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I would also add that I miss Microsoft Cinemania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Cinemania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Cinemania), which wa

I would also add that I miss Microsoft Cinemania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Cinemania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Cinemania), which was to IMDB what Encarta was to Wikipedia. The sad bit is that in some ways Cinemania in 1997 was superior to IMDB as it is today. IMDB is more comprehensive, but Cinemania was better designed and more fun to just browse through.

WorldMaker 7y ago
Yeah, I remember some of the historic reviews from Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert in it being incredibly informative. Particularly where they had good video excerpts of the reviews from their respective syndicated television review segments. (Remember when TV News used to have regular movie reviews? It's almost strange how in the 24/7 news channel era we've lost more types of segments than we've gained.)
- smacktoward 7y ago
  That was definitely a strong point of Cinemania -- it integrated a bunch of different types of information about a movie (plot description, cast list, video and still images, reviews of it by respected critics, etc.) into a cohesive, unified interface. Contrast this to IMDB, which has some but not all of that information (no reviews, for instance), and what it does have is presented in a clunky, siloed fashion. It works, but it's not something that's absorbing to just browse through the way Cinemania was.
tasogare 7y ago
I have the one on musical instruments: https://archive.org/details/microsoft-musical-instruments https://archive.org/details/microsoft-musical-instruments. Spend hours in it even if I wasn't that interested by music.
- smacktoward 7y ago
  I didn't even know that had existed! MS really did have a fascinating CD-ROM portfolio back in the day.
mikepurvis 7y ago
I came here looking for someone to have mentioned Cinemania— it's crazy to me that Cinemania '97 is now 22 years old. Even a classic like The Matrix is too new to have been part of it. But yeah, it was a terrific resource; if nothing else it solidified Roger Ebert for young me as a source of truth on movies. :)
turc1656 7y ago
I thought I was going to be the first to mention Cinemania but it seems you beat me to it! It was a major influence on how I found great/classic movies to watch. It was really informative and just overall a pretty great piece of software for the time. I distinctly remember discovering Silence of the Lambs on Cinemania and they had a clip of the famous "...ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" scene and one or two other clips from that film and I knew I had to watch the movie. Really interesting product, for sure.

WorldMaker 7y ago

Yeah, I remember some of the historic reviews from Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert in it being incredibly informative. Particularly where they had good video excerpts of the reviews from their respective syndicated television review segments. (Remember when TV News used to have regular movie reviews? It's almost strange how in the 24/7 news channel era we've lost more types of segments than we've gained.)

smacktoward 7y ago
That was definitely a strong point of Cinemania -- it integrated a bunch of different types of information about a movie (plot description, cast list, video and still images, reviews of it by respected critics, etc.) into a cohesive, unified interface. Contrast this to IMDB, which has some but not all of that information (no reviews, for instance), and what it does have is presented in a clunky, siloed fashion. It works, but it's not something that's absorbing to just browse through the way Cinemania was.

tasogare 7y ago

I have the one on musical instruments: https://archive.org/details/microsoft-musical-instruments https://archive.org/details/microsoft-musical-instruments. Spend hours in it even if I wasn't that interested by music.

smacktoward 7y ago
I didn't even know that had existed! MS really did have a fascinating CD-ROM portfolio back in the day.

mikepurvis 7y ago

I came here looking for someone to have mentioned Cinemania— it's crazy to me that Cinemania '97 is now 22 years old. Even a classic like The Matrix is too new to have been part of it. But yeah, it was a terrific resource; if nothing else it solidified Roger Ebert for young me as a source of truth on movies. :)

turc1656 7y ago

I thought I was going to be the first to mention Cinemania but it seems you beat me to it! It was a major influence on how I found great/classic movies to watch. It was really informative and just overall a pretty great piece of software for the time. I distinctly remember discovering Silence of the Lambs on Cinemania and they had a clip of the famous "...ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" scene and one or two other clips from that film and I knew I had to watch the movie. Really interesting product, for sure.