Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 3, 1994                   TAG: 9501030070
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`LION KING' BUYERS FIND BUGS IN THE JUNGLE

Several computer messaging networks are jammed with complaints from people who can't get the program to work. Some say it can't be installed or it crashes after installation.

``The software is full of bugs and will not even install on people's machines without some sort of sound fix from Disney,'' said Sal Giusto in e-mail to Newsday Direct on the Prodigy computer service. There were nearly 1,000 similar postings on America Online and in the Internet newsgroup ``rec.arts.disney.''

Amy Malsin, director of communications for Disney's interactive division, said the program, which retails for about $30, is not defective. ``We've been able to pretty much guarantee satisfaction for any customer who makes it through to our phone line,'' she said.

Malsin said the online complaints represented ``a handful compared to the hundreds of thousands of people who have bought the program and installed it successfully.'' She said the company will send a fix to those who are having problems. You can get more information at (800) 228-0988.

But Giusto, an accountant and no stranger to computers, said he's been able to unsnarl similar CD woes in the past but not this time. ``My 2-year-old loves the `Lion King.' Danielle's been walking around since Monday with the box under her arm, asking me when she can play with it. What am I supposed to do?''

According to the messages on the bulletin boards, the sophisticated ``Lion King'' CD does not work properly with some older types of sound cards.

Such problems are not unique to ``Lion King.'' Many new computer owners spent Christmas trying to figure out confusing ``error'' messages that popped up when they loaded the high-powered programs that run on CD-ROM-equipped computers.

Increasingly, home computer users are discovering that the underlying design of personal computers, now more than a decade old, was never intended to support glitzy ``multimedia'' applications. Industry attempts to rectify this problem aren't always successful.

It is not clear whether the ``Lion King'' CD is harder to get up and running than most CD programs, or whether it is just getting more attention. Disney expected to sell as many as 1 million copies.