Developers and Publishers Books

I've been using QuickTime for nearly ten years, and have often been frustrated when trying to explain to people that it is not just for video and sound any more. The frustration stems from the lack of examples and explanations to use these powerful features for non-programmers. This book changes that. It explains clearly and wittily how to use QuickTime to enhance your website or CD-ROM, and take advantage of over 10 years of cutting-edge digital media technology for free.

[Full disclosure - I work for Apple on the QuickTime Engineering team, and know the author - believe me I wouldn't endorse this book if it wasn't great]

This book is a must have if you plan on working with QuickTime to make multimedia content available! I call this book 'a rare find', as it is great for beginner through master, leaving few questions unanswered or stones unturned. The text is a good mix of "how to" information combined with "tips and tricks" to get your implementations to work.

I purchased this book for its material regarding steaming content over the Internet, and learned a great deal in the process. The chapter on QuickTime VR answered my "how do they do that?" questions, and has led me to explore the use of this technique for my upcoming projects.

The QuickTime VR chapter is a good example of the depth of knowledge used to develop this text, as it gives in-depth information on photography techniques that only a mid- to experienced photographer would know.

My only criticism of the book is that it only begins to explore about half of the knowledge needed to set up your own streaming web server, but I can hardly fault the authors for that -- it says right on the cover "A Hands-On Guide for Webmasters, Site Designers, and HTML Authors." It says nothing about being aimed at System or Network Administrators. If your main interest in this book is the setup of streaming servers, you might want to consider another book (or better yet, purchase this book along with another to round out your knowledge).

With the ... QuickTime Pro included, I can say without reservation that this is one of the best computer book values I have ever purchased. The book paid for the rest of the cost by showing me how to trick Microsoft Internet Explorer / Windows Media Player in such a way that it will not try to open your .mov files (great in a Windows-dominated environment)!

Highly recommended, even if you have only a passing interest in QuickTime.

This is an important resource for anyone who is serious about maximizing the potential of Quicktime. At Rayhawk.com we have been using this book to enhance our web productions and the results have been noticable, not only to us, but to our clients (KFC, Taco Bell, BMW, Porsche).

The book is full of useful info and the author is fun and helpful. He assumes we have little prior knowledge with either QuickTime or HTML and by the end of the book, he teaches us how to produce some amazing content.

Mastering QuickTime is essential to quickly and easily building exciting, dymamic and interactive web sites. This book (QuickTime for the Web) is essential to mastering QuickTime for the web. It has saved me more time and energy than any book I've bought in the last two years.

This book is a must have! From how to create VR with interactive sounds and sprites - to getting your video or photos streaming on the web - this book shows you how. As a web master of a site with over 100 different Virtual Reality and QT movies, I found this book (and the free tools and interactive sprites for my use) to be invaluable. I reccommend it without hestitation. Luke Wonderly, Web master - vrbakersfield.com

This book is excellent. Not only is it fun to read but also very informative. You can read it from front to back and you can use it as a reference manual. What graphics mode for tracks does what? You'll find it! What compression scheme do I need for what purpose? You'll find it! How do I change the movie controller? Why do I have to change it sometimes? Just look it up! Did you ever wanted to know how the people from Apple make movie trailers?

The CD contains an audio tour, many examples, and software (QuickTime 5 Pro, full versions and demo versions of various tools) for Windows and Macintosh computers.

This book was written very well, and is full of useful information. It isn't just for the web! It's a must-have for anyone working with Quicktime. Good book.

I like a lot Mr.Gulie's writing and especially the chapter about SMIL and how it can be used to create QuickTime movies.

The main reason I bought the book was that it had license keys for QuickTime5 Pro for PC and Mac. Those keys costed [price] each at that time if one bought them separately (supposing they had both a Mac and a PC). So it was a good deal apart from the book content itself. An unfortunate thing is that the QT5Pro keys won't work with QT6Pro and that QT6 can't coexist with QT5 on the same machine. So I do still use QuickTime5 (Pro) on my machine...

The book also contains a CD with lots of material which is a must for books about multimedia and rich content (would be a big download for one to get from the publisher's website).

Another thing about such books are that they're usually not printed in color :(, obviously to keep the cost low

This book contains all of the otherwise unwritten techniques for producing QuickTime movies and panoramas for the web, appropriate for both Macintosh and Windows users.

Steve Gulie is in constant contact with producers of QuickTime content (on the mailing list), and is familiar with their day-to-day travails. The book is essentially an embellished FAQ, plus suggestions from Steve's first-hand experience in producing QuickTime for the Web.

The book comes with a QuickTime Pro license for both the Macintosh and Windows, which more than pays for the cost of the book. In addition, the accompanying CD contains demos or fully functional versions of dozens of useful application, for Mac and Windows.

If you're doing any QuickTime production and delivering it on the web, then you need this book.

Steve Gulie does it again. It is rare to read a technical book that makes you laugh out loud, but Steve leavens the clearly-explained information about the intricacies of QuickTime and Web browers with wit and humour.
This second edition includes QT 5 Pro Keys for Windows and Macintosh - separately these alone would cost nearly (...), so the book is a bargain too.

Full disclosure - I am an engineer on the QuickTime team, know the author, and proof-read this book. I know that it is accurate and helpful, and that it will explain techniques that would take you a long time tolearn on your own.

The Apple Indians is the story of an unlikely hero, Hershell Frogg, who returns to his tourist-trap hometown to settle family affairs upon the death of his father, the former mayor. Hershell discovers that the town has become the cash cow of corrupt local politicians, businessmen, and developers who want to turn a sacred Native-American mountain into a commercial venture. The problem is, the mountain belongs to Hershell, and he must figure out how to raise money to pay taxes on the land. The politicians and businessmen want Hershell to sell the land to them, and thus condemn a sacred place to sacrilege. Local Native Americans and well-meaning Anglos want the land returned to its religious importance.

McGuinn's prose covers the spectrum of story-telling technique: slang dialogue, Native American poetic narration, Faulkneresque stream-of-conciousness, O'Connor-like grotesquery, and straight-up just-the-facts third person journalism. All of these techniques are necessary to tell a story that explores the interactions between several cultures, and McGuinn handles them with deft.

The story's characters are well-defined and memorable (with names like Cyndee Peach ". . .in all her lusty glory. . ."), the conflicts are clear-cut, and the story develops tension with a believability that makes me think that it actually happened. I occasionally found some aspects of the story reminding me of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The Apple Indians is a simple "good-guys vs. bad guys" story that expertly disguises its own complexity. Skillful readers will appreciate McGuinn's technical mastery in successfully juggling several literary techniques, and less serious readers who want just a good butt-kickin' story will not be disappointed. Filled with good-ol' boy grit, sleazy thug politics, and under-dog heroism, The Apple Indians is a novel for both the working man and the serious reader. Highly recommended.

If you are of native American heritage, an old hippie, a NASCAR fan, or a TV repairman, this is a must-read book. It's funny, sometimes sleazy, and could have happened.

I love a good story with a woman in midst of things. This wonderful story of women working together will entrance you; I enjoyed every word. Aggie is a widow with spunk and business sense. She has a new chance in her old hometown; I won't tell you what happened. But know that this heart and hardy woman takes on the BIG BOYS.

Don't miss it; a good story with lingering memories.

Once again Aliske Webb has used the quilting metaphor to record life experiences in THE FRAGILE THREAD. Echoing traditional heroic journeys of Greek legend, Aliske acknowledges the journey that all women share in their individual threads that weave life's tapestry. While drawing on lessons and metaphors familiar to all lovers of literature, however, Aliske gives THE FRAGILE THREAD a fresh philosophical twist guaranteed to provoke thought and refresh one's spirit at the same time.

The center of creativity and the heart of the novel, Grandma's Quilt Shop, recently opened by Aggie who, in her own quest begin life anew, has located in the small town of Clareville, in the middle of the west row around the town square. Excited by her new prospects, Aggie begins a quilt designed to record her new life. Each square represents the import events of her life, including family, change, fear, and success. The sampler reflects the common pattern to the journey all women share; yet the sharp uniqueness of fabric emphasizes Aggie's unique impressions.

Having found her spiritual home in her new quilt shop, Aggie is stunned to learn of the town's plans to replace the Town Square with a parking lot and a strip mall. The mayor's son, "Little Al Jr" spearheads the development project, and has already purchased half of the block where Aggie lives over her quilt shop. Aggie finds herself becoming a part of the women's business community to preserve the heritage of the city's park and historical buildings.

Like the heroes of Greek legend, each of Aggie's challenges is accompanied by encouragement from unexpected places, including the spirit of her deceased Grandmother, the mysterious and boisterous Jo, and the sexy fireman with a love of fabric. Surrounded by her daughters and the women of the community, Aggie records her challenges and successes within the sampler quilt, preserving the lessons of love and of strength.

For those who found themselves enraptured by THE PHOENIX QUILT, as well as new fans of Aliske Webb, this marvelous novel will provide a refreshing view of life and the spiritual journey we all share. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and eagerly look forward to journeying into more of Aliske's work.

I use the online version of this book very often. The print edition is a very great asset on any Java pro's desk, gives quick reference and correct usage examples of Java APIs, which are too numerous to remember for any one.

It's a very useful book, specially when you need to do some code but you don't have time to spend over the web. It's very complete.

This book condenses the vastness of Java 1.4 GUI classes into a hefty 1000+ pages. It's divided into 4 sections. Part 1 contains examples of usage of the different classes, with a focus on how to accomplish something specific, from creating a JLabel component to playing MIDI audio. Part 2 contains detailed information about the classes themselves, and contains references to code examples from Part 1 to see how the class is used in code. This is essentially the documentation that SUN's website provides, but in my view, it's more condensed and the references to code are a bonus.

Part 3 contains topics on the transition of Java from 1.0 to its current incarnation, detailing deprecated classes, new classes, etc. Part 4 is the cross-reference section, where if you know the name of the method, but not the class that contains that method, you can simply look it up. There's much more than just methods, though; subclasses, descendants, fields, and "extended by"'s are also some of the details here.

This book is quite an impressive achievement, and I hope to get my hands on Volume 1 sometime soon.

I picked this book up a couple months ago and can't imagine how I got along without it before. The first section includes simple examples of common uses of the java packages. I find this extremely useful. There are realms in Java where the intricacies often slip my mind, particularly in java.io, and the small examples of these packages shown in section 1 serve as a perfect reminder of how exactly to accomplish my task.

Section 2 is the meat of the book and includes a reference to the classes and their members. This is similar to the online API, but lacking the descriptions for the methods / classes. This is strictly a quick reference of the methods, their arguments, return types and modifiers, and the variables belonging to a class. For a description of every method, use the online API. Personally though, I find this reference quicker to use than the online API when searching for a particular class. It probably comes down to personal preference, though.

Sections 3 and 4 I honestly haven't found a need for. The first two sections alone are worth the (relatively) [inexpensive] price of the book.

For reference, my qualifications include Sun Java Programmer Certification 1.4 (Passed with an 86%), Graduated Magna Cum Laude from UMass Dartmouth with a Computer Science degree.

For some time, the Java Developers Almanac version 1.3 has been my constant companion when I taught my courses in Java. With it at my side, I was always able to answer questions of the form, "What class(method) do you use for . . . ?" It is one of that small of number of indispensable references that occupy my special shelf of books that stay within reach of my main workstation.
However, now it has been superceded by this version, the second volume of which covers 45 packages used in GUI development. It is a quick, yet thorough reference to the classes. Each description of a class in part 2 has the name and package it is found in, the inheritance tree describing how it is derived and the prototypes of all data and methods. Part 1 has small segments of code that illustrate the basics of how a class is used. The code examples are organized according to packages, where the packages are listed alphabetically. This makes it very easy to find the basic information about any class and method of the class. There is also a list of newly deprecated members, a complete list of all possible exceptions, a list of the modifications from 1.3 and the default values of the swing UI elements.
This book is rarely more than two feet from my body when I am writing Java and when it gets too far away, I correct the problem very quickly. I included it in my best books of the year list for the online Journal of Object Technology.

Recently having been enrolled in a multimedia law class for my degree program, I found the information in the book valuable enough for submission to this review. The content herin is definately worth checking out if you are an individual seeking to create multimedia content. Though the text is law oriented, it reads quite well. Having zero law experience didn't hinder my growth as a law weilding artist. I learned such invaluable tools as contract writing, copyright law, the five rights held to a copyright, sound law (mp3's are illegal) and many other tools to help me stay safe in the industry. Though complex in structure the content is delivered in a format worth checking out. Once you can cut through the rhetoric that all lawyers speak this can be a wonderous tool to any multimedia creators library.

I saw the Thomson logo at the top left on the front cover and thought it was textbook quality. I was dead wrong!! As the engineer said, the directions are incoherent and you don't even know when he has given instructions or just an example. I had to search the web for help answers just to do the "Hello World" application. There is no troubleshooting guide in case you get stuck. If you get stuck you better clear up your schedule cause you will be searching for answers for a while. Why not spend that time and buy a good book on programming. I would expect more from a programmer than this garbled mess of words.

This programming book was just what my son was wanting. He thinks it will really help refine his gaming progams.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is trying to start out in game programming. I am a grad student engineer and have been programming for over 5 years. I just recently got into game and graphics programming and this book is really terrible compared to some others I've seen. The only reason I gave it two stars is because the chapter on graphics mathematics is fairly complete, and the book provides a good high level picture of how a game is structured. However, the code specifics are downright horrible, the listings seem to be randomly thrown in without any clue as to where they should go in an actual program, the writing is boring, the directions are sparse and inchoerent, and much of the source code provided on the CD is incredibly difficult to get running (if it runs at all). Also, there is a discussion board on wazoo, but don't excpect much help. Many of the forums end with unanswered questions including many that I had. For an intro book to programming games, save your money for another book, because this book just isn't worth the cost in wasted time and money.

It's ironic that a programmer would be so terrible at giving directions. To start out with, the directions for setting up SDL (a necessary programming toolkit) were almost non-existant. Just this small task took me 8+ hours, and I had to resort to browsing web-forums!

Often the directions were so terrible that it wasn't even clear whether or not he'd just given directions for a procedure or was just providing an example. As a programmer, the author should be able to give sequential, succinct, and easily-followable directions. At this,the author, unfortunately, fails miserably.

Erik Yuzwa's GAME PROGRAMMING IN C++: START TO FINISH will lend particularly well to prior C++ programmers and users who want to learn game programming. Chapters use current game programming information and take a lesson plan graded learning approach to building an entire course in C++ game programming, from the basics to creating a complete game.

I read an extremely large amount of material, fiction and non-fiction, I must say that it was very obvious that there was more than one writer here. I was disjointed and confusing to follow. Shallow plot line and silly characters. Won't be wasting my money nor time on these writers again.

Who can't admire a mystery tale when the author, Caroline Cousins, means three cousins from Carolina lowlands got together to write the book. This one is the third in the series. The books are all cozy in the sense no one has to read graphic horror descriptions of the condition of the corpses. However all three of this series do dip down into southern attitudes in today's world and for a person who likes economic history, I find the series very good indeed

I actually bought this book thinking it would be helpful, but all the info is in the online documents!!! The book isn't even advanced. It shows you how to do simple things, nothing advanced. This book is useless now. Just read the online documents, and download the sample code.

This book isn't bad (I guess). It is great for someone wishing to learn about QuickTime (the basics) in a short amount of time. I do feel the book lacks depth in some areas. After looking through the online documentation, I threw this book to the side, and have not used it since.

"Discovering Quicktime" provides a simple and quick overall look at programming with QuickTime. If you are a Windows C++ programmer looking for detailed guidance you will be disapointed. Once I got past just getting QT started within my application the level of detail I needed was not in this book. The same information is located at the QuickTime web site, though you may have to hunt around some for it. If you are a JAVA developer you will get 4 pages of info in this book; there is more info on the web.

"Discovering Quicktime" provides a simple and quick overall look at programming with QuickTime. If you are a Windows C++ programmer looking for detailed guidance you will be disapointed. Once I got past just getting QT started within my application the level of detail I needed was not in this book. The same information is located at the QuickTime web site, though you may have to hunt around some for it. If you are a JAVA developer you will get 4 pages of info in this book; there is more info on the web.

When I first bought this book , I was excited because I thought it would help in making QuickTime on the Windows Side easier to program. The CD is completely worthless , it doesn't even contain all the needed headers for quicktime. Instead of working code samples and native projects to experiment with there are code snippets that are in text files, some of which have bugs that no C/C++ compiler would of let through. Also there is not a mapping in the chapter to tell you which text file goes with which chapter, and you spend a lot of time GREPing through the CD. The explanations are bad, for example the chapter on creating movies just outlines the code. I would suggest you try getting the MacTech series of Quicktime articles where there is an actual explanation and WORKING sample code.

This book is several years old now, but even when it was fresh off the press it was useless. All it contains is disorganized reams of documentation that you can get off the web on the subject. No examples. No organization. I suggest you buy "Quicktime for Java: A Developer's Notebook". Some people think this book is too brief, but I found it to answer all of my questions. To fill in any gaps, you might consider also getting the definitive guide to Quicktime programming, "Quicktime Toolkit", volumes one and two, by Tim Monroe. That is more for programmers using the C language, but between the Developer's notebook and the two volume set you should be able to figure out just about anything you desire in Quicktime, including how to port what you're interested in to Java.

Absolutely useless. More then half of the book is QT Java API Reference just printed out. Thanx, I have a printer and I could do it myself, no need to buy the book.

All code samples are poorly explained. If you're not an experienced QuickTime C++ developer you don't have a chance.

This work contains information about the premiere pioneering multimedia tool, Apple QuickTime 4. As the basis of the upcoming MPEG-4 standard, QuickTime is unexcelled in providing audio, graphics, video, and text, in a single application. Numerous file formats can be imported, interchanged, edited, and released as a single QuickTime file. This work outlines the underlying structure of this most influential multimedia format, and how to produce potentially interactive creations.

Much of the content and information of the book is provided on the Apple website. There are also numerous Inside Macintosh publications, available in book form or as .PDF files, also on their website. Finally, there is an SDK included on the CD-ROM, the full version of which is available as well for free on the website.

So, why even consider purchasing this book? 1. Portability -- don't have to print the numerous files out 2. Overview -- gives fundamental information, the reader can look for details afterwards 3. Examples -- this book is specifically written for portability using the Java language; in this way programs can be used, in principle, on Windows, MacOS, or UNIX systems (the last one still takes some extra effort)

The readability of this work suffers at times, this is its biggest shortcoming. Getting the Java programs up and running at first is a bit frustrating. The information provided is so vast in potential, however, that it easily deserves a high rating. Be certain to check the quicktime.com website as well, to supplement the content of this book.

If one is inclined to search for files on the Web and does not mind reading hundreds of pages from the screen, this information can be acquired free of charge. Otherwise this is a highly recommended work.

If you want to learn how to program Quicktime using java, this is the only book on the market that I am aware of. That's the good news.

The BAD news is: this is a [stinky] book so don't buy this book using your own $$$. Like a previous reviewer says, half the book is just a listing of the Java Quicktime API 4.0 which is by now outdated. Go to the Apple/Quicktime website & download the Quicktime Java SDK 6.0 using the custom download, this will give you the entire kit plus the needed .dlls required to run Quicktime Java applic on the PC.

The 1st half of the book is mostly a direct copy of the "Summary of Quicktime for Java" published by Apple. The so called authors just lifted entire passage from the above publication. They've added virtually nothing to it.

All the critisms listed by previous reviewers are valid. Do not use your own $money to buy this book !

If you want to learn how to do video/audio streaming, I would recommend Windows Media Player due to their much better documentation/support.

Most of Quicktime's documentation are for the C language & have not been updated for Java. Learn how to program with Quicktime, you don't have a bloody chance .... at least not with Mr. Maremaa's book...

I do not recommend this book to those of you who are looking into developing any Quicktime application with Java. The authors have most blindly left out one important element while writing this "reference" book - the reference indeces lack what most API reference books contain - descriptions. As whimsical as it is, the reference section lists the methods per package, but there is no documentation describing what they do, and NO analysis of what the arguments represent or expect ! I look at these signatures, and have absolutely NO CLUE how to implement them ! The rest of the book suffers more or less the same sorts of ailments, lack of information. The authors are so wrapped up their GUI descriptions, that the object model (which is so much adored by the creators and writers) is not documented near to completion. For my sake and yours, please turn your head (from this book) while shopping for Quicktime for Java reference books.