Serif Mediaplus 2

There is no shortage of media management programs available these days, so Serif has thrown quite a few extra bells and whistles into Mediaplus 2 in order to make it stand out. While most applications of this ilk focus on managing digital photos, Mediaplus also works with audio and video files. It also provides many different ways of distributing those files so you can share them with friends or colleagues.

Version 2 allows you to save a set of files as a slideshow that can run as a standalone application. You can also burn collections of photos and video clips onto CD using the Video CD format. These Video CDs can then be played on domestic DVD players, although, strangely, there's no DVD support.

Budding web designers are well catered for with a wide variety of HTML templates that can be used to automatically create photo galleries for use on the Internet. These include a page of thumbnail previews that are linked to full-size versions of each image. We also liked the new batch conversion option, which lets you simultaneously convert multiple images into any format you specify.

Most image-editing programs now include some sort of browser or file-management option, so you may not need Mediaplus if your main interest is just in working with digital photos. However, if you also have large collections of audio and video clips, you'll find that it is a useful tool for managing all those different files.

Contact: Serif 0800 376 7070
www.serif.com

System requirements:

• 200MHz processor
• Windows 98 or later
• 64MB of Ram
• 30MB hard disk space