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61 of 62 found the following review helpful:
 Holy Cow, what a bad search functionSep 04, 2004
By Fraoch
"Fraoch"
This product has a lot of images. If you have a LOT of time to go thru them, it may be useful. There is NO, repeat, NO, searchablitiy by keyword. None. If you are looking for something that might have to do with say money, you get the book, look in the brief index - which does not cover the photographs at all by the way - and then go look on the various (and few) pages listed by each word in the index. Then you need to determine which disk that the image might be on.
If you want to find a photo, prepare to sit down and start going thru the cds. The book, which they tout as a great way to see previews of the images, includes only has a sample photo from each of the "categories" of photos - so you are NOT getting a thumbnail of all the photos in the book.
For someone who wants to quickly look up a keyword and see what images they might have to offer - this is worse than worthless because you know that on the 34 disks, there's probably something there you could use, but there's no way a normal person who probably has some time demands is going to sit and play around putting in disk after disk and browsing. So you are frustrated knowing there's probably something for you, but you just don't have the time to mess around looking.
If you need a photo of say, a senior citizen, and you have unlimited time, you're probably just as well off taking one yourself.
It wouldn't be that difficult for these folks to put together some kind of a search utility that might actually render the product useful. Perhaps an image gallery online. Hopefully they will put it together and stop wasting our money and time.
53 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 Very Well Organized, Easy to UseNov 17, 2004
By Troy Chang
I own a number of clip art products, and Art Explosion 800,000 is by far the best. I've seen them bigger but never better. I run a freelance design business, and the quality of the graphics I use is of critical importance. I can tell you that the quality of the graphics in Art Explosion 800,000 is first-rate.
It's true that there's no online searching, but it's also true that you don't need it. I've found that other clip art publishers use searching as a crutch. You see, so many products are so poorly organized that the only way you have a hope of finding a useful image is with a sophisticated searching tool. Not true with Art Explosion. Art Explosion 800,000 is impecably well organized by category and subcategory. Absolutely everything is exactly where you'd expect to find it - and the images are listed in plain English (not the old DOS 8-dot-3 file names you still find in most other collections). So it's as easy as it gets.
No question that this product is at the top of its game for good reason. I definitely recommend it.
107 of 122 found the following review helpful:
 Comprehensive Collection--with some minor limitations.Jul 10, 2004
By T. Greer
Amazon has the best price going for this clip art series. Period.This collection of images, fonts, and whatnot is truly extensive. The enclosed drawing program, DrawPlus 5, I'd like to call "Illustrator Lite"; it has some functionality (you can export your work as GIFs, TIFFs, JPEGs, and such), but its usefulness will only get you so far until you'd have to upgrade to the real deal. As far as the clipart and photos go, this is no ordinary collection. If you're a desktop publisher or graphic arts moonlighter (aspiring to full time), this is a gigantic amount of material to use for your clients. The pictures are fantastic, the clipart is comprehensive--you'd probably find just about anything you can think of, or at least have the basic building blocks to customize what you need--and the fonts are a nice extra. However, most of the fonts in this collection you'd probably already have, especially if you have MS Publisher or any Adobe product (who has the best font set in the market). I have issues with the catalog search engine. It's useful up to a point, but I don't end up using it much. If you have Windows XP, you'll be using the Windows Explorer photo feature more than the search engine, anyway. The image book (thank gods!) that comes with this set is the size of your average Merriam-Webster dictionary, and it's ESSENTIAL for this collection. The CDs are arranged in the exact order that the images appear in in the book, so using the book, then using Windows Explorer will be a much better searching feature than the included search engine program. For Macintosh users, there are instructions in the book as to how to use the discs. I can't attest to it, but I assume you can use the CDs in Macs as well as you can use them in a regular PC. The big blue book (the book is big and it's blue) doesn't have an extensive listing of the photos on the CDs. What you see in the book is only a representation of the category; you'll have to search the entire disk to find specific images that you want to use. Thus, you're browsing blind as far as the book is concerned. All in all, a wonderful comprehensive library of images. P.S. Note to Pagans: the images in this collection are rather stereotypical. (I.E. green-faced witches, mostly cartoonish wizards, etc.) No specifically named clipart pics point to "our" holidays, even though they have an "other holiday" category in the set. However, the mythology clipart is extensive, colorful and tasteful. From those sets and other parts of the collection, you should be able to either find, adapt, or customize the art you need for specific Pagan-centered projects. Bright Blessings and happy desktop publishing!
22 of 24 found the following review helpful:
CD version or DVD edition?May 10, 2006
By W. K. Wymer
"thoughtful designs"
I had access to the CD version of this product that came with the Image Library Catalog in the box. I liked using it and although there was a lot of CD disc-trading with 34 discs, it worked well for me. I could usually go to the disc I wanted on the first attempt.
Later, I wanted to add this collection to my home office and went back to the same store where the original version was bought. They had sent back all the CD editions where the image catalog was included in the box and replaced them with the DVD edition that is only 5 discs and you have to send off for the catalog for the low low price of shipping ($4.95). Whenever I go to use the DVD's, I have to wait a long time for the dics to load into memory and almost forever if I request the thumbnail versions to come up in the browser.
I would rather switch discs any day then spend my time staring at the monitor while waiting for the computer to load my information. The store involved is happy because they are using less box space on the shelf (or so the stock personnel said). I am unhappy at having to send off for the manual that says it's included on the box but isn't, the extra money for the shipping, and the awkwardness to use this 'upgraded' product.
49 of 58 found the following review helpful:
 Don't be impressed with quantity.Jul 11, 2005
By Larry Latham
My IT person bought this and I can only think he must have been impressed by the huge AMOUNT of clip art. Most of it is useless, what we used to call "nephew art," as in "My nephew is only 12, but you should see him draw." There are good pieces, many of which decorate the box, but I have found the collection overall fairly useless. It's clumsy to navigate, as are other clip art collections, but my main complaint is just the poor quality of the clips. As an example, out of over 90 leprechauns, there wasn't a single one of even a low level of professional quality. It's easier to draw something myself. Even the smallest of church and company newsletters would do better to explore other options
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