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| Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Platinum 20 | 
 enlarge | From: Encore Software
Category: Software
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $18.99
You Save: $11.00 (37%)
New (15) Used (4) from $17.36
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 214
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp, Windows
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Platinum
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.3
MPN: 15061
Model: 15060
UPC: 705381150602
EAN: 0705381150602
ASIN: B0012VI1ES
Release Date: February 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
touch type made enjoyable May 29, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This version of Ms. Beacon's software makes typing even more enjoyable to learn. It is really adaptive to how well you can type - it picked up that I was an intermediate typist after a few lessons - you can't con Ms. Beacon it seems.
A few points are
1)It would be preferable if you could customize this software to eliminate some types of lessons - for example I want to touch type letters and numbers but not the minor punctuation keys like brackets -
2)The import facility is great up to a point but when you add the text from internet sources it tends to add weird hypertext characters which are annoying as you want just to type text.
3)The games are basic and not very challenging - I enjoyed a game called typing of the dead which pushes my touch typing to the limit - I wish Ms. Beacon would incorporate something like this or typer shark deluxe.
Overall however apart from these few minor points the software does what it says on the box teach you to type which is what it is intended to do. There are not many typing programs of this quality on the market and she is still the standard bearer.
 Avoid This If Don't Already Touch Type May 14, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
As a previous review stated, the product stops teaching one keys after E and I. Apparently it was never tested by anyone at the beginner level.
There is no easy way to report this to the publisher as well.
Very disappointing.
Disappointing... May 13, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I purchased this about two weeks ago, planning to finally learn to touchtype. Perhaps this is the best package out there, but I am quite disappointed with it. The lessons start off comfortably, with a introdution to the resting position keys, followed by drills using those keys. But on my copy of the program, after introducing the first two keys that are not directly under the resting position (the "e" and "i"), the lessons and drills jump to a much more advanced level - requiring the use of many letters not introduced yet. Perhaps my package is uniquely buggy, but since there's no customer service at Broderbund's website, I'll never know.
For a package that's at version 20, I'm very disappointed.
Careless and flawed. May 5, 2008
12 out of 19 found this review helpful
This program offers the basic features that you'd expect from most any typing training program within the last 5-10 years, but offers little else that's impressive.
It has a heavy list of glaring flaws, however, as there are very obvious format flaws in some of the lessons (no spaces after the end of some sentences, etc). The options you choose such as double-spacing after the end of sentences sometimes don't carry over, and never do with games. There are also graphical bugs with the strike-through style option of typing that cause words in later lessons to be offset, replaced, or disappear.
[..]
 Much Improved, this is the best program now days March 27, 2008
47 out of 47 found this review helpful
This program is MUCH IMPROVED! If you'll see my review of Mavis Beacon 17 I believe it was, you can see where I pointed out this programs flaws. However, these have all been resolved and this program has become satisfactory in every way in my opinion.
Mavis Beacon 20 (I have only tried the platinum edition) also has a new practice feature which I haven't found anywhere else, where you can choose from a huge selection of articles where you just type right along with the text while the text you type appears in the lines in between the text to type (no looking halfway down the screen to see mistakes), errors appear in red and make a little noise to let you know that they have occurred. This is a great practicing tool for after you learn all the keys and want to stay sharp. I should also add that these articles are legitimate or legitimate style articles that are actually interesting and fun to type (such as outtakes from Ben Franklin's biography, to scientific articles, many topics) unlike those boring, fake ones that usually are in place on typing programs (which make you feel like you're back in elementary school) and you can even import your own text.
This has really been turned into a very fine program and out of all the programs out there (I've tried alot of them) this one without question gets the highest recommendation. All features have become very practical and user friendly. There's also a ten key learning portion of the program (as with the older versions as well) The interface also has been spiffed up very nicely with pleasing graphics a whole array of new and actually fun games. Bravo to Broderbund for setting the bar to new heights in this program.
---------------UPDATE------------------
I've got to admit, I learned all of the keys typing on mavis beacon 17, but I doubt that it's any harder on MB 20. The main thing that was really lacking on MB 17 (besides being a junky program) was that you couldn't repeat lessons, which you can now do on MB 20. If you're looking for a program with no small glitches but is much more boring and with less features, then you should look into TypingMaster Pro which you can demo, which is a fine program by the way and If MB is too difficult for you then TypingMaster teaches two keys at a time, however I can't remember how many MB would jump up at a time, however you could always just repeat lessons until you get it. Overall if I was having to spend money on something that I was planning to use for a long time, I would pick Mavis Beacon any day simply because of the practice feature, which I use EVERYDAY. On any other program, after you've learned all the keys, the only thing you can do to practice is to take the final tests over and over again. Unless you go right into a daily regimine of heavy typing, then you will get rusty real fast and this feature makes for an easy and interesting way to stay sharp. You can try a flash demo of MB 20 from their web site. Also, There's an annoying feature on mavis beacon where a hand is displayed on the screen typing the keys as you type, this can be turned off in the options. If you look, there's actually not a whole lot out there to choose from when it comes to typing programs, but I've tried about every one I could find, and this would easily be my choice. If people who don't like it find a more useful program, then they should list it in the comments for this review. I'll finish by saying that TypingMaster might be a little easier to learn on, but I own both of them and still use MB everyday and deleted TypingMaster off of my computer a long time ago. It may all depend on how you want to use it.
---------------UPDATE------------------
The lessons plan showing how many new keys per lesson can be viewed in the screenshots shown above on this page.
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