Product Reviews

MediaPlus 2 is a media file management program that claims to be able to organise your multimedia files, create albums and slideshows for you and turn an image into a Windows screensaver.

The new features in version 2 include the ability to gather scattered image files into a single folder, repair broken thumbnails, batch-convert file names, send files by email, encrypt and decrypt files, export slideshows and read EXIF data. The list is impressive, but our experiences were less so. The Gather command worked only if we allowed the program to move the files to a new folder: when we asked it to copy the files instead, it failed. The Repair Broken Thumbnails command works by asking you to find the folder with the missing files. Encrypt/Decrypt works well, as does reading EXIF details and batch-converting file names. However, Windows XP has its own facilities for sending files by email and turning images into Windows wallpaper or screensavers, so these are rather pointless.

There are no image-editing tools except

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those for rotating or flipping the image, which the program does by creating extra images with these changed properties. The order in which the images are presented is randomly altered (you can re-sort them, but you shouldn't have to), and re-opening folders resulted in the duplication of some images. The facility to add keywords and comments to images is identical to Windows XP's tool.

Assembling a slideshow from your image collections is relatively easy (although Windows XP can do that too), complete with optional and customisable transition effects. It's possible to export your slideshow as a standalone file (thumbnail-size images) or as a MoviePlus file for incorporating into your video footage. You can also print your slideshow or publish it on the web using supplied web templates. Or you can export slideshows for DVDPlus - a Serif product sold separately - and Video CD Maker, which comes with MediaPlus 2.

Video CD Maker lets you choose themes and add title frames, backgrounds, picture frames and other features to your slideshow, and then preview it. We had problems transferring the finished project to CD, though.

MediaPlus 2 is a great disappointment. For this amount of money we would expect more features, particularly image-editing capabilities, and those that are included should work properly. The new features seem the least reliable - those that appeared in MediaPlus 1 are more stable. There's also much that duplicates Windows' own capabilities. Even more significantly, Ulead's Photo Explorer 8 (which we reviewed in What's New, May 2004) does a better job and costs just £25.