If you hate the idea of interactive shopping, Apple has a surprise that will enable you to pry the term "home shopping" from the initials "QVC." In December, Apple sent its first interactive shopping CD-ROM, En Passant, to 30,000 people. Despite the stupid name (French for "in passing"), this product's interface and selection of clothing, gifts, electronics and games are all top-notch.
The manufacturers featured include Patagonia, Land's End, Pottery Barn, Tiffany and Co., Williams-Sonoma, and sixteen others who sell stuff you might actually want to buy.
En Passant does more than merely serve up screens of photos, prices, and an ever-present 800 number. To start with, En Passant is beautiful - elegant and rich. An electronic magazine included on the CD-ROM offers surprisingly good advice about decorating. In addition to the requisite notes on colors, styles, sizes, and ordering, it has a handy "valet" search mechanism for finding items by keyword, a "gift registry" for reminding you when to buy gifts for whomever, and a way to create custom catalogs for yourself or others - with only those items that meet your interests - a clever feature that will save you time when the next quarterly update arrives.
This product just may push some people into buying CD-ROMs after long resisting games and Photo CDs.
En Passant: (800) 437 4121. Apple Computer: +1 (408) 996 1010.
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