iMediaCONVERT
Reviewed: Geetesh Bajaj
Date Created: April 13th, 2005
Last Updated: February 25th 2009
Introduction
Download and Installation
Using iMediaCONVERT
Pricing and Support
Conclusion
Introduction
The rich media bubble keeps getting larger. The reasons are not difficult to ascertain - there has been a spurt in demand with clients from all sectors of industry and society scrambling to convert their knowledge content into easily accessible rich media. A large proportion of such knowledge is already available in the form of PowerPoint presentations that are not easily shared in their original format for various reasons.
Most rich media converters for PowerPoint use the Flash format for conversion including iMediaCONVERT, the product I'm reviewing.
iMediaCONVERT is a PowerPoint to Flash converter product from iMediaLearn, a division of iMediasoft, a company based in Grenoble, France that offer tools and platforms for network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge in a community of learners, content developers and experts.
My contact at iMediasoft for this review was Christina Nicholson - thank you, Christina.
Visit the iMediaCONVERT site for more info...
Download and Installation
You can download a trial version of the product from the iMediaLearn site - the trial version has all the features as the full one although it embeds a "Powered by iMediaCONVERT" watermark in all slides it generates.
Installation is easy - after successfully installing the program, you will find an iMediaCONVERT toolbar inside PowerPoint.
iMediaCONVERT also works as a standalone program - access it from the Windows Start Menu.
You can also right-click a presentation in Windows Explorer and choose the Convert to SWF with iMediaCONVERT option.
Using iMediaCONVERT
I'm using the standalone version of iMediaCONVERT for this review. The interface is simple to use. Click the image below to view a larger screenshot.
I've asked iMediaCONVERT to convert a presentation containing three slides. All slides contain shapes drawn using PowerPoint's native drawing tools that are filled with gradients.
Here's the converted presentation...
Pricing and Support
iMediaCONVERT is priced very economically and single licenses cost US$95 - at high volumes, the price is as low as US$35 per license.
Support is through email - and there's an online FAQ too.
Conclusion
At its price point, iMediaCONVERT seems to be a great product - if you compare it to the more high-end offerings that cost four times as much, it does appear a little less featured.
However to be fair to iMediaCONVERT, which other similar product allows you to deploy a PowerPoint to rich media solution across your organization for as low as US$35 per license?
