Buying and Selling Multimedia Services

This book is a comprehensive guide to buying and developing multimedia in the most cost-effective manner. Focusing on the human factors in producing multimedia, rather than just the software, Buying and Selling Multimedia Services is aimed at both buyers and sellers of multimedia services and draws on real-world anecdotes-war stories-from project diaries and first-hand experience, to provide examples of the key ideas delineated within the book. These are true stories culled from 25 years of working on both sides of the desk as a purchaser of creative services for a Fortune 500 company and as a producer and seller for one of the largest multimedia production shops in the country. This book helps the multimedia producer and buyer to recognize flaws in past performances and to anticipate situations in future projects in order to save money and eliminate boardroom confrontations. Accusations, altercations, and recriminations can be avoided and the bottom line enhanced with the production of an effective product targeted to a receptive audience. Souter examines the skills necessary to both the producer and the purchaser of multimedia, allowing each to see the others' problems and viewpoints. Viewing the multimedia project from both sides, as both buyer and seller, Souter highlights the issues which will allow for effective communication between parties, resulting in a better product and a more creative relationship among all involved. In the second part of the book, Souter provides a comprehensive guide to all the digital formats available, to help the buyer and the developer select the most appropriate for a given project.

Gerry Souter

Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part One: What is Multimedia?; Pre-Launch Thoughts; Organizing for Product Launch; And, Finally, For the Jargon-Challenged; Pitfalls of RFP Production Requirements; Final Review; Who Will Receive Your RFP; Ground Rules for Submitting a Request for Proposal; Meeting the Developer-Vendors; Examples of Proposal Project Description; More on the Proposal Style and Implications; Evaluation of Proposals; Project Clutter; Managing a Multimedia Project; Part Two: A Guide to Digital Media; Digital Media Delivery Systems-a Proliferation; What to Expect and Why We Did It That Way; Transportable Media: In the Beginning-The Floppy and Why It Still Lives; Hard Drive-Speed Champ and Getting Bigger Every Year; Laserdisc-The Format That Refuses to Die; CD-Rom-The Ubiquitous Media For All Permutations; CD-i-Interactivity in a Box; CRV-A Sony Recordable Solution for a Rushed Schedule; CD-R-(Recordable) Golden Solution for a Short Stack; Photo-CD-Digital Pix from Your Camera Store; DVD-The Five Inch Digital Video Di$c; Chips Ahoy-The Erasable/Programmable Read-Only Memory; Transportable Media on the Cusp-A Digital Catch-All: Magneto-Optical Disk; Floptical Disk; PCMCIA-Personal Computer Memory Card International Association-or the -PC Card;- CD-E-(Erase) Use Again and Again, But When?; Cartridge Drives; Wired Media: The Internet-What's There, What's Not There and Why Not; Direct Internet Use-Standing There With a Handful of Web; Managing the Web Spinning Process; Movin' On-Crossing Between CD-ROM and the Internet; The Cable Modem-Blow It Out Your Bag Pipe; Its a Wrap; Index