1992- Microsoft Cinemania v1.0 (11/2024)

Name/Title

1992- Microsoft Cinemania v1.0 (11/2024)

Tags

Microsoft

Scope and Content

Microsoft Cinemania was an interactive movie guide released in 1992 as part of the Microsoft Home series The software was published annually until 1997, with each new edition adding more content and features. It was a precursor to modern online movie databases and played a significant role in the early days of multimedia software

Acquisition

Acquisition Method

EBay

Date

Nov 12, 2024

General Notes

Note

Purpose: Cinemania was designed to be a comprehensive multimedia encyclopedia of movies, providing detailed information about films, actors, directors, and more Content: It included reviews from notable critics like Leonard Maltin, Roger Ebert, and Pauline Kael, along with thousands of still images, sound clips, and video clips12. The database featured over 19,000 reviews from Maltin’s Movie and Video Guide, over 1,300 reviews from Ebert’s Video Companion, and 2,500 reviews from Kael’s 5001 Nights at the Movies Technology: Cinemania leveraged the capabilities of CD-ROM technology, which was becoming more common in personal computers at the time3. This allowed it to include a large amount of multimedia content that was not easily accessible before the widespread availability of broadband internet