Birdguides CD-ROM Guide To British Birds, v7 (1 Viewer)

Does anyone use the Birdguides CD ? ..... And is it any good ?

I'm particularly after a better visual guide than my book which is a bit lacking when it comes to plumage variations & getting to grips with song / calls is going to be the next step. As well as needing some improvement on record / list keeping (my Asda notebooks are ... errmm ... ok .. but .... )

Just having a look at the website & it appears up to the mark, but it'd be good to get a few opinions before I shell out the cash.

Anyone ?

Hello
It is very good.
I constantly refer to it, mainly for the call and song recordings but also being able to see video of any bird is handy too.
It definately doesnt replace a fieldguide but is a good addition to have.
(I dont use the birdlog part of it though, I feel that part is quite poor.)
Will be interesting to see peoples reviews of the BWPi from Birdguides, if its out yet that is.
Regards
Pete.

I have used it in the past,Carlos,but must admit a good birdguide book is better, I think.But the cd's do show youngsters and nesting habits.I also have the set of videos from Birdguides and I found them very useful when I had checked an ID in the book,and then done a double check on the video.I just found the CD's fiddly as one had to remember which were passerines and which were not,(I still do not know which are which!!),but I believe there is an updated version out now,but yes ,as Pete says they are good.Very useful for a second ID.

I have a copy also, and would second the opinions already given. The video clips and sound are very good, but of course it can't replace a field guide out in the wilds unless you happen to carry a laptop as part of your kit!


AndyC

I've had mine for about 2 years and probably only used it half a dozen times, My main complaint is having to keep changing the discs when searching for different species it's a lot quicker looking them up in a fielguide. I've recently been thinking about upgrading the 6 CDs to DVD format, which would cost another £60. but everything would be on one DVD disc.

So it sounds ok as a 2nd opinion guide for when you get back home which is what I'm after, save carting off to the library all the time (not that there's anything wrong with the library, of course) ... haven't got DVD drive anyway so that's not an issue ...

OK, thanks for the replies, I'll have a think & if there are any more opinions .....

The DVD version is quite good. Everything is on the one disk.

Doesn't replace a really good field guide though.

I rather naughtily use mine to call birds close to the window! Firecrest for instance!

I definately agree the DVD version is alot better than the cd version. As Johnny says the changing of the discs is a major pain.
There is a way of getting the other cds on your hard drive but it is a massive hassle.
Since dvd drives are about 20 quid Carlos I would recommend you explore the dvd avenue as well.
Regards
Pete.

Carlos

I've had mine for about two years now and I think its great. It helps to verify things when you've got back from a day out. The video clips and sounds are very useful as well. It validates the fieldguides for me. I also agree the log isn't that good but I never bought it for that anyway.

But if you're fairly knowledgeable then you may not use it too much. I'm a bit crap so its very useful for me.

Although changing the CD's is a bind I found very useful info on here about copying the CD's to the hard drive and then editing one file so it runs from there, so thats not insurmountable. Obviously if you shell out for the DVD that doesnt matter.
I kept some notes from the threads on the forum I found and I've copied them below for you. Hope it makes some sense as it culled from a couple of posts.

Bird Guides CD


I have had a request for the details of running BirdGuide from the hard drive on computers. I repeat the information here for general consumption.

First of all, I hope you are happy to delve into the filing system (now called 'folders') via Windows Explorer or other file management software. If not, ask a 7 year old!

1 - Uninstall your existing installation of BirdGuide ver6. This is necessary to clear the entry in the Registry.
2 - Create a new directory (folder) called 'Disk1' in the root directory of the 'C drive' (hard disk). Then copy the entire contents and directory structure of the original BirdGuide DVD into 'Disk 1'. (If it is the 2 CD version then simply create yet another folder called 'Disk 2' and install each respective CD accordingly.)
3 - Double click on the 'Setup.exe' file now in 'Disk 1' to reinstall the BirdGuide programme from its new location.
4 - When fully installed, if one tries to lauch the software in the conventional manner there will be a warning notice stating that it "cannot find the BirdGuide DVD". So this is where bravery is required!
5 - Find the file 'birds.ini' within the 'BirdGuides' folder under
'Program Files'. Double click on it and it should open under Notebook to allow editing.
6 - The start of 'birds.ini' should look like this:

"[Birds]
CD01=C:\DISK1
CD02=C:\DISK1
CD03=C:\DISK1
CD04=C:\DISK1
CD05=C:\DISK1
CD06=C:\DISK1 " but without the " " .

7 - Save a copy of the file as 'birds.in2' or similar and then change the following line to:
CDLabels=<the name'label of the hard drive in the computer - usually 'LOCAL DISK' or similar>

8 - Starting BirdGuide via the usual icon should now work OK. If all else fails, then reboot.

If in doubt, print a copy of this before starting.

The installation procedure described in my previous post should cover most varieties of BirdGuide from version 5 through to DVD version 7.
If mounting the 2 CD versions then install them in new folders 'Disk1' and 'Disk2' respectively.
The 'Birds.ini' file should then look like this:

[Birds]
CD01=C:\DISK1
CD02=C:\DISK2

but the next line should still look like this:

CDLabels=<the name'label of the hard drive in the computer - usually 'LOCAL DISK' or similar>

I have had the DVD version ever since it came out and have to agree, to a point, with has been said so far.

One area I can't agree with is that the Birdlog is poor. I continually use it and every single sighting I have ever seen is contained within the birdlog. Using the right comments in the comments section allows me to do futher searches covering more or less anything I want, list wise.

You can obviously search on the fields already supplied that you have to fill in i.e site, date, County / Country, Observer (you can create as many observer lists as you want i.e one for your missus, uncles, aunts, kids, Uncle Tom Cobley & all). You can also search by species in AtoZ or systematic modes. Depending on what comments you make further searches can be made. e.g for this year I type in GB 04 (for birds seen this year in britain) EU 04 (for birds I will see abroad in europe this year) 1st of year (this will pick out all birds seen for the year both british & european) Lifer (explanatory) Brit 1st (this search tells me my life list in Britain)

To show what it would look like my entry against last years Black lark would read in the comments section: GB 03 Brit 1st Lifer 1st of year. That covers 4 different searches.

So if I type in GB 02 it will tell me all the species I saw in 2002. If I type in Lifer (using the date range 05/05/03 to 05/05/04 it will tell me what lifers I have had in that period. Click into a specific species and it will tell you every place you have seen together with dates etc. You get the jist. In the CD / DVD you also have the features area to click on. Within this area you have list maker which allows you to collate a specific list, i.e garden list (this only lists all the species seen as a list, no dates but allows you to see how many birds you have seen in your garden since your 1st sighting). You can make similar lists covering Counties or whatever. Another good feature is List from maps. This gives you a grid area of Europe and you click onto the grids that cover the area you are visiting you then click into summer visitors, wintor visitors, passage species or sporadic breeding species or a combination of any of those. This will allow you to establish what birds you are likely to see given the time of year you are going. You can create your own trip list of birds complete with tickable boxes covering as many days as you want because you can create the amount of columns covering the days you are visiting. i.e 14 days visiting so you create 14 columns. This you can print out and take with you and you have your own tick list you can use on a daily basis.

All these lists can be exported into csv files then re-saved as Excel worksheets. Once that is done you can do whatever other tricks you might like to add i.e add photos to the birds mentioned.

I hope I haven't confused you. Needless to say that I think that this was by far an excellent buy. Not as good as having a good field guide with you but back home it is an invaluable tool.

If I could afford it I would love to purchase the new edition that will be released in the summer as that does seem to be the Bees Knees of birding software.

Having said all that I would whole heartedly recommend the purchase of this product but I would go for the single disc DVD. I used to own the 5 CD ROM set and it was fiddly in comparison.

Carlos GY said:

Does anyone use the Birdguides CD ? ..... And is it any good ?

I'm particularly after a better visual guide than my book which is a bit lacking when it comes to plumage variations & getting to grips with song / calls is going to be the next step. As well as needing some improvement on record / list keeping (my Asda notebooks are ... errmm ... ok .. but .... )

Just having a look at the website & it appears up to the mark, but it'd be good to get a few opinions before I shell out the cash.

Anyone ?

Click to expand...

Hi,

I would recommend these as we sell them where I work andI have had hands on experience of them. They are brilliant as they are easy to use and you can hear the calls and see video clips of the birds, as well as all the other normal info you would expect. there is also space for notes and a field list. I couldnt recommend these enough!!!!

Claire

Yes ... sounds good ...thanks all, i'm pretty sure now it'll do all i want and probably a whole cartload more.

Just having a bit of a mull over CD or DVD ...the extra expense etc

Carlos GY said:

Just having a bit of a mull over CD or DVD ...the extra expense etc

Click to expand...

DVD drives are very reasonable, especially at computer fairs. I have bought from there before and never had any problems.

The DVD version of the guide is, I think, about £20 more than the CD version, so for around £40-£50 you will have the convenience of having the one disc, which you will prefer, believe me. The DVD version also has extra video clips and sounds as well.

digi-birder said:

The DVD version also has extra video clips and sounds as well.

Click to expand...

Got to admit the calls and songs are handy

Does anyone know if running the CD-ROM version from hard disk is also possible on a Mac? And is it possible to run the DVD-ROM version from the hard disk, either on PC or Mac?

Michael.

All it says on the CD Rom instruction fully compatible with a Power Mac running OS ( or later.
Incidentally I'm selling my CD Rom Version 7 if anyones interested?

Yes, I believe it is possible to run the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM from the hard drive on both PC and Mac - please email [email protected] for details.

Dave Dunford
BirdGuides webmaster