Technical specifications: The CD‐ROM runs on either a PC with Windows or a Macintosh. Requirements are 8 MB RAM; desirable is a machine not actively connected to a network, color monitor, and, for Macintosh users, all unnecessary extensions turned off.
Columbia University Press has entered a very competitive field with the initiation of a series of CD‐ROM multimedia versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Macbeth, under review here, and Romeo and Juliet, were released in January, 1997. Other multimedia versions of Shakespeare have been published by Voyager and Sunburst. I have not seen the other programs; so a comparative review is not possible. However, based on the reviews I have read (Calarco, Joe. Theatre Journal, v48, n4, p529‐31 (December 1996); and Holvig, Kenneth C. English Journal, v85, n4, p85 (April, 1996).), I strongly recommend that prospective purchasers make a comparison, at least of the reviews, before making a decision. Perhaps the major differences between Voyager and Sunburst versions, on the one hand, and the Columbia University Press (CUP) program, on the other, is the greater amount of video programming on the CUP version and its smaller amount of historical and literary analysis content.
The Columbia University Press Macbeth CD‐ROM program is divided into a number of parts, all of which are carefully and smoothly integrated. The parts include a text version of the play, glosses which define highlighted Shakespearean period phrases and terms, commentary (both written and oral) on the text, theatrical performances of play segments, paraphrasing of the play text, summaries of the action, and brief biographical sketches of the characters. The basic organization and quality of the presentation and content is excellent. In all parts of the program the segments are carefully organized to relate to the acts and scenes of the play. The icons, which are used to link (i.e., integrate) the parts, are clear and easy to understand, with one exception noted below.
The Help section, at the very beginning, is a brief and useful overview of the CD’s content and is well worth viewing the first time one uses the program. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a way to break out of the Help section so repeat visits for minor details are tedious, since you must listen to the entire overview each time you initiate it.
The segments of play production and the literary commentary were all produced for this CD‐ROM. Regrettably the credits section of the CD tells us nothing of the work or qualifications of those involved except Dr. Gary Taylor and Dr. Celia R. Daileader who produced the text, wrote the glosses, and appear in video clips providing some of the literary commentary. They are professors at the University of Alabama.
Two features the CD lacks are the ability to search the text for specific works and the ability to view the text while watching the video clips of the play’s performance.
This is an outstanding work, but not without some flaws. When the introductory navigational screen which presents the links to all parts of the program is displayed, music (a poor version of Scottish bagpipes) is played. While this is catchy when the program first opens, the repetition that occurs every time you return to the screen becomes obnoxious. The screen includes a series of swords that appear over the words “Welcome,” “Presenters,” “Performers,” and “Help.” When the pointer is on top of a sword, the sword rotates; but not until you click on the sword (or the descriptive word below it) does the program move to another page. This was initially confusing to this user. It is one of the few places in the program where quirks in flow of the program are frustrating. Finally, on this menu page, when the pointer is in a position near the center of the screen there appears a brief video clip of a sword fight from the play. This does little more than add movement to the page and, like the swords, doesn’t have any content value.
Another weakness is in the video segments of literary commentary which include scenic views that are not particularly useful and distract from the commentator’s points.
This disc will work on either PCs with Windows, or Macintoshes. In both cases, the only requirement is to place the CD in a drive, click on the drive icon and the program icon. However all was not perfect in the operation of the program. My own Power Mac 7100/66 (with System 7.6 and 24 MB of RAM) has a noticeable delay in loading and responsiveness. I also tried the program on a Mac Performa 5200 with System 7.5.1 and 8 MB of RAM; and the program seemed to run more quickly. Speeding up the use of Macbeth by loading it on a personal computer is not practical since the content is over 635 MB. Loading the database on a networked server is a violation of the license agreement that comes with this standard package, and requires additional payment to CUP. On the other hand a Dell OptiPlex GM+5133 (with Windows 95 and 32 MB RAM) worked fast with little delay.
Operation on the PC has a different problem. Apparently there is a programming error which results in the absence of the audio portion of the Summaries but not of other parts of the program (e.g, the play dramatization and the literary commentary). Technical support is available during regular business hours.
This is a quality product with a few technical glitches. With a list price of $195, however, one would expect that the glitches had been worked out. If the program is going to be used on a PC, my recommendation is to wait for assurances that the audio problem has been fixed. For either Mac or PC users, the higher cost plus the smaller amount of historical background and analysis suggests either the Sunburst or Voyager versions. If the prospective purchaser wants more video representations, then the Columbia University Press version seems more appropriate.
