Summary form only given. The giant magneto-impedance (GMI) effect-an abrupt change in the high frequency impedance of a magnetic conductor subjected to a relatively small dc magnetic field-has been widely studied in the last several years. GMI effect investigations performed on various soft magnetic wire families have demonstrated that such materials are very appropriate for microsensor applications based on this effect. The aim of this paper is to review the most recent advances in the field of the GMI effect in soft magnetic wire shaped materials, such as conventional amorphous wires prepared by in rotating-water quenching, nanocrystalline wires prepared from amorphous precursors, amorphous glass-coated microwires, and nanocrystalline glass-coated microwires.