The Install
This review is directed specifically at the Version of Expression Media (EM2) that comes with the Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition. Originally supplied as Version 1.0.2 with free online upgrade to Version 2.0.

The Install was originally from CD and installed in minutes. They specifically requested that I remove any previous versions of iView or Media Pro prior to install. Since Expression Media 1 & 2 overwrite or share a few files, this is probably good advise. The Install from CD took only a few minutes. I opened the application and made one quick Catalog with 10 images and then saved the catalog. This allows all the preferences to be generated and also I registered the version 1 software. Next I launched Firefox, went to the websight noted on the CD cover, with FiOS broadband and downloaded the 49.2 MB file. This took about 3 minutes. Opened the DMG for Version 2 and ran the installer. As noted at the website, it automatically registered as claimed. Version 1 was still there and will run by itself, but not at the same time as version 2. There is no benefit to keeping Version 1, so where is the UnInstaller?

The Need
As far back as I can remember, I've had to keep records of one sort or another. I kept notebooks, shot slides and prints, made copies and diagrams, recorded audio of events and then video. Everything needed to be filed in some manner to allow retrieval. Each system was different and underwent constant change. Today with Digital cameras, PDF manuals, Voice recorders, Digital video and tutorials the list has grown exponentially. Computers and applications came to the rescue... eventually.

A shareware application called iView cropped up one day years ago and it appeared to fill the bill better than anything I had come up with. Through the years it has grown in all directions and has become a media necessity. Today the application is known as Expression Media 2 and is managed by Microsoft. It is the most flexible cataloging application I have used and has been for years. Once you use these applications for one thing, you easily adapt the concept to more uses. This application covers just about every media use most will ever need, from Color correcting images to converting audio or movie file types. It is just loaded with Pro level features. If you can't open a file due to lack of an application , EM2 might just open it anyway. It utilizes All your Quicktime CODECs and Audio and image CODECs and a few of it's own to open many popular files.

The concept here (at least for a Basic Media Presentation) is to open up a window, throw folders and files in to it have everything visible, playable, readable and arrange-able. Select the good stuff, toss the unnecessary stuff, arrange what's left in a logical order, give it a test play or two, and save it for later retrieval or as a finished presentation to share with others. Leave the originals where they belong and make copies of just what you need to place on CD or DVD or external media and if necessary, touch up a few things along the way. And about a zillion other things you never thought you needed to do.

The Fulfillment
At first launch, (no internet connection) the first screen asks if you want to "import" images to create your first catalog from a folder you choose, Import Pictures/Movie folder, or import iPhoto Library. If you have any substantial photo libraries, think carefully before importing carte blanche. Probably the best choice would be to "import from a folder of your choice" and select a folder with a reasonable number of images (25-100) to learn the application. This will encourage users to better organize their folder locations. There are also a couple of options to look at online tutorials and the online community. For new users these are both good references and you should check them out. The EM2 Sight also has several useful tutorials and videos.

Having used earlier versions of the application, I checked nothing on the first screen and clicked continue which opened the application in "Thumbnail view". It has Three main views (selected by Tabs. browser style), List which treats the files similar to Finder and lists by the selected header(ascending or descending), Thumbnail which shows the images (as arranged in "List" order), and Media which shows the image in a large view (which can be zoomed). There is a Fourth View which is treated slightly different called "Light Table" accessed by a button in the tool bar. This view is great for choosing the best of similar images and has a histogram and other helpful selection tools. The Tool Bar across the top of the window has all the main control buttons that set up the Expression Media 2 Window to do it's various tasks. The "info" and "Organize" buttons add insert windows showing image details and file location and cataloging details. Other sets of buttons are used for File management, Ratings, Metadata input, and Presentation types.

One cannot begin to cover the details of these options in this short review, but let me add that every option most users have ever wanted to have in a media file management program are available. One can export SlideShows with adjustments for frame size, duration and transition with freestanding cross-platform players. There's an image editor with both auto and manual enhancements that cover all the basic needs from Red eye to Sharpening. Printing options that include variable size contact sheets Jewel cases and insert file listings. All of this is very well thought out and loaded with great features and detailed extras that allow tailoring to various individual needs. As you navigate through this application, there are many surprises buried deep in the sub menu's. Almost all of these are gems, that will be used as you gain experience with the application, but not necessary for the basic tasks.

The major new feature in EM2 is the separate Light Table window that can drag to a second screen. You can add up to 6 panels to compare images, zoom can change individual or all panels (Scroll Lock) depending on the setting. See the histogram for each image in it's panel, and use the arrow keys to change the image in any panel. Hovering the cursor over a panel makes it the active panel for independent zooming or image selection when not scroll locked. Movies and PDFs will appear in the panels but you cannot change pages or movie frames, so this feature will be mainly for image selection.

Another feature is the added file types that Expression Media reads for every new version, new to this version are the Office 2008 file types and a handful of other new file types. So if you need to read the contents of a DOCX file on occasion, but do not have the full office suite, you can open in Expression Media and see the contents.

The Catalog Fields and Keyword editor are getting more mature and it's getting easier to manage them. Lists can be made with any word processor and then pasted into the Vocabulary Editor or an existing Field list can be opened and modified with a word processor. These fields become embedded in the metadata of the images and are then available in applications like Photoshop for searches.

The Catalog capabilities appear to let us have it both ways. We can make a catalog for an existing folder, like "May 2007 Images" that will only show the images in the folder at the time we create it, but if we put all folders containing the 12 months from 2007 inside a "Watch" folder (called 2007 Images), the watch folder catalog will include all images in the "May 2007 Images" folder including those added later, because the watch folders update their catalog automatically as images are added, while the Catalog saved from May will remain untouched. There are limits to the catalog. 128,000 items max out the catalog. In earlier versions, the catalog processes would slow down as you approached their limits, This current version operates much faster, you will not notice the limit until you reach it, and with images or MPs this can easily happen quickly.

Beyond the Image cataloging, Expression Media will catalog just about any media there is, and list all the relevant features for that media. It could be used as a music catalog, complete with playlists and the ability to search audio music files by mood, tempo, word content, or any other "Catalog Fields" you may want. Consider placing the lyrics of the tunes in the comments field and filtering for words that were related like fire or ice. Add multiple fields and find just the music that fits a specific moment. Movies, Multilayer Photoshop Files, Multi Page PDFs all will import or drag into the "Thumbnail" view window and then show all layers or pages when in the "Media" view. I tried a 270 layer Photoshop icon layer stack for making custom icons and clicked thru each layer top to bottom. I'd advise against trying to catalog Keynote presentations at this point in time, but there's hope for the future. And though EM2 can read multi page PDFs for some reason we are limited to making only single page PDFs from our catalog material.

What Else?
There are a few things that have been lost in the evolution of this application, which cause me to hang onto some of the older versions (Pre Expression Media) and I wish they would come back. At one time we could export slideshows and set the Image times from SPF (seconds per frame) 0 or Manual or 8 seconds per frame to FPS (frames per second movie style)1 to 30 which allowed for making full manual Quicktime Slideshows. There was an option to set to "Fit to Screen" so that it would fill whatever screen resolution the monitor or projector was set to even though created at SVGA (Similar to Keynote auto sizing). I use these features extensively for training since the finished QuickTime file played the same on most platforms. Also missing is the auto fade of audio files in the slide show. Earlier versions would play an Audio file (set as the first item in the catalog) and then if a movie with sound came up, the sound faded to the movie track and then back after the movie. If you placed a second audio file so that it would come up before the end of the first file, it would cross fade to the new audio file and then continue under the images until the next audio file. I'd also like to note here that although the new "Help" directions are terrific, there are a few blatant mistakes that may trip up a new user, like the note about how to play .swf files referring to the advanced tab in QuickTime to click "enable playback of Adobe flash tracks" which does not exist in QT 7.3, (the required version) or 7.4 on my Macs.

Conclusion
So, if you have many media collections and are reaching the limits of human memory to locate movie clips, audio files, Images, Manuals, Instructions, or even your own notes on a topic that you only need rarely, EM2 can Catalog these various media files and then match up keywords and information of your own making and help to locate the media containing specific content.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite practical uses. When I take something apart these days, I shoot the steps with my digital camera with voice annotations. When it's time to put it all back together, I put all the images (with voice) into EM2 and reverse the order. Now play the slide show and it will guide you through back through re-assembly.

Please read the review of Microsoft Office: Mac 2008 at http://mlmug.org/Off08.html by Maria O. Arguello.