The presentation of this latest edition is as professional as ever. It is housed in a CD case with a transparent spine which makes it look very professional, which indeed the contents really are. The picture on the front is a unique shot of RNI's ship the Mebo 2. The CD case arrived in mint condition, shiny and new in a special jiffy bag. The actual CDR it has been recorded on looks to be of superior quality and should last a long time if treated with care as all media should be.
Next you may ask why do you need a copy of a website? The answer is simple, this one is a complete history of past and present offshore radio and rsl's. The CDROM pictured to the left of this review was made in October 2004 but it will be updated if you order it later in the year. I looked at a review I made a few years ago and note that I had problems on my pc playing sound files, I needed to click on the download option then they played. This CDROM plays exactly as it would do as if you were connected to the internet, with the obvious exception of links to other websites. I loaded it into my DVD drive on the PC and clicked on start.exe and not the index.htm as suggested on the helpful guide to using the media inserted to the inside of the jewel case. The site immediately loaded into my up to date Internet Explorer 6 browser and did not even bring up my dialer and demand to go on line. I am still using dial up which some readers may consider retro, but it still delivers a good internet service here, but as you may remember the dialer always wants to get you on line. I tried for over half an hour to make a link fail or to make the CDROM freeze. The only problem that occurred was on the RNI pages, but I suspect it may have been me confusing the PC software by zipping over the links so quickly.
Now I have mentioned the RNI pages I had better say that the PC did not freeze, every section worked but the Hannibal link. This did work when I navigated out of that page and went back in again. It also contained a lot of text information about the station. The RNI section is rich with rare sound file clips which are interspersed with great pictures of the RNI presenters. It even has good picture of the RNI RSL from the LV18, which was used this year for the Pirate BBC Essex broadcasts.
The Fleet section is by far the largest picture and text section and it is this which is truly unique and valuable. It has information which is still not published in books and has been extensively researched and updated. If you are interested in naval vessels in the early section they proliferate. Unlike a book a web site is able to change or update text; Martin Van Der Ven regularly gets comments and contributions from specialists and broadcasters from the stations. It is this grass roots information which makes purchasing this CDROM so essential I reckon it would take around 2 weeks of evenings to read all of this information in depth. It is proven that when most people surf they only scan the information quickly on pages, and even though you think you may not I think you will find that a visit to most radio sites involve updating on the latest news and updates. The list of contributors to this is as follows:
"The Encyclopedia of Offshore Broadcasting" by Jim Parkes
The Israeli offshore radio expert Mike Brand
Personal information by Paul Alexander Rusling
Personal information by Printz Holman
Adventist World Radio's "Wavescan"
Lots of information came from Geoff Toon
Leendert Vingerling helped a lot
The book "Offshore Radio" by Gerry Bishop (published 1975)
The book "From International Waters" by Mike Leonard (published in 1996)
Several books by Hans Knot (especially "Historie van de zeezenders 1907-1973" and "1974-1992" and "De kleintjes van de noordzee Deel 1" and "Deel 2")
The booklets "The Maunsell Sea Forts" and "The Radio Pirates aboard the Offshore Forts in the Thames Estuary" by Frank R. Turner
Several Offshore Echo's Magazins
Göran Carlsson's website
The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
The National Maritime Museum Association
John S. Platt on the history of the M.V. Galaxy
The clarity of all pictures and sound and web pages is second to none. Some pages seemed to load slightly slower than when I am on the internet, but it may be my 4 year old dvd drive not being up to date. As a purchaser you can be assured of getting an informative and attractive package. The author invites you to contact him if you have any problems running the CDROM. A few years ago I did and received a very quick email reply and was soon able to use the disc.The news section obviously does not update, but in time it will no longer be on site so you have a little bit of history to keep there.
I also viewed the file structure on the CDROM and find that files are grouped neatly into directories labelled so you can pick out photos and sounds accurately and singly if you desire. I do tend to dip into CDROMs in this fashion but sometimes it is not as easy to find these files. Naturally you have to be aware of copyright restrictions if you use them on the web and contact Martin Van Der Ven for permission or refusal in advance.
Also of note are the Offshore Radio Slides, Anoraks on the Road and other photo collections. I also enjoyed seeing pictures of Radio Caroline at Tilbury this year. Peter Moore's history of Radio Caroline is there and Hans Knot's special lists of items like DJ nicknames and female announcers at sea.
I have further tested the CDROM in Opera and Netscape Navigator and it worked fine when selecting the index.htm option. Navigator ran the CDROM at a far faster speed than than Internet Explorer 6. Netscape sets out the picture frames which means the text appears quicker and so do the pictures. As a web designer I test in these browsers as well and find that some features that work in IE6 do not register in other browsers.
Some of you may feel that CDROMs have almost had their day. The information on this site on offshore radio is exhaustive unique and from many broadcasters and radio specialists and in English. It deserves to stand alongside Keith Skues' and Paul Harris' works. THE OFFSHORE GUIDE 2004 CDROM will be referred to as many times as the books. I would like to see a version for personal organisers released which would make the work even more useful and portable and instantly available. Given the current technology and variety of operating systems at present this product is just fine.
Keith Knight - the Wireless Waffler 5th November 2004
Keith Knight's Website