NewMedia Magazine's January highlights; New Year predictions; reviews and ratings; top selling CD-ROMs.

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1995--This month, Phil Hood, NewMedia Magazine editor examines 10 burning issues of the computer industry and sets the record straight in the "Editors Window."

Just a few of the highlights...Rumor: Sound cards are on the way out. TRUE. However, merely putting a cheesy FM synthesis chip on the motherboard is no great leap forward and it could hurt the MPC business. Expect the sound card business to hang on well into 1996.

Rumor: There is a shakeout coming among computer bulletin boards. FALSE. There will be astounding growth in local and special-interest bulletin boards. And major service providers like America Online will prosper, too, Hood writes.

Rumor: CD-ROM is a transitional technology that will be gone by 1998. FALSE. According to Hood, CD-ROM is a format consumers are comfortable with. As home PC's proliferate, prices for titles will drop. Over the next five years, new competitors to the CD will be beaten back by faster and higher density 2.5GB drives.

Also in the January issue, read about a new generation of less expensive 3-D graphics accelerators for the PC which are helping make multimedia titles multidimensional.

Every issue of NewMedia contains comparative reviews and ratings of multimedia hardware, software and CD-ROM titles based on the testing criteria of the NewMedia Lab and industry experts. There are five user-friendly Awesome Man icons to indicate ratings - ranging from "DORKY," "NEEDS WORK," "DOES THE JOB," to "THUMBS UP" and "AWESOME."

The results are listed below:

Product Company Category Award

Big Screen

Castles II: Siege and Conquest   Interplay          title      TU
Under a Killing Moon             Access Software    title      TU

Where in the USA is Carmen 

 San Diego?                      Broderbund         title      TU
The Residents' Gingerbread Man   Voyager            title      TU
Return to Zork                   Infocomm           title      TU
Chuck Jones' Peter and the Wolf  Time Warner        title      TU

The Cartoon History of the Universe Putnam New Media

title AWE

Test Drive

Photoshop 3.0                    Adobe            image editing  AWE
SoundEdit 16                    Opcode Systems    sound editing  TU
AudioShop 2.0                   Macromedia        sound editing  TU
Spigot Power AV                 Radius             AV Card       TU
Scenery Animator 1.1            Natural Graphics    graphics     TU
Toshiba XM3401                  Toshiba            CD-ROM dr.    AWE
Chinon CDX-535                  Chinon             CD-ROM dr.    TU
NEC MultiSpin 4X Pro            NEC                CD-ROM dr.    TU
Pioneer DRM-604X                Pioneer            CD-ROM dr.    TU
Plextor Double Speed Plus       Plextor            CD-ROM dr.    TU
Plextor 4Plex                   Plextor            CD-ROM dr.    TU
Toshiba XM3401                  Toshiba            CD-ROM dr.    TU

"We live in an age of exaggeration when every new product is brilliant and some even win awards from magazines before they ship," said Hood. "We struggle to be stingy in handing out Awesome awards because our readers count on us to cut through the hype."

Gillian Newson, senior associate editor/CD reviews said of the Awesome winner, "The Cartoon History of the Universe is the perfect example of learning wrapped in comedy and cartoons."

Also in January, you will find NewMedia Magazine's BESTSELLERS list of CD-ROM titles, compiled exclusively for NewMedia Magazine by G. Meier Inc. -0-

                              NewMedia Magazine's
                              CD-ROM BESTSELLERS
TITLE                                 COMPANY
1.  Corel Gallery 1.0                 Corel Systems (Mac/DOS/Windows)
2.  Myst                              Broderbund (Mac/DOS)
3.  Encarta 1994 2.0                  Microsoft (Mac/DOS/Windows)
4.  Street Atlas USA                 DeLorme (Mac/DOS/Windows)
5.  Bookshelf 1994                    Microsoft (Mac/Windows)
6.  Star Wars:  Rebel Assault         LucasArts (Mac/DOS)

7. American Heritage Talking

    Dictionary                        Softkey (Mac/Windows)
8.  5 Foot 10 Pak Vol. 1              Sirius (DOS/Windows)
9.  Wing Commander Armada             Electronic Arts/Origin (DOS)
10. Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble 2.0    Broderbund (Windows)
11. NHL Hockey '95                    Electronic Arts (DOS)
12. The 7th Guest                     Virgin Interactive (Mac/DOS/Win)
13. Key ColorClip Art 2500            Softkey (Mac/Windows)
14. Corel Flow 2.0                    Corel Systems (Windows)
15. Key Clipmaster Pro                Softkey (Mac/Windows)

Compiled exclusively for NewMedia by G. Meier Inc.

This chart is based on sales information for September 1994 supplied by the following software industry sources: 800/Software, ABCO Distributors, American Software, Babbages, Baker & Taylor Software, CompUSA, Computability, Computer Discount Warehouse, Corporate Software, Dustin Discount Software, Egghead Discount Software, Electronics Boutique, Gates/FA, OTSI, Ingram-Micro, Joshua Distributing, Kenfil, Merisel, Multiple Zones, Navarre, PC Connection, Software Spectrum, Software Etc. and Waldenware.

NewMedia Magazine, published 13 times a year, serves the information needs of creative professionals who are serious buyers of multimedia hardware and software. Each issue of NewMedia contains comparative reviews and ratings of multimedia hardware, software, and CD-ROM titles based on the testing criteria of the NewMedia Lab and industry experts. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Phil Hood and Gillian Newson are available for interviews. Please call Blythe Egan, 415/573-5170, ext. 236.

CONTACT: NewMedia Magazine

Blythe Egan, 415/573-5170, ext. 236