CD-ROM Today

After having nothing to say this month, Dear Constant Reader of mine (Yes, I did borrow that phrase from Stephen King) and submitting what I didn’t have to say to the fine editorial staff of this illustrious e-zine, (Sorry, but I have to suck up to them a little to make sure this piece gets printed in the August issue.)(Ed.note-Notice, no missing italics 😉 ) I received an item in my snail mail that relates to the very first article I ever submitted for publication in My Mac. That was back in November of 95. The article was titled, “CD-ROM Today and the Good Coasters.” If you haven’t read the piece but would like to, (though I don’t see why you would!) and don’t have a copy of #7 laying around on your hard drive, you can download the article from my web page at http://www.wolfenet.com/~pminer (You know the drill, open the article, choose Save from the File menu and it’ll be sitting on your hard drive waiting for you.)

This is a quote from that article:

“I paid $49.95 for my subscription 5 months ago. I noticed a card in my latest issue advertising it for $39.95! I predict inside of 2 years they won’t even be around.”

Okay, you can forget about the pricing, just look at that last sentence. After 25 months in publication, CD-ROM Today is history. Not a bad prediction huh!

Although I received my last issue of CD-ROM Today sometime in May, on July 3rd I received yet another copy of this useless rag. I never even took it out of its plastic wrap until July 5th and only then because something on the cover had caught my eye. The words “Collector’s Edition” were pasted in the top left hand corner. This piqued my interest because I couldn’t think of one thing that was ever in that magazine or on their CD disk that accompanied it, that even a garbage collector would want to collect. I had to check this out! I opened the plastic bag, took out the CD, stuck it in the tray and started thumbing through the zine while the CD loaded. Same ole sh_ _, I mean stuff, I remember from my subscription issues. 80% PC, 20% Real Machine. Yep, a real collector’s item all right, provided you collect crapola.

I looked up at my screen and the disk was open showing all the “terrific stuff” (their term, not mine) they claim to burn into the CD. Over 500 MB’s of “terrific stuff” every month, they would boastfully proclaim. Let me show you what they put on this “Collector’s Edition Disk” for the Mac.

 

Do you see that number up there in the middle, at the top of the page? Pretty impressive huh? Over 500MB to play with and they have the unmitigated gall to insult me and my machine by setting aside a whole 3.9 MB’s of stuff! I tell ya I was livid when I saw that. I picked up the magazine and started looking for an 800 number so I could scream at somebody.

Alas, once again “crazy Pete” almost sticks his size 11 foot in his mouth without knowing all the facts.

While looking for that 800 number on the credits page of the magazine, my eyes fell on the first paragraph of an article by the Editor in Chief of CDR Today, Brad Dosland. After I picked up my eyes from the page and put them back where they belong, I read the first paragraph. It said:

“Well, this is it. The last issue of CD-ROM Today. And it’s about time.”

I second that, Brad!

He goes on to say how they’re not abandoning ship but have put together a new magazine, actually two new magazines. One called boot for the PC people and more importantly for us, Mac Addict.

I think Mac Addict is going to be a “way too cool” magazine, maybe on par with another Imagine Publishing Inc. magazine that I really like, thenet. But I’m afraid the PC’ers will be stuck with a “just as lame” imitation of CD-ROM Today, with boot . I’ll tell you why I think that if you got a minute. Do you? Okay, listen up.

Almost all of the people who were associated with CD-ROM Today, are now working on boot , even Brad Dosland. So unless they effect some major changes and focus on quality rather than quantity in regards to the CD disk they package, maybe Brad had better keep a copy of his last issue article, at least the first three sentences!

On the other hand, the Mac Addict staff is practically all new people. Where did these people come from? Have you ever heard of publications like Macworld, MacUser, Mac Home Journal, and thenet ? Yep, all tried and true blue, real live Mac people. Editor-in-Chief Cheryl England has spent the last three years at MacUser and the five years before that at Macworld. For the most part, the whole staff list of Mac Addict screams “Macintosh professionals” right in your face. That’s why I think Mac Addict is going to be “way too cool.”

Of course I have been wrong before. After all, I am the one who coughed up $50 to subscribe to CD-ROM Today. Can’t get much wronger than that I don’t think! I’m sure not going to run out and subscribe to Mac Addict without buying a few copies of it on the newsstand first, but I do have a feeling that this is gonna be a good one. Mac Addict hits the streets on July 23rd so keep an eye out for it. But don’t lose it while it’s out. I hate it when that happens, don’t you.

As for CD-ROM Today, I think my title art says it all.