Number 232 - August 2002

Creating a MultiMedia "Gift" CD
Question Answered by an Anonymous HAL-PC member
Q. How Do I Create a "Gift" CD? That Is, I'd Like To Make A Multimedia CD With Text, Pictures And A Movie.     A. CDs can contain any file on your computer. Moving text and movies and music is just like copying to another disk or a HD except that you have to go through a burning program. A gift CD is nothing more than a CD full of files which can be anything. While this is the simplest and easiest "gift" to make, it is not particularly interesting or elegant. There are two other options that you have. One is to make a multimedia CD with the next content starting after the completion of the previous one. This can get a bit complicated and does require some knowledge of both multimedia and special files.	Or you can use a presentation program like Power Point and let it perform the sequencing actions that you want. That is, it will move seamlessly from your "hello" text to some holiday pictures, then bring up a short movie (Apple's "QuickTime" has a runtime type program that you can include on your CD to play the movie. Ditto for WinAmp.) This by far the most direct approach.     Tip: If you have text to be read or that you will be reading, your "gift" CD to family stuff. How about sharing your trip to the Grand Canyon or a trip to the local zoo, assuming that it would be different from also featuring your three kids!     Anonymous who is a HAL-PC member.
Number 232 - August 2002