Software Review
Copernic 2001 Plus
reviewed by Rick Fischer

I have been a Copernic evangelist for several years. My students in the mid-south and in Europe use it with great
success. My Swiss masters students are supposed load it before starting their research work.
And, it's free. Well, the basic Copernic 2001 is free. The Plus and Pro variations will cost you.

What does it do?
Copernic says it's a "Internet search toolbox." If I were head of marketing, I change the wording slightly: it's a box
of Internet search tools. The emphasis should be on the tools, not on the box.
We know it as an international meta-search engine - a search engine that runs simultaneous searches on a number
of other search engines, then consolidates the results and presents them to you with the most promising hits listed
first. You can sort results in other ways if you need to. Your search terms are highlighted in yellow on the screen.
Does that sound like a good idea? It is! And it works.
The free version of Copernic 2001 does this very well. The Plus and Pro versions give you more choices and
flexibility in organizing your searches.

Categorical searches in Plus
With the basic Copernic you can access seven search categories: the Web, newsgroups, e-mail addresses, buy
books, buy hardware, buy software and one of 14 language or country-based categories.
With Copernic Plus you can access around 90 categories using more than 1,000 general and specialized search
engines and directories. And, I can pick one or all of the language or country-based categories.
Why is category searching important? Well, I see that when I searched for books it only used search engines that
returned books. And when I searched news, it limited itself to searches of news. That means that you reduce by a
significant amount false hits.
This afternoon I ordered a new book on Amazon.com. Later, I loaded Copernic Plus. I selected the category
"buy books." I entered the name of the book and received hits representing a number of book sellers that had the
book. One seller offered it at the same price I paid. Most were more expensive. One would have saved me 16
cents.
Copernic has a category called Top News. I clicked on it and entered "Memphis" as the search term. Copernic
only searched news sites and returned 73 hits. The majority were from today's news. The first announced Rufus
Thomas' death. The Sacramento Bee Web site had a story about the Memphis Grizzlies. Msnbc had a piece
about the Memphis Tigers basketball team. Yahoo news also had a Grizzlies story, as did Lycos sports.
It found some older stories (three weeks old) about missing scientist Dr. Jon Wiley. And, it found a two-year-old
story about Memphis barbecue.

This is the only Internet search engine I use. If you allow, it will attach itself to your browser toolbar - where it
belongs.
The booklet that ships with the Plus version is a promotional piece. It lists the functions available in all Copernic
versions. It does not tell you where to find them or how to use them. Refer to the Help menu and print out "What
is Copernic 2001?" and "Creating a new search" to find out how to use Copernic or Copernic Plus. I printed it
and have enjoyed learning more about this wonderful program.
Here are some of the things that Plus will do that are not available in the basic program:
" select and download search engines (not already included)
" translate selected Web pages
" export query results in a variety of file formats
" no banner ads

Translate function
I entered "la playa" as a search term - Spanish for "beach." Back came Web sites in English and Spanish with
this word on the site. I found a Spanish site, waited for it to load, then clicked translate. It goes through
Copernic's translation dialog box asking about source language and preferred destination language. In less than
10 seconds it translated the entire Web page to English. Amazing!
Copernic translates accepts sites in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Russian.

Copernic Shopper
My package included Copernic Shopper Plus (sells for $30). Copernic has a free version of this program as well.
The difference is that with the Plus version you can:
" keep track of prices automatically
" monitor product availability
" Get e-mail notifications of new tracking results
" no advertising banners

Within Shopper you can access it through My Shopper - 13 categories, like books, computer hardware, computer
software, sports, home, etc. I tried shopping for a Ford F-150, but was unsuccessful. Automotive was not one of
the categories.
Or, you can Find Prices, Find Reviews, or shop Hot deals. Within Find Prices, I asked for prices for a Brother
laser printer. At the top were the least expensive -- $268. Prices increase as you go down the list.
One interesting feature that Copernic Shopper has that I have not seen on shopping Web sites is a function to
convert foreign currency into U. S. dollars.

Requires: Windows 95 or higher. Netscape 3 or later or Internet Explorer 3 of later. Some functions only work with
later versions. 3 MB on hard drive. Internet access.

$ 40
www.copernic.com or www.macmillansoftware.com