Crenshaw's Books & Decks

The CD Room is great. It is easy to install, runs smoothly, requires little Ram memory and opens and closes at a good speed. I love the choice between standard display (mostly black and white) and the high-contrast one (dark background, coloured text) which is perfect for people with poor sight, and the increase/decrease font size buttons. You can bookmark your favourite entries, listen to the pronunciation of the main words, and copy and/or print the text of any entry.

The Concise is very handy.The entries are basic but clear, right to the point, the phonetic transliteration uses the International system, as well as the etymology (origin) of the word and a list of derivative words.

My main disappointment with this product relies on the fact that, although we expect a concise dictionary to be, well, concise, we also expect something a bit more elaborate and detailed. For example, the derivative words are not in separate entries, the entries do not have any example of contextualized use of the words or derivatives (unless the use is problematic per se), and there is not phonetic transliteration or pronunciation of the derivatives. All of this are shortcomings to me.

With so many online free dictionaries online, some of the Oxford's included, one expects those for sale to supersede the online ones regarding the information and details they provide. Unfortunately, the Concise Oxford on CD-Rom falls a bit short. It is not that is bad, it is that it could be much better.

Still, the Concise is perfect for Secondary School students or for basic consultations and look-ups.

Mind
The reference section is available in a PDF format file, and it can be found by pressing the "help & other documents" button.

I have had the Collins Advanced Learners Cobuild CD-Rom 2006 since it was launched. To the date, it is my preferred English Dictionary on CD and the best one for foreigners. I have barely used the hard copy because the CD is so good that it makes it unnecessary. This review is about the CD-Rom, not about the hard copy version.

There are so many reasons why I love the Collins Cobuild. If I had to be short, I would say it runs smoothly, it looks pretty, and the definitions are clear, simple and comprehensive.

The CD-Rom runs smoothly, it is fast and non-invasive in your computer's memory. You won't have the program hanging up or freezing ever. The only times I have re-installed it is when I have changed computer, and that is a lot to say for any software.

The blue, white and red interface is really elegant, pleasant, crisp and clear, and it can be customised by adjusting the font type an font size to your liking.

The definitions are clear, comprehensive, with different meanings and syntactic functions clearly shown and structured. Each definition or sub-definition comes with an example of use; if you need more, you press the WorldBank button and can find plenty of contextualised examples extracted from literary and non-literary texts. Moreover, British and American spellings and preferences are clearly shown, and many times the word comes with a synonym or antonym to better show the meaning. Each word comes with a native voice's pronunciation of the same (singular/plural and difference verb tenses), which is great for foreign students.

Extra features that I love are:
+ Copy and paste are available between the program and your Text or Word program.
+ You can create a personalised dictionary, yes! by adding words that are not in it. This is extremely helpful when you work with specific semantic fields with very specific vocabulary that you won't usually find in a general dictionary. Say, for example, mechanics, ecclesiastical terminology, sartorial language, etc. 
+ You can switch on/off the automatic pronunciation of each word.
+ You can choose whether you want the phonetics of the word shown or not.
+ You can record your own pronunciation of the word and compare it to the original. This is perfect for foreigners learning the language or just to have your best (native) friend pronouncing the words for you!

Things that I don't specially like are:
- The pop up feature, actually a reduction of the search area to a mini-window; you cannot switch to full display from there and have to close and reopen the program. Bummer!
- I don't like the phonetic transliteration system used as it is not the International phonetic system.

I use this CD-Rom all the time for personal and professional purposes and, eight years later I am still in love with it

This is the wholee-guacamole of the Spanish dictionaries out there - to me.

The Real Academia de la Lengua Española (usually called RAE) is a pan-Hispanic institution of linguists, academics and writers that have been creating, modifying, enlarging, and updating this dictionary since the 19th century. Their dictionaries are "The" manual for anybody who makes of the use of Spanish their  profession, but also a must reference book in any household. This is not an "urban dictionary" or a "slang dictionary" so do not look for that sort of vocabulary here, but this your dictionary is you are an educated person, University person, teacher, linguist, translator, or a lover of the Spanish language.

Throughout the years, I have used many Spanish dictionaries, but I always come back to this one, because it gives me answers, it gives me an exhaustive collection of words, from those archaic or not much in use nowadays, to those just used in some regions of Spain, or in some countries in the Americas, to those I use in my daily life. I love the simple and understandable way the words are defined and put into context,  that the dictionary is pan-Hispanic, the top-notch etymology!

Having said so, this edition was launched more than 10 years ago, so one sees deficiencies and limited explanations of more modern words. However, the main deficiency is the CD-Rom's archaic software, which is really old and odd. Moreover, given the fact that the RAE's website offers consultation of the dictionary for free, one wonders why the pricing of the CD-Rom is so exorbitant?!

The good things about the CD version are:
> Fast opening and closing down,
> Easy to use interface.
> You can cut, paste and print without any hustle.
> The dictionary offers basic search (consulta básica), which is the one I usually use, but also a complex advanced research (consulta avanzada) that allows you to search for specific phonemes, morphemes or even backwards, among other options, which is perfect for linguists.

Among the deficiencies of the CD version, bear with me, the installation program is 10+ years old, so it is very rudimentary for modern standards. To start with, it does not self-install on insertion, you have to locate the install program and launch it. The visual design of the dictionary is bland and boring, with limited visual contrast. Moreover, many display options are not clearly visible, but only accessible via the settings like, for example,  the size and colouring of the text. On the other hand, you cannot change the display font, something that I always love. 

Let's rejoice, the new edition of the dictionary has been launched mid October 2014. We can only hope that the updated version of the dictionary and the CD will be as good as ever regarding contents,  but with an user-friendly up-to-date software CD-Rom.