Can anyone give me some feedback on these two programs (I am getting tired of sitting at the library in line for a PC with free connections)? Thanks! [Catherine Wells Mensi]

Catherine Mensi wrote: >Can anyone give me some feedback on these two programs (I am getting tired >of sitting at the library in line for a PC with free connections)? Thanks! > >[Catherine Wells Mensi] > > >==== WELLS Mailing List ==== > Join Rootsweb > http://www.rootsweb.com > > > > > Catherine, Both of these programs are great for the genealogist interested in serious research...i say serious, because they are very expensive to purchase a subscription to.So, if you want to spend about $200.00 a year to buy the top end program, it is well worth it, but youbetter be willing to spend a great deal of time using their stuff if you want to justify the cost, at least that is my thinking. For my purposes, i decided i did not need the total package, so i just subscribe to the US. Census Collection, the American records collection and the One World Tree. They are about $40.00 each per year. I suggest that you subscribe to the magazine of Ancestry.com, called Family Tree, it is well worth the price (six issues yearly are about $25.00 or so) Any how, you have my perspective on Ancestry.com and since one parent company owns both it and Genealogy.com, the difference is probably negligible. I do think that for the price one should be able to access either program, but that has not come to pass yet. Frank

I have tried both and every time I signed up for Genealogy.com within a week, I cancelled it. It is because of the search program. You must know the exact spelling (no soundex) and you must always have a first name. Ancestry.com allows you to search by soundex AND by partial name. You must provide the first three characters at a minimum. When I search for WELLS I input: WEL*S, then WIL*S This usually picks up every spelling variation. Soundex picks up too many other names. The first name is the same as well ... but, you can also leave it blank and fill in a specific residence or birth location ... or age ... or a range on the year of birth. It just has more options. My Ancestry.com subscription is for the census, family records, vital records. I do not have the submitted lineages or newspapers. The lineages are really usually also found on Rootsweb.com if you really want them. I do believe that Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com are both NOW owned by the same company. I did see a recent special on Ancestry.com for $186 which is much cheaper than each separately. -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Mensi [mailto:cmensi@midsouth.rr.com] Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 6:03 PM To: WELLS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [WELLS-L] Ancestry.com vs. Genealogy. com Can anyone give me some feedback on these two programs (I am getting tired of sitting at the library in line for a PC with free connections)? Thanks! [Catherine Wells Mensi] ==== WELLS Mailing List ==== Join Rootsweb http://www.rootsweb.com