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Hidden Works Of The King

April 28, 2003 | Other
In March 2000 we reviewed the first version on CD of this comprehensive work. Regarding content we can’t add much. It is still very detailed, with about everything you always wanted to know about import CD’s, including track list, scans of the front cover, the back cover and the CD itself. So no further comments on the content, since it is as complete as it was 3 years ago (including the releases since then).

This time we will focus on the program itself. To do so, we had to install it of course. Like nearly everyone we don’t read manuals beforehand, and chose the default settings. Stupid mistake, since the program didn’t work that way. One needs to do a complete install to have it work directly, without the need to change configuration settings to the CD-rom. The manual has clear instructions so installing is easy (but you need to read it first).

The interface itself is intuitive and easy on the eye. We prefer default windows, so that the look would follow the user’s preferences, but since the design is not too loud not many people will have real problems with this.

A nice feature is the option to check which CD’s you have in you own collection. Hopefully you have no CD’s that are not listed, since it is not possible to enter your own data. Hopefully the author will take care of that in a next edition.

Another thing we have on our wish list is a search option. You can jump to the starting characters, but if you do not know the complete title, you won’t be able to find it, unless you browse through the complete list. For instance, when you can only remember a CD with “fine show” in the title... you have to browse a little before you find “Damned Fine Show, A”.

Browsing the song titles is even worse. Since all versions of a song are listed separately, it is a hard job to find what you are looking for. A better alternative would be an unique song list and an overview of the versions in a second window or frame.

Browsing the many images included in the program we encountered two errors. The first one is that we need to register a “hidden” program used in the Hidden Works Of The King to view the images (or we keep getting the message “Trial”. But worse, after closing the pop-up the program hangs and shuts down for no clear reason.

Conclusion

This review may look negative, but you have to read it together with the original review from 2000 for the complete picture. As we started this review, it is a good program content wise, and together with the information available on the For Elvis CD Collectors Only import list you have a pretty complete overview of the Elvis bootleg releases. But the program itself still needs some work to work perfectly. We hope the author will find the time to do this, since we look forward to using this program very often.

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