Nonlinear Educating Device (N.E.D.) 3.0.1 Software
Tutorial-Video Player
Reviewed by Robert Pritchett
macProVideo.com
PO Box 93598
Vancouver, BC
V6E 4L7
(604) 628-7981
Contact Form
Released: Version
1 of N.E. D. April 23, 2007. Version 3.0.1 November 13, 2008. |
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Demos
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or later, QuickTime 7 or later. G4 or later.
A healthy Internet connection is recommended, but it will work with 56K Modems.
Tutorials range from free up to $50 USD.
Strengths: This training app manages your tutorial downloads, which allows you to begin watching your training almost immediately (videos download incrementally in the background).
Weaknesses: Previous versions had less intuitive download controls; N.E.D. 3 seems to meet the "third time's a charm" rule!
Forum
Reviewed with Mac OS X 10.5l5 and MacBook Pro 17". |
Introduction
macProVideo has released N.E.D. 3, which allows for downloading and running tutorials
within the N.E.D. structure on the Mac. Many of these are for professional
packages from Apple and many others, which are masterpieces on the Mac but not
made by Apple. This is the list of trainers - http://www.macprovideo.com/trainer/all.
Videos can begin immediately after
download. The Photoshop CS4 101 tutorial had 42 sections, but I could begin
without having to download all of them before starting training. The other
lessons downloaded behind the
scenes.
Apparently, if you have a Mac with a Remote, it also works
with N.E.D.3. If you feel a need
to save to CD or DVD, you may from inside the app as well.
Videos can be resized on the fly without degradation and run
at 1024x768.
What I Learned
The few tutorials I've downloaded have been first rate,
quality by excellent presenters. These are designed to get you up-and-running
in record time. Because there are both an N.E.D update and a purchased Tutorial
Update function, it would appear that these paid-for tutorials will stay current with their targeted apps as long as the
apps are supported by their developers. This sets macProVideo apart from the
competition in the tutorial market.
I like the way the flow-as-you-go works with the
segment-to-segment education process. The segments are short enough to get the
idea across so I can stop, go try it and come back to continue on to the next
concept.
Previous versions of N.E.D. had issues for the Mac. This one
seems to have overcome those. While doing this review, the 3.0.1 update
arrived. The new dock icon as shown above seems to be a bone of contention
for some users. It doesn’t bother me.
I got this message back from Gosia Zobel, regarding where
the tutorials are located, since I was initially unable to locate them;
"NED 3 saw a massive overhaul to the entire download management system. Previous versions use a web-based download manager that some users found to be less intuitive than if it were program-based; as such we implemented built-in download management controls. Additionally, we overhauled the general look and layout of the player controls, and gave 'N.E.D.' a more human feel, with our new icon."
"The tutorials aren't hidden, the
are stored in Documents > NED as .prgm files."
Now that I can see the size of the files, I would suggest
that you be connected to a broadband Internet connection, because you probably will not
like a 56K modem to take a few hours to do a download. Both the Flash CS4 101 and
Photoshop CS4 101 tutorials are 914.4 MB and 892.2 MB respectively.
Conclusion
N.E.D. 3 is an excellent way to keep up-to-speed on training
and education regarding Mac-based professional apps. And the pricing structure
is much better than that found with the competition. Having a path available for updates and access to literally
thousands of lesson makes this a viable option for enterprise-level training.
