IVIEW MEDIAPRO 2.5

MediaPro from iView isn’t a new program but version 2.5 (£119 inc. VAT) is the first to cross over from the world of Macs into the bright light of Windows. It is cataloguing software that keeps an eye on all of your media files, whether they are scattered through your hard drive or on removable media such as CD.

The base unit of MediaPro is the catalogue. You may choose to lump all your media files into one catalogue, or you may want a number of catalogues for photos, movies, home, work or whatever. Select the files that you want to import and then hit the button and you’ll be presented with an array of thumbnails that you can search on and view.

Note that these are not copies of the original files, but are references to those files, so a catalogue that we quickly assembled which contained references to 479 files took up 1.7MB, compared to the original each directory that contains media files and name and store their files methodically and directory of 488MB.

We glossed over the way that you import files into a catalogue, and this is a distinct weakness in the software. You have to open then highlight the files that you want to import. Of course you can highlight hundreds of files in a couple of clicks, but if your files are scattered across many directories it is a complete pain. We have no idea why MediaPro doesn’t have a search function that trawls through your hard drive, looking for every instance of the file types that you select.

The catalogue is stored in a proprietary .ivc file format, and even if you don’t have MediaPro installed on your notebook, you can download a free iView Catalog Reader so you can access other people’s catalogues. We have to wonder why this is a ‘Catalog Reader’ as iView Multimedia is based in Battersea Park, London – English spelling would seem the more appropriate choice to us.

If you work extensively with media files and can save a decent amount of money by speeding up your working processes, then iView MediaPro 2.5 is worth the £119 asking price, but the casual user would be better advised to save their cash.

PRICE £101/£119 (EX/INC. VAT)
RATING 6
KEY FEATURES Keep tabs on the media files you’ve got stored on your laptop
OS COMPATIBILITY Windows XP/2000/Me/98 Mac OS X/9.1
CONTACT:

020 7223 8691
www.iview-multimedia.com