Machinist Handbook on CD

[jfsmith]

I am looking at buying the Machinist Handbook on CD, does anyone have an opinion on using this format instead of the book?

Jerry

[SGW]

Your preference, I guess. Personally, I'm not a big fan of online documentation. I'd rather sit down with a book.

[Joel]

I agree. Less convenient in general. Besides, you can't lay a computer beside your mill while machining!

[jfsmith]

I may buy the combination set of the book and the CD. I look at the CD as a cut and paste source for soing some kinds of work and the book can be laid next the mill or the lathe.

Jerry

[lynnl]

The irritating thing to me is the price of the CD. You'd think it'd be much lower in price. Nevertheless, I too would prefer it in book form. Tho it would vary depending on where/how you're using it for reference. (obviously)

[BC21OSH]

I have the book, however I would like to extract some of the data that I use from the CD onto a larger 8 1/2 x 11 format and put it in a binder to keep in the shop. The problem with the book in the shop is the small print.

Bernard

[ibewgypsie]

Joel, I argue... I can play space invaders or do my taxes on my mill... (have a pc hooked to it)

[jfsmith]

I have trouble with the small print in the phone book these days. But I too would like to extract certain things and have them in a binder.

On my mill and lathe, you can't play space invaders or any of that. Doing taxes maybe, if Revenue Canada will accept the grease pencils I use in the shop.

This may be look at the wallet time.

Jerry

[wierdscience]

Seems like the last deal I saw on the MHB was$75.00 for the cd or $80.00 for the book and $120.00 for both whats up with that?I did see a large print version in MSC.

[John Stevenson]

If you go for the CD version get the 26th edition.
On NO account get the 25th edition even if it's discounted.
The 25th was run by some obsucre text engine - Cyclo?? and is absolute crap.
In fact it's worse than crap. It's not worth the plastic it's written on.
V26 is in pdf format.

The problem with 25 is that there is no way to scale anything so a table could be printed out on 1 1/2 pages.
The search engine is rubbish,
Also with both version bera in mind that the tables are scanned in files and not input
like a spreadsheet so quality suffers.

I bought V25 when it came out and contacted MH about the problems and quality. Basically I was ignored. I asked if when the pdf version came out could buyers of the V25 CD could get a decent discount, something that would have cost very little and done a lot for their image, bearing in mind that V25 was more expensive than V26.
Again no reply.

OK this may be a bit of sour grapes but I only get stuffed once and I did the full amount pay up front for basically a floater.
Damn it even AOL give those away.

John S.

[docsteve66]

I do not know which version I looked at on cd but a while back, I asked about MHB on cd andwas told same thing (maybe by John). I finally gotto see one run. John is right about the version I saw. I wanted a good index- should be easy on a cd. I was not there because the index was same as the book. Be sure any CD book you buy has a word seach feature. Index is my first check when buying a reference book.
I read (or used to read) reference books as most read novels. But too often, you know the info is in one of many books, probably in xxxxxx book. But if it is not in the index, it may as well be in China unless you want to spend hours to find the topic again.

The MHB on CD that I saw was worse than useless- it wasted time.
STeve