Customer Reviews:
 UNSTABLE Software August 29, 2007
awheat2000 (Fairfax, VA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you read other reviews saying the software is unstable, DO BELIEVE THEM. I took my chances and bought it anyway. I found out they were right. You can (and should) consider purchasing some other software and just leaving the CDs in the box (except the driver). I have a lot of thick books to scan (500-2000 pages each) and I'd say the software crashes at least 3 to 5 times per book (and that was AFTER installing the patch from the web site - it was much worse with the version in the box). About once every thousand pages, the software crashes and gets corrupted to the point where you have to completely uninstall it and the reinstall it. Sometimes, even that doesn't do the trick and you have to know how to clean it out of the registry (NOT for the novice Windows user). The company does offer a clean-up utility to get it out of the registry but I found I still had to do it manually a few times. This is NOT acceptable and very discouraging. Find some other software and factor its price into the cost of this scanner when making your decision to buy. Now, as for the scanner itself... decent considering the cost (not a lot of other book scanners in this price range). Don't expect every page to be perfectly straight the first time (I learned to live with it) but the clarity is good. The file sizes will add up, especially when you convert to a PDF. The PDF stores each page as a graphic (picture) and you cannot select and copy text as you might expect. I tried using the OCR feature that comes with it but found it did not do a perfect job of interpreting the graphic into text. What's more, if you try to use OCR your PDF won't look like the book. Be sure to shop around, too, as the price can vary. Overall, buy it if you intend to use 3rd party software.
 Great Scanner, but Learn-on-Your-Own Software August 16, 2007
George C. Targonski (Sayreville, NJ)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The scanner does exactly what it claims. It's amazing. Turn a book into a searchable PDF. And you don't break the binding squashing the book against the glass. It scans almost up to the inside edge of the page. The scanner is just heavy enough to remain steady as you gently press the book against the glass. Everything from it's 4" height to button placement shows that it was ergonomically designed to scan a whole book.
But the only documentation in the box was a large folded sheet - installation instructions one one side and a quickie guide to scanning on the other in English, German and French. The scanning instructions were not complete and I spent a couple hours figuring things out by myself. The software seems powerful and extremely accurate - I was pleased with the results of the finished product.
As far as I can tell, the Corporate version is the same hardware and drivers as in the much less expensive Standard version. I ordered the new OmniPage Pro 16 (which includes the PaperPort PDF assembler) and I'm hoping that will be even MORE accurate. It will certainly be easier to use.
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