CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS
CD-ROMs COMPARISON
Compiled by Jennifer S. Stephens
Dresser Industries, Inc.
This chart is a comparison between the West Group Code of Federal Regulations product (the former Lawyers Cooperative Publishing product) and the Soft Solutions, Inc. Code of Federal Regulations product. The costs listed were obtained from the Dresser Industries, Inc. Law Library. They represent the cost plus shipping and sales tax to Dallas, TX.
| Feature | Solutions Software, Inc. | West Group LawDesk |
| Search Engine | Adobe Acrobat 2.1(with special add-ins) | Folio Views (with special add-ins) |
| Search Ease/Speed | Can search entire text or by title number (ie, 1,3,5). Fast. | Can search entire text, by exact citation, by multiple titles the more criteria, the slower. |
| Printing | Slow, but looks "just like the book". Must specify which pages to print. | Fast, text-only, can print individual sections or specify which pages to print. |
| Updates | Annual or Quarterly | Monthly |
| Includes Images | Yes | No |
| Table of Contents | Yes | Yes |
| Can Jump from Table of Contents to Section | Yes | Yes |
| Expand Table of Contents | Yes | Yes |
| Save to File | Must do "select all" by page, then copy, then paste into another program under Edit menu. | Can select, copy & paste with normal Windows commands. |
| Ease of Installation | One copy of program to network, then copy two files to individual PC’s & attach indexes. | Must either install complete program to each pc or make network installation. Very difficult to tweak |
| Other Installation Issues | Must "re-attach" indexes with each new quarterly or annual disk. Very easy to do. | Can just swap disks in tower. If there is a software upgrade, must upgrade at every PC. |
| Training | None provided other than general software tutorial. Easy to figure out. | Must pay for training, but similar to other Folio Views applications, easy to figure out. |
| Annotations | No additional annotation. PDF format of print equivilant | Extensive annotation and cross-linking with other LawDesk products. |
| Pricing | $62.50 plus shipping & tax for annual disk $190 plus shipping & tax for quarterly disk. No LAN charges or restrictions |
Call for pricing. Must purchase LAN licenses. |
| Web Address | http://www.env-sol.com | http://www.westgroup.com/cd-rinfo/cd-rhome.htm |
| Number of Disks | 2 | 2 |
Summary: If you just need the CFR for reference, then use the Solutions Software product. It is cheap ($190 compared to nearly $1000 for print), prints great, fairly easy to use, and "looks just like the book."
If you need a more extensive research product with annotations, then use the LawDesk version. It is annotated with US Code, ALR, ALR Federal, Supreme Court, etc. links to other LawDesk products. It is fairly easy to use, but is much slower in searching.
Copyright © 1998 Private Law Libraries SIS
Last Updated: July 27, 1999
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