.com Famously large in size and comprehensiveness, Britannica is probably the world's most famous encyclopedia, in print since the mid-18th century. The 2002 DVD version is just as comprehensive, and includes all 32 volumes found in print, as well as a dictionary and world atlas. However, the DVD version has the advantage of fitting into a much smaller binding, and on just one disc. The core of the software is as one would expect: Britannica's vast storehouse of knowledge and information, with entries on practically everything in existence. The articles and entries themselves are authoritative and interesting, each littered with hyperlinks to other related topics of interest, and include articles by people as renowned and diverse as Einstein, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Harry Houdini. Layered on top of this impressive core are related multimedia clips, both audio and visual, including panoramas and tours. Britannica is designed like a Web site, with a home page that's always easily accessible. From this, three main ways of accessing this treasure house of information are offered--Search, A-Z Britannica, or Knowledge Navigator. These are housed within the same pop-up window with tabs at the top, so users can search once and click between all three of these search results. Britannica has also indexed thousands of quality Web sites that are returned as part of each search, which adds a whole new depth of exploration.Britannica software also shines with regard to helping you organize your own research. You can take a note about a particular item, delegate your personal bookmarks, or collate and layout your collections in an attractive, publishable format. In addition to the vast repository of knowledge, Britannica's software also includes the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition), a world atlas with statistics and facts, and, a particular favorite of this reviewer, a visually pleasing Timelines feature. Chart the developments in a particular area dating back to 100,000 B.C. You can display each development alongside the others if you wish, or display a single topic, from art to architecture to medicine. This is fascinating software, is rendered well using Java, and, unlike other CD encyclopedia offerings, has more substance than style. Although a little bit difficult to navigate at first, it's both easy and pleasurable once understood. Researchers, quiz fans, students, or people who simply enjoy reading and learning will find this software a joy. --Alison Jardine
L**Y
shoddy
Within an hour of installing the DVD, the registration process hadn't worked, the online service wouldn't let me in because I hadn't provided information for which there was no blank, and the online updating had frozen my computer twice (and never worked). On the disk info itself I'd found three typos and a broken link, and had been crashed once while following an ordinary link. The single QuickTime movie I looked at was visually dark and had oddly pointless clips with minimal information. The dictionary gives no pronunciations and the atlas, as far as I can tell, is surprisingly limited. The logic of the encyclopedia's organisation is far from transparent though I suppose that might improve with use. Graphic design is ugly, very unlike the print Britannicas I remember from school, and page layout (again as far as I can see from brief acquaintance) inflexible (e.g. the window for marginalia can't be collapsed to get more of the actual article onscreen). I'm near returning it for falling so far short of what it could be, but there IS a lot of information here--in a package which really should have been designed (and copy-edited!) to higher standards.
E**O
Great content. Bad installation. Rebate never comes
Content is great. "Convenient" installation is not convenient. In fact, it doesn't work at all. 3 and a half months after I sent out the rebate form strictly according to their requirements, the check still has not come. Perhaps it will never.
H**A
Excellent content. Bug in the installation process
Just as some of the buyers have complained here in Amazon.com, the "convenient" installation in this Britannica DVD doesn't work. Obviously, this is due to a bug in the program. So I have to keep the DVD always in the computer, an inconvenient option. The multimedia is not as bad as some Encarta enthusiasts claimed. This DVD has great content and is good for adults and researchers. When I click "Islam," I get pages after pages of articles. You don't get that much from Encarta.Verdict: Good for people 18 and above. Kids may not find it interesting.
K**S
Great product, excellent value
This is simply the best reference product I have ever purchased for my family. I have read all the reviews in this forum, and want to point out a few things:1. Although there is no practical way to do a complete installation with the 2002 DVD, their customer service department is more than happy to exchange your version for a CD Deluxe edition, which does support this installation (nearly 2GB)2. One reviewer said that there was no alphabetical browse feature, but there IS one in the product. Additionally, there is a subject browse tool called the Knowledge Navigator, which is based loosely on the content from the Propaedia volume of the printed edition.3. While the multimedia does tend to be scant, it is all EB's original content. Other companies tend to license videos and photos like crazy, but have very little REAL content as far as the text goes. Britannica is known for its original content, and the transfer to CD/DVD is wonderful.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
2 days ago