whine while machine is off. doesn't come with usb cable for computer hookup (manual claims using a computer disables the "fine print" option).

I found the sony digital cam photo printer online by accident while holiday shopping, read the reviews and decided to make the purchase. The product is a good value, cost wise, and is so easy to operate and the pictures are superb! I've only used the product twice- just recieved it 5 days ago and I haven't hooked it up to my pc yet (but that wasn't the point of my purchase anyway because I have an inkjet photo printer and printing software) but have used it on my home tv and the software program is just great- right from the TV I view all prints, can add text to the print, change the print to B&W, adjust tint, brightness etc and print however many prints of each photo I want. I even printed out an index photo of all the pics on my memory stick- awesome. The picture quality is so much better than inkjet prints and you can't tell the difference between these and professionally printed photos. The quality is remarkable. I highly recommend this product to both experienced and inexperienced digital camera users- it's great to have a device like this on hand to print pictures out immediately to share with others (modern similarity to poloroid cams in that you're able to share immediately right from your home TV or others- did I Say how easily PORTABLE this is-but SO MUCH MORE) The reviews here helped me so I'm hoping I can help someone else in making a decision.

pictures look real this printer is excellant

Simply put, it doesn't work. I got this for my dad the christmas, along with a Toshiba camera, and new (128mb) smart media memory card. Being an aesthetic freak, i have to say that it does look kinda cool, but thats where my praise ends. Of course, it may be a defective one, but i've got to report on the one that I got. We're not really sure why it doesn't work, it could be the fact that the connector is really loose in the unit itself, or maybe the build quality is just bad. I really would not suggest you buy this, as it doesn't work (for me at least), and it just sems to ooze cheapness and poor build quality. Do ourself a favor and check out one either here, or try somewhere else, like Directron.com for a smart media specific one, its up to you.

Ok, the hardest part was opening the heavy duty plastic package. I read the first paragraph of the instructions, plugged one end of the USB cable into the unit and the other end into a USB port on my PC.

Windows 2000 immediately sprang to life, detected and set up the SmartDisk media reader in about 10 seconds. I looked at the diagram in the instructions to see how to orient the SmartDisk and put it in. When my PC still said to enter a disk, I realized I needed to push it in all the way, kind of like a diskette.

When I did that I had a 64 Meg removable drive online, and it is MUCH faster than the floppy disk adapter that I was replacing. I uploaded the pictures from my digital camera in about 30 seconds.

Thumbs up on this one!