** Shareware/0.7 page/494 words **

JAY Magic Shadow Archiver v1.02
Shareware, all Ataris, ST high resolution or higher
Rating: 78%

The distinguishing feature of the Magic Shadow Archiver (MSA) format is its ability to hold an entire disk image, including the boot sector and non-standard track/sector specifications. Many demos on the ST use just that kind of disk organisation, for speed and efficiency purposes. A glance at the Atari ST demos section of an FTP site will reveal lots of *.MSA files ripe for the picking.
Currently at v2.3, the original MSA has some limitations which JAY Software sees as good enough reason to write a totally new program. The main new addition in JAY MSA is the directory browse facility, a far cry from having to extract a whole archive first just to see what's in it.

** BROWSE.GIF here **
** Caption **
Shades of the desktop make an appearance in JAY MSA
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Then there are new compression algorithms (which render archives incompatible with the old MSA - causing it to crash). Strangely, using LZW compression on one particular disk yielded an archive some 10Kb larger than the original disk!
In use, there is no doubting the superiority of the new program. Lots of options allow almost everything to be adjusted to suit and there's on-line help in ST-Guide hypertext format. Also making a debut are "MSA notes" - a small text field appendage intended for describing the archive contents (a la ST ZIP). Unlike MSA 2.3, JAY MSA can be properly installed as an application, so an archive can be loaded into it by dragging on to the program icon or double-clicking an archive named with an appropriate extender.
Is it worth the £10 shareware registration fee? Hmmm... JAY's MSA program is slightly slower (2:55 minutes to recreate Aura's High Fidelity Dreams demo disk compared to 2:40 for MSA v2.3), but much more modern and user-friendly. However, the original MSA is free, takes up far less space and gets the job done so it's a tough call. For archiving "normal" disks - readable from the desktop, there are alternatives like Christian Grunenberg's excellent LHarc-Shell, which in addition to being able to browse directories offers better compression and cross platform compatibility. Finally, new ST software released using weird disk formats is becoming a rarity anyway.
All these factors swings somewhat against JAY MSA. Make no mistake, these guys certainly know how to make a decent GEM application, and I'm all for variety and choice. JAY MSA is a promising piece of work but it's probably time for them to channel their efforts into something more innovative. Registration costs £10.00 and gets you a key code.
** Italics on **
Shiuming Lai
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** boxout **
** BC on **
Contact
** INFO.GIF here **
JAY Software, Jan Krupka, Trnkova 26, Olomouc, 779 00, Czech Republic
Telephone: +068/5419108
Email: krupkaj@risc.upol.cz
URL: http://www.inf.upol.cz/~krupkaj/jay/
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** Images and captions **
** EXTRACT.GIF **
One of many informative dialogs tucked away under a smooth exterior