Multimedia Books

I'm not new to the Mac, but am new to iMovie and was struggling with some basics. I recently purchased Missing Manual and am glad that I did. Well written, complete and easy to read. My iMovie editing productivity has skyrocketed and would strongly recommend this book

I bought this book because I wanted to use I-movie to help me put together a short film in short order. It is quite simply the best computer book I have ever purchased. It is a very straightforward, lucid, step by step explanation of how to get the most out of this program specifically, and digital video in general. It seemed like every time a question or would pop up he would have a special box on the next page explaining how to solve it. Mr. Pogue appears to have thought of everything and then some. He presents a number of excellent "work-arounds" for the limitations of I-Movie and lays them out in step by step fashion. Using this book is like having an I-Movie Guru sitting next to you, helping you along. If you use I-Movie, you need this book.

I have used the iMovie application since March 2000 to create over a hundred hours of edited footage for my video production company. Before reading "iMovie: The Missing Manual, I concluded that I had learned all their was to know about this program. I previously considered it a limited program that was most effective when production time was critical and expectations were relaxed. However, I was astonished to learn of techniques and shortcuts that greatly expanded my knowledge of iMovie and radically refined my approach in it's use. The concise layout and effective index of this manual has kept it within arm's length whenever I launch iMovie. Few computer manuals are "page turners", but if you use iMovie the information that is contained in "iMovie: The Missing Manual" will surely excite and inspire you. The software that is made available is alone worth the purchase price of this excellent manual.

This book answers every question I have had since I started using iMovie in January. It is not only very complete and extremely easy to follow, it also includes some unexpected surprises such as a very comprehensive explanation of film basics such as lighting, camera angles and sound. Before reading the book, I thought that iMovie was a great program but had some severe limitations - that was not the case after reading the book. Any limitations I had come across were covered in the book and Pogue provided excellent and simple workarounds for most difficulties I have had. I would highly recommend this book as a starting point to any person- skilled or novice - interested in creating video productions for personal or public use.

David Pogue's long-awaited iMovie manual is a terrific intro to digital movie making using the incredibly popular and now FREE iMovie for Mac.

Now there's no excuse for not making that little movie that's been rattling around in your head. Pogue's guide is logically laid out with numerous easy to understand graphics that take you step by baby step through painless editing of your video footage.

This is the finest of the iMovie guides and equal to Pogue's best past efforts. He's a master of technical explanations and has a deservedly large and devoutly grateful following.

If you are considering buying an iMac or have ever thought about making a simple movie, this stimulating book would be an smart, inexspensive first step -- even before forking over a dime on any software, hardware or a DV cam.

The digital revolution has begun and this is the manual that is entry level. The initiation rites happen when you first plug in that firewire, batch capture and string some selected scenes in a new creative order.

For someone with a strong visual sense and some basic story skills and with careful pre-planning and this manual, it is possible for a first time filmmaker to make a high quality mini masterpiece. Or better yet, a product to enter in one of the red hot film competitions like the Palm Springs Short Film Festival.

Pogue even promises a (free?) download or revision for the inevitable iMovie version 2.

This book covers all bases and FAQ's regarding iMovie and iMac configurations.

Now stop reading this review, buy Pogue's book and commit to making that life-altering little film that's still screening in your head. Isn't that why you're reading this? Now you can be empowered to create that film that comes out of nowhere and charms the world (to say nothing of making millions). Step aside BLAIR WITCH. I know what you're thinking!

Every man, woman and now child can be a studio unto him and her self. No middleman. Peasants, raise your no longer missing manuals. Share the vision.

In other words, I am saying David Pogue's iMOVIE THE MISSING MANUAL is highly recommended.

And, hey, don't be ashamed if all you want to do is edit some vacation video or the kid's recital or some hanky panky with the spouse. But the potential for something far more creative is definitely available to anyone now. My guess is THAT is the drawing power of iMAC, iMOVIE and the terrific MISSING MANUAL.

A suggestion for future editions: include a simple appendix of film language and story structure basics. Maybe a CD-ROM for an on screen guide that includes filmmaking and digital film internet links.

And then, Mr Pogue, a clear guide to Final Cut Pro.

Quiet on the set. Action!

This is far and away the best book available on Lightwave rigging. Gorden is the only author to thoroughly address the relationship between weight maps, bones and the polygonal structure of the model and how they must be combined to create a working 3D character. I consider this book absolutely essential for anyone looking to do any kind of character animation in Lightwave.

I'm a Lightwave user for about 3 years now, I did a lot of 3D stuff but never any boned character animation. Just had trouble getting trough the process of rigging ( like every other beginning 3D artist ).

I bought the Volume 1 and 2 en really took the time of reading it word by word. Underlining the most important things so i'll be able to use these books as a quick reference guide. Sometimes I just forget things and then I like to quickly return to my books for help ;-)

I know that a lot of you prefer some training DVD's above reading because it takes some time to get trough these books... But believe me, they are worth it. They get you trough the basics and then take you up to the next level. The CD that comes with this book also helps a great deal. You can go and analyse the settings of the examples.

I recommend this book to anyone who's thinking about character animation, even if you haven't got any knowledge of rigging. You have got to get this book...

This book has proved invaluable resource for dealing with Ligthwave's rigging. Filled with great tips and examples, this book shows you clearly how to build efficient rigs.

This is an excellent book for detailed instruction on using Lightwave for character rigging and texturing.

Until I read this book Rigging was always a challenge and something I avoided. This book clearly explains not only the buttons to click but the basic concepts needed for anyone that wants to rig. Then when you have mastered the basics he walks you thru complex, power, but easy to setup rigging setups.

As an Instructor I recommend this book not only to my students but also to high end studios. Jonny has written the "Rigging Bible" in my honest opinion.

I hope we see more from this talented artist!

I got this book at a local Linux talk given by the author about a week ago. This book really opens my eyes to see how much resource there is for multimedia on the Linux platform. It's a must-have if you are serious about multimedia, even if you are not a heavy Linux user. As you see, a software dies on Windows PC when the software company (or Microsoft) stops supporting it (or the software company goes under), because you only have the binary code. But the Linux software lives on because you can always pick up the source code from the open source (that is if it's an open source project, of course. Fortunately, most of the Linux software are). Bottom line: this book does what it says ! I am very happy with it !

Kyle Rankin's Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools For Taming Images, Audio, And Video covers a program which typically disappoints multimedia fans with what seems like shortcomings in playing DVDs or MP3 files. Overcome these seeming detriments with a book which tells how to tweak and build Linux multimedia entertainment systems. Both newcomers and advanced users of Linux learn how to edit images, audio and video, manage music, burn DVDs and VCDs, and much more. Linux Multimedia Hacks isn't just one developer's knowledge base: it reflects contributions from many Linux experts - even the software creators themselves.

I've spent the last few days going over this book and experimenting with the different hacks on my Fedora Core 4 workstation. I use Fedora Core 4 almost 100% of the time at home, and I've felt the need to manipulate and use multimedia objects for a long time now, but didn't have the practical knowledge at my fingertips to do so. For example, how do I take a screenshot? This book answers this and other questions.

Now I understand how to use ImageMagick, take screenshots, and work with mplayer. I've implemented some hacks with gratifying results and experimented with bits and pieces of other hacks. For example I installed mplayer and the software bits needed to import video from a camcorder with a Firewire (1394) port. Mplayer is now running smoothly, and I'm waiting for a convenient camcorder to come my way so I can plug it into my 1394 port and let it rip. These hacks really seem to work, and they are quickly implemented. The authors of the various hacks give brief explanations that help build multimedia skills. Each hack is written with great clarity.

This book will gently introduce you to the power of scripting in Linux. Simple 1- or 2-line scripts pepper the book, and by using them you can quickly get the effects you want without having to spend long periods of time learning how to do the same thing on a GUI interface. Now, I can dump all 300+ photos from my 1 Gb flash card into a new folder and then use a script to resize them to a size small enough for a web page and for sharing with other folks. Try doing that to hundreds of photos on a GUI interface! With the suggested scripts, you can let the computer do the work, not you, and you can congratulate yourself on your smarts. Each script is carefully explained in plain language. I especially like Rankin's discussion of how to set up a digital camera and download all the photos from it automagically.

Today the Linux desktop is every more GUI-friendly. It is very easy to use; some of my friends have used it without realizing they were on Linux. I can see thumbnails of all my imported photos on Gnome -- it just works. I can expand the thumbnails into new windows with the actual photo. I can plug a compact flash card into my card reader and Gnome will recognize that, too, and offer to download the photos in the card. I can and often do edit photos with the Gimp and email them to my relatives. This books discusses all these things except possibly the emailing bit.

I began to realize that my hard drive is way too small for all the media I hope to work with. I recently ordered a 400 Gb drive to solve this problem.

This book shows you how to work with your media at no cost to you. It rolls up a lot of useful knowledge right at your fingertips. I can't think of another source of well-thought out media hacks either on the internet or in the documentation that comes with your Linux distribution. Every person wanting to work with media on Linux ought to have this book. Rankin and the other hack contributors have done a superb job.

Do you want to master the entertainment possibilities of Linux? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Kyle Rankin, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that takes the best of Linux's multimedia tools and shows you step by step how to use these tools to do cool things you would not have thought possible with images, audio, and video.

Rankin, begins by defining hacks that are specifically for images. Then, the author describes hacks for all things video. Next, the author shows you how to get the most out of video tools under Linux, which are some of the best in the industry. The author then gives you tips for accessing and creating your own web broadcasts. Finally, he shows you hacks to help you tweak your web browser under Linux so it can get the most out of the multimedia Web.

For the most part, this most excellent book allows you to look for hacks based on the multimedia type. More importantly, with this book, you'll be able to move quickly beyond anything you previously thought was possible, without spending a small fortune on commercial software.

Most versions of Linux have minimal multimedia abilities without the installation of additional software. Of course there is a lot of Linux software out there that can be used to change your Linux installation into a powerful multimedia computer with amazing capabilities. And, since it is Linux, it can be done at minimal or no cost for the software. Author Kyle Rankin details how to install and configure these products in this book. To keep the information organized he breaks it up into chapters on Images, Audio, Video, Broadcast Media, and Web. Working through the hacks you soon discover everything from how to rip a CD, convert file types, and edit a sound file to how to build a MythTV system where you can record television, watch videos, listen to music, and play arcade games from one system. There's even a tip for automatically removing commercials from digitally recorded television shows. When you are trying to figure out how to get your Linux system to do something special in the area of multimedia this is the first book you will want to turn to for answers. Linux Multimedia Hacks is highly recommended.

"MacOSX Panther Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips &Tools" is an updating of the earlier "MacOSX Hacks" to address the newest operating system from Apple, OS 10.3, popularly known as "Panther". The Panther OS update continues to provide opportunity for basic users and power users to customize, tweek, and hack their machines. Unlike all previous Apple operating systems, the OSX iterations incorporating Unix underpinnings, legacy OS9 and Classic components, and a continuing evolving Mac GUI, provide unusually rich and complex textures allowing for all kinds of customizations.

The book is a compilation of 100 ideas, hacks, tips, and tweeks contributed by a large handful of developers and power users covering mostly productivity-enhancing items, but also security and maintenance items, and some fun and geeky items. It is designed for the adventurous spirits who may need some guidance in customizing their machine and applications.

There are nine chapters of such hacks. Chapter 1 covers the user interface including how to customize the Apple-provided animations like the "genie-effect". Available third-party applications for customizing the user interface, like Konfabulator, are noted and evaluated (Hacks #2).Others include launchers, desktop applications, keyboard shortcuts and the like. (Hacks 3-9).

Other sections include an introduction to Applescript, Safari tips and tricks, multi-media tricks, file and device synchronization, and Unix tips and tricks, including how to use the Terminal application. Hack #27 is a guide to the hidden debug menu, which provides access to otherwise unknown Safari and browser features. Hack #30 informs how to use RSS with the Mac. You can learn to build your own MPS server from Hack #41 and build an emergency boot volume with iPod in Hack #52.

Many of the hacks are quick and easy. Some require geek-level knowledge. The most interesting and perhaps most valuable sections deal with Panther maintenance and security. Hack #93 is a 19-page security primer useful for both basic and power users.

OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. I paired this book with that "UNIX Essentials" DVD I found here on Amazon and it is complete UNIX course recorded and this book and a video they contribute one another greatly. You improve the reading and by reading you improve what you have seen.
The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.

....do that??!!

Once cracking this book open, it didn't take me long to have a "eureka!" experience. "I didn't know I could do that!" I heard myself say to myself. I learned something new that I bet no one else knows....or do they?

My favorite hack so far is using the services menu under the application menu. It's an amazing thing and has been used more often than anything else I read in the book. The next thing I'm going to do is use more scripting and attach those scripts to my file folders. Fortunately, the authors provide lots of great examples. Whew...I don't "do" Apple scripting.....yet. I will after reading this book.

The authors don't exclude the use of other applications in "hacking" the OS but they sure do provide a lot of helpful ways to use them. My very favorite hack in that way was their suggestion to "Clutter Your Desktop with Music." In that hack, #42, they suggest using a little iTunes add on called Clutter. Ohh...I don't want to give all of it away. I want everyone to have a copy of this book. You just have to use this little app. It's a great helper if you love your iTunes.

Some of these chapters will require return visits for me as I managed to find out that I knew very little about some aspects of "hacking" Panther. The book now resides on my desktop and will for the foreseeable future.

No one will lose by getting Mac OS X Panther Hacks and will surely be surprised at what they don't know when they get through this wonderful volume. Be sure to check one out for yourself very soon. You won't regret it.

This book has a little bit of everything for everyone. O'Reilly publishes a lot of OS X titles, but this one is the most unique of those that I have read (and I have read most of them). The reason is the insane breadth of the book. It covers everything from how to use Quicksilver (the best application for OS X, bar none) to how to share desktops, to script iPhoto with perl. If you want to see in just how many ways you can hack your Mac you have to check this book out. It's one of a kind, and for those with the need to really see how they can tweak their Mac, this is a must have.

The hacks in this book seem to end up in one of three categories. Useful to me, useful to somebody else, and just plain weird (but good for a laugh). The last is represented by Hack #60 - iOscillate. Think iChat, iSight, some adhesive, and a stripped down oscillating fan. Mac people have all the fun...

I found the hacks involving bluetooth, cellphones and your Mac worth the price of the book. Prior to this I "wanted" a bluetooth phone. Now I "need" a bluetooth phone. =) I was also happy to find the info on getting the Postfix Mail Server running.

The great thing about the hacks, IMHO, is that despite there only being 10 hacks or so that you might find useful enough to start using right away, you're bound to come up with another few on your own. For example, by combining what I learned from a few of the hacks, I was able to set up Virex to scan my Mail inbox for viruses every 15 minutes. So far, I've only found W32 viruses, but you can never be too cautious. =)

If you want to feed your inner geek, this book is for you.

With the progression of human culture in the digital age developing as it is, it's intriguing to look back at even the recent past and see where we've been and where we were thought to be going. The collection of writings in this volume are invaluable and often shockingly ahead of their time. Anyone who expects to be successful in the future - in this ever-evolving digital world - would benefit by reading this book, and sooner rather than later.

I had to get this book for a class, but am very happy I was introduced to these theories. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the topic of where online media is going.

From Futurist Cinema, to artificial intelligence, to cyberspace, this collection highlights the origins of multimedia, its influences, its directions, and its future possibilities. It includes an insightful and comprehensive introduction by Packer and Jordan themselves, and the authors they have chosen to include in this work reflect the vast landscape of multimedia in its many iterations: Vannevar Bush, William Gibson, Norbert Wiener, John Cage, and Janet Murray, just to mention a few. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in peeking below the surface of multimedia evolution.

Reading this collection of articles gave me a better understanding of the people and ideas that helped shape computer-based communication. The contributors are for the most part well chosen; a few that I might well have done without, I must admit -- but far more excellent choices than "questionable" ones. The organization of the book is interesting as well. I was reminded of the magazine "Mondo 2000" that I subscribed to in the early '90's (multimedia/geek chic).

This book is a must read for anyone interested in modern art and culture, and where its going. The companion web site on www.artmuseum.net is a brilliant compliment to the book, with 50 video clips, rare photos and other treats. Finally, a publishing project that "gets it" how to use the web + printed book in a way where the sum is greater than the parts. Its amazing to see how long artists and scientists have been working (alone, and in some cases together) towards this goal. Prehaps the following decade will witness a true "waking up" by the mass culture to this new syntax, new reading-practice, of multi-media hyper-texted information. This book may mark a point in time where we started acknowledging the depth and extent of our post-Guttenburg world. Bravo to Randall Packer and Ken Jordon for pulling this project off.

This book contains information about the inside workings of Authorware that will allow you to easily advance to intermediate and advanced programming methods. It even provides the intermediate and advanced developer with inside information about the inner workings of the program; I know of no other guide to Authorware that does this. What is unusual about this book is the clarity with which it is written. It reads unusually smoothly, and sets the standard for which reference manuals should be written. This is a very wise investment for the Authorware developer at any skill level.

Authorware has a steeper learning curve than most authoring programs. Taking this into account, Nick Robert's `The Official Guide to Authorware 4' takes a beginner through projects of intermediate complexity while providing experienced Authorware developers a leg up on Authorware 4. Don't flinch at buying this terrififc manual for Authorware 4 - the one that comes with the program is virtually useless. This book is written to clarify confusing concepts. It emphasizes what is really important and provides "Hot Tip" markers throughout. An accompanying CD-ROM provides examples to illustrate code and functionality. But because the Robert's explanations are already clear in the book, the CD-ROM is not that essential. On the down side, I would like to have a summary of not just new functions for Authorware 4, but also a comprhensive list. If you are new to Authorware and plan on using this book, plan to spend about ten hours reading the first six chapters (200 pages) and browsing around the authoring system, before you actually start building. This will ensure that you pick up the right building blocks for the foundations of your project. The remaining 14 chapters are task specific, and serve as excellent references.

There seem to be three types of books in circulation about Authorware. There is of course the User's Guide that comes with the product -- a good reference. Then there are tutorials, like "Authorware 5 Authorized" by Kellogg -- a good beginner's step by step how-to. But the best type of book (for me anyway) has been the "show & tell & try approach" type of book, like Nick Roberts' excellent "The Official Guide to Authorware 4." It is very well written in an interesting and casual style -- and you will find the author's enthusiasm for Authorware contageous as you delve deeper into the text. Excellent illustrations compliment the "visual" approach to constructing a piece via icons along a flow line. And you are told the logic of the "what & why" of the step-by-step examples before you do them -- a great aid in understanding (and actually learning) how to utilize Authorware's features. Too many times I've followed the tutorials of other books and end up with a nice looking functional result -- without really understanding along the way "why" I used the steps and procedures I was told to do.

And most important, this book came through for me in an area that I have not found in the other books -- variables, functions and expressions. Roberts eases the reader into this area, which is by far the core of Authorware's strength and flexibility. Then the reader gets into two or three chapters that deal with this area in depth. The material was so good I couldn't help but want more, but alas, I think an entire book could be written on just variables and functions.

Even though I use Authorware 5.1, I found this version 4 book 100% useful -- all it lacks is info on how to use 5.1's Knowledge Objects -- which surprisingly is also absent in the newer Authorware 5 books that I have seen. But from what I've heard from other folks, the lack of K.O. information is no great loss. I just hope that Nick Roberts comes out with another AW book one of these days -- maybe on AW 6 when it hits the market.

This is an excellent resource. New Authorware users as well as experienced professionals will find a wealth of information presented here. The material is well organized and explains simple tasks early, then takes the user into more complex functions. I would like to see a 'volume 2' with more attention to complex tasks as well as some additional models. If you are trying to understand Authorware, this is a great place to begin!

This is a super book for both new users and advanced users alike. Mr. Roberts takes you through all the facets of authorware and gives you super tips for developing your piece for either mac or pc. I had never used a authoring program before, including authorware and after reading this book for couple of nights, I was developing my own stand alone windows based projects. I really wish to thank Mr. Nick Roberts for writing a easy to understand book. Keep up the good work. Cheers Rick

Simply better than the first... and it's on my bookshelf now.

I got this book from a local bookstore. Only one was available and the cover was not in a very good condition. But I find the content stunning... the combination of photographs and no faults with the manipulations/modifications done could have easily fooled many in earlier days. Today we know such mastery is possible powerful computer software.

This book eye candy to me.

Paintbox No.1 shows the power of image manipulation. With a simple digital pen these artists blend together images that will amaze your eyes. Pages upon pages of eyecandy!

This book is chocked of photographic pictures that are skillfully modififed to blend seamlessly. Some of these may be done by using plug-ins, but others require more effort, skill and thought. For example, you cannot just mask an object and paste it on another photo; need to consider shadow, lighting, etc. and I think the pictures here involved such considerations. Great work. When I look at the pictures, I think, "That's great..." and a great challenge to me to produce similar results.

I am also intending to get "Paintbox No. 2" !!

Sometimes we come across advertisements (eg. posters) that catch our attention and make us wonder---"How REAL!!" and amaze us. This book is filled with wonderful pictures, carefully designed, composited, etc. with consideration of details such as shadows to make things realistic. Everything in the pictures blends well with other elements in the pictures. With the power of today's photo editing software, some of these may not be difficult to produce but for the rest, they seem like wonders to me. Imagination and skills are essential.

If you are in advertising and designing, it would be a great challenge to yourself to try to produce similar effects in the book. Or if you are just looking for a book that shows you great pictures in advertising, you will find this book to be an eye-candy. However, this book does not teach you how to produce the effects; which, I think is not the aim of the book.

I am happy to have a copy of this book.

I bought this book after having owned the editing program for about a year........and suffered all the heartache that can occur if you do not know what you are doing....including crashing Windows.....finally located this superb manual that is user friendly and written by a pro in the field. Since that time, I have produced several projects that are startlingly complex.......and am currently being PAID to produce VHS/DVD productions. A MUST BUY if you purchase Pinnacle Studio 8.

Well laid out and quite thorough. Really a must-have if you are new to Pinnacle Studio DV.

I've had this book for less than a day and it's already paid for itself. I bought Studio 8, which now has been updated to version 8.10 (eight point ten, not 1.0). I figured even if the book were good for the very first versions of Studio 8, OK. As soon as you open the book, you see that Jan refers to changes made as recently as v. 8.6; I was thrilled. This is a brand new book/edition. Studio 8 ships with a 258 page manual right out of the box, which is somewhat amazing for a piece of software like this, but admittedly, the manual is very remedial. This book, from the earliest pages, delves into some seriously useful components within Studio. I have a bunch of these Visual QS books; I'm always ammazed at the bang for the buck in every one of them, this one no exception.

This book is a MUST for anyone new to Pinnacle Studio. I bought the software thinking I could "figure it out on my own"...Not!
This book has saved me!

This book tries to sell itself on the photos of the GUI that you will be using. The photos are a bit small, but good enough when you really need them, which is rare, because the author does a wonderful job of explaining how Pinnacle works. I recieved the software with no documentation and within a few minutes of opening this book I was well on my way to creating DVDs out of some digital movies. The author does a great job explaining both the simple and the complex parts of the software. And refreshingly, the author actually offers opinions on better ways to do some tasks. This is a good buy for anyone using this software.

Basics: 2000, 2nd edition, softcover, 129 pages, 300 color photos of 181 species, CD with 1,300 photos of 335 species, audio clips, no range maps

Compared to other bird books on Puerto Rico or the Caribbean, this book is not formatted to be used as a field guide. Instead, it is a photographic overview of the island's 181 resident and visiting birds, but not the other 150 less common vagrants. Each page covers 1-2 species with 1-4 photos and 1-5 paragraphs of text. As one would hope, greater coverage and more photos are given to the Puerto Rican endemics and the Caribbean specialties.

The color photographs are generally good and are shown in appropriate sizes. Some of them are a little grainy and others might lean towards small, but nothing too bad.

The text gives the usual contents of identification, habitat, habits, status, conservation, and range. Three-quarters of the text is dedicated to the bird's habits, status, and conservation, reinforcing this book is not geared to be used as a field guide. It is an at-home reference to review and learn about the more common Puerto Rican birds.

Enhancing the photographic content of this book is a CD attached to the inside, back cover. This CD contains 1,300 photos of all 335 species to have occurred on the island. Each bird has anywhere between 1 and 16 color photos. Just as in the book, text is offered for the species, often with additional material not found within the book. A nice addition is the inclusion of sound clips for most of the expected birds. The quality of the photos are not as good as those found inside the book, but they do offer more poses and variations. The CD was created to run on both Windows and Mac. It's worked for me with no problems on Windows 2000 and XP.

I've listed several related books below...
1) A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by Raffaele
2) Las Aves de Puerto Rico by Biaggi
3) Birds of the West Indies by Bond
4) Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele
5) A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele
6) Photographic Guide to Birds of the West Indies by Flieg

I am going to Puerto Rico for a vacation. This book will help me to identify the birds that i might see.
Since it is small it is easy to carry around with you. I think that nature lovers would enjoy it. I give it a hearty recommendation

This guide to Puerto Rico's birds is really quite strong and useful, especially when combined with the information on the included CD (which is well organized in both English and Spanish.) Who wouldn't love to just sit at their computer all day and listen to birdsong, at least when they can't be out in the mountains or mangroves of PR?? I found the photographs quite satisfactory for ID purposes (not something to be taken lightly) and the narrative information is very useful.

Just one nit to pick: why is the peregrine falcon described as "a small hawk"?

El libro y el CD son excelentes, sobretodo porque se conecta al internet y uno accesa otros sonidos de aves. Una lástima que el libro en español no incluya el CD, los puertorriqueños leemos y hablamos el español, no entiendo porque el libro en español no pueda incluir el CD con un sonido que es universal : el de los pájaros.

This is the perfect guide book for birding in Puerto Rico. The photographs, 1340 in all, are brilliant, and the text is detailed and rich in information. The guide itself will easily fit into a pocket or day pack and so when out in the field you will have it at your fingertips.

What's unique about this guide is the excellent CD-Rom that comes with it -- this will help you before you go to know what the birds look like, their calls, their behavior and where you can find them once in Puerto Rico. I used the CD-Rom to check out three of my favorite PR birds and was amazed at the numerous and gorgeous pictures, the superb quality of the audio recordings and the information Oberle has reproduced in this book. For instance, regarding the Puerto Rican Tody (one of the 17 PR endemics covered in this guide as well as over 320 other birds), there were a dozen different pictures of the Tody including fabulous close-ups. The information Oberle gives includes identification, voice with audio, habitat, habits, range, status and conservation, taxonomy and related books and articles about the Tody. The Tody is a tiny forest bird with emerald green upperparts and a bright red bill and throat -- everytime I see one I think of a Christmas tree ornament, they are so cute! Oberle discusses in detail what they eat: katydids, grasshoppers, earwings and dragonflies, and discusses as well their foraging techniques. Because Oberle goes into such great detail about ID and habitat/habits, I think this is the best guide to enable one to actually find the birds once in PR.

I also checked out the PR Woodpecker and found those pictures, audio and habitat/habits information just as extensive as that about the Tody. I learned that the woodpecker's stiff tail feathers helps it to gain balance while chiseling at tree bark to find its favorite insects, including earwings, beetle larvae and ants. I discovered it occasionally eats scorpions and and lizards! Oberle informs the reader that a good place to find the woodpecker is around the parking lot of the El Portal visitor Center at the El Yungue national park.

A third bird that is well covered in both the CD and guide is the Pin-tailed Whydah, which has a most remarkable long tail and perches on wires and branches. I was surprised to learn that the female is like our parasitic cowbird and doesn't build her own nest but drops her eggs in other birds' nests.

Oberle has done a splendid job of bringing together in a compact book all the information and photgraphs of birds that you will need when out in the field. Because he cares so much about these birds and the environment, he also has special sections at the begining of the book on conservation efforts, migratory birds that winter in PR, and the extinction issues that face too many birds and other wildlife today in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.

To anyone going to Puerto Rico who plans to do some birding, I heartily recommend this book and CD-Rom to you.

While at first I thought O'Reilly's new "developer's notebook" series seemed a bit hokey, this book is extremely useful. It's concise and to the point, but full of good examples and information. A plus of the small size is that it's more to-the-point and cheaper than a typical O'Reilly book (which very often seem to ramble on and on about marginally useful information, seemingly in order to justify their $45+ price tags).

This book is the one that should have been written for Java Media Framework, if only that API had ever lived up to its expectations. If you want to add media to your application, and you are using Java, Quicktime is your best bet. However, note that if the Quicktime for Java API doesn't seem very Java-like or object-oriented at first glance, then that's probably because it's not. That is because with Quicktime for Java you are not working with pure Java. Instead, you're invoking a flat C API to create and manipulate C or Pascal data structures using a thin Java wrapper. If you can live with that and you still want to use Quicktime for Java, this book is the essential guide and tutorial you need to get up and running. The book does not waste your time with API printouts or a Java programming language tutorial. Instead, like all books in the Developer's Notebook series, it gets down to business quickly by demonstrating working Java code for a number of useful tasks when working with media.

First, it tutors you on how to set up Quicktime for Java on a Windows machine. This task is more complex than you would think, and this book hits the mark on the subject. Next, it shows you how to play movies and audio files from your Java program. Next, the book tackles the editing of movies from a Java application. This includes topics such as cutting, pasting, going to specific frames of a movie, and "flattening" a movie. In Chapter four, the programmer is introduced to working with Java components and importing and exporting graphics. In chapter five, the user is introduced to working with QuickDraw, the Apple-originated drawing API. This is essential, since QuickDraw is what is used to work with captured images. Thus in this chapter the reader is taught how to transfer data between images and a movie. Next, the art of capturing both video and audio is explored, including capturing audio and video to the same file. The chapter is rounded out with the code for a motion detector. Chapter seven is devoted entirely to audio media. There are particularly timely topics here, such as how to read information from MP3 and from iTunes AAC files, how to provide basic audio controls, and how to build an audio track from raw samples. Similar information is provided in a separate chapter for information specific to video media.The final chapter discusses the effects available in Quicktime for Java, as well as how to add text captions and timecodes to your media.

All in all, I think the Developer Notebook format works well for this subject. At the beginning of each chapter there is an outline of the topics to be covered. For each topic there is a "How Do I Do That?" section that includes a short piece of Java code that performs the specified task. There is also a sample of the output you would expect to see on the screen that should result from executing the code. Next there is a paragraph entitled "What Just Happened?" that explains the code just shown, and finally each topic usually ends with a "What about.." section that answers common questions you may have about extending the code just shown. All code in the book can be downloaded from the book's website at O'Reilly and Associates.

This book is essential reading for anybody who needs to understand how to code with Quicktime for Java, and it is far better than any other publication on the subject that I have encountered. Amazon does not show the table of contents for this book, so I do so for the purpose of completeness:
Chapter 1. GETTING UP AND RUNNING WITH QUICKTIME FOR JAVA
Setting Up QTJ on Windows
Embedding QuickTime in HTML
Preflighting a QTJ Installation
Compiling QTJ Code
Opening and Closing the QuickTime Session
Playing an Audio File from the Command Line
Chapter 2. PLAYING MOVIES
Building a Simple Movie Player
Adding a Controller
Getting a Movie-Playing JComponent
Controlling a Movie Programmatically
Showing a Movie's Current Time
Listening for Movie State-Changes
Moving Frame by Frame
Playing Movies from URLs
Preventing "Tasking" Problems
Chapter 3. EDITING MOVIES
Copying and Pasting
Performing "Low-Level" Edits
Undoing an Edit
Undoing and Redoing Multiple Edits
Saving a Movie to a File
Flattening a Movie
Saving a Movie with Dependencies
Editing Tracks
Chapter 4. WORKING WITH COMPONENTS
Specifying a Component's Type
Exporting Movies
Exporting Movies to Any Installed Format
Importing and Exporting Graphics
Discovering All Installed Components
Chapter 5. WORKING WITH QUICKDRAW
Getting and Saving Picts
Getting a Pict from a Movie
Converting a Movie Image to a Java Image
A Better Movie-to-Java Image Converter
Drawing with Graphics Primitives
Getting a Screen Capture
Matrix-Based Drawing
Compositing Graphics
Chapter 6. CAPTURE
Capturing and Previewing Audio
Selecting Audio Inputs
Capturing Audio to Disk
Capturing Video to Disk
Capturing Audio and Video to the Same File
Making a Motion Detector
Chapter 7. AUDIO MEDIA
Reading Information from MP3 Files
Reading Information from iTunes AAC Files
Providing Basic Audio Controls
Providing a Level Meter
Building an Audio Track from Raw Samples
Chapter 8. VIDEO MEDIA
Combining Video Tracks
Overlaying Video Tracks
Building a Video Track from Raw Samples
Chapter 9. MISCELLANEOUS MEDIA
Creating Captions with Text Media
Creating Links with HREF Tracks
Adding Timecodes
Creating Zero-Source Effects
Creating One-Source Effects (Filters)
Creating Two-Source Effects (Transitions)

This book is great!

This notebook makes all the QuickTime supported formats available to a Java developer. Like all the books in the notebook series, plenty of code, plenty of information to get up and running.

I really liked the information on reading the tag info from MP3s and AAC files, very useful.

Multimedia and Java made simple.

With this type of walkthrough book I usually expect to see just the basic features of the technology explored. This book goes surprisingly in-depth, covering topics like adding effects to playback, transforming movies during playback, overlays, and a wide variety of topics.

All that is crammed into a trim 200 page frame. This is achieved by concentrating mainly on the code, and effectively using a minimum of images. That's a trick given the graphics intensive nature of the topic.

This is not a book for beginners, it's a fast-paced walkthrough for experience developers who want something less referential than the JavaDocs.

With Apple changing QuickTime for Java so anything you made when
use QTJava under MacOSX Java1.3 no longer worked under Java1.4 these required changes to most of your older QTJava code- if you wanted to have your code now run under Java1.4. Apple also moved classes to a new packages so to make the developers nightmare complete. BUT DONT WORRY! This book will show you workarounds for them missing classes (sequence grabbing is back! what a gem). Also covers all your needs as a new developer to the powers of QTJava. Time to make your very own QuickTime player in a few hours! You won't believe the stuff QuickTime can do under the hood. This books covers just more and more stuff as you go though it.

For me this QuickTime for Java book will be sitting next to the older most excellent book from Bill Stewart. I hope all books become as clear and well written as this one from Chris Adamson- top work. Sample code all over the shop; step by step stuff. Cuts to the tasks you will have to tackle without lengthy messing around. Brilliant buy if you want to do cool hardcore design media in java. Or just play a nice sound track in the background of your killer application - maybe u want to make the next video editing studio app, or your own media player, or a streaming server, or a image editor, or or or; you want ta take a ride?

Then again don't buy it! I wont have a job to go to in the morning! :).