Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite

by Avanquest

Product Features

• Brings first-rate reference materials right to the computer
• Complete 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica
• 2 dictionaries and thesauruses; world atlas with 1,300+ maps
• Vivid illustrations with 21,000 images, video, and audio
• Categorized into 3 easy-to-use comprehension levels

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0002HQWLC
• Item model number: 8300
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 18, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,031 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Owning the Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite is like having a complete reference library right at your fingertips. Its contents would easily fill a large bookcase--and now you can have this vast trove of information on your personal computer. Categorized into three easy-to-use comprehension levels, the suite includes over 100,000 articles in three complete encyclopedias, two dictionaries and thesauruses, rich multimedia, a world atlas, timelines, and more. The Ultimate Reference Suite is the knowledge you need from the world’s most trusted source.

Features:

• Encyclopedia Britannica: access the world’s most authoritative information in these 100,000 articles, containing the entire 32-volume Britannica and more.
• Britannica Student Encyclopedia: find information easily in 15,000 entries that are tailored to school subjects.
• Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia: instill a look-it-up habit that will stay with students in school and in life.
• Two Merriam-Webster Dictionaries and Thesauruses: together, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate and Student Dictionaries and Thesauruses provide access to 555,000 definitions, synonyms, and antonyms with a click of the mouse.
• World Atlas: take a tour of the world through more than 1,300 maps linked to articles about countries, economies, cultures, and national statistics.
• Timelines: watch history unfold with timelines that show the people, events, and discoveries of the past.
• Rich multimedia: view vivid illustrations with 21,000 images, video, and audio that bring topics to life.

Product Description

With the Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite is a complete reference library, right at your fingertips. Its contents would easily fill a large bookcase, but now you can store this vast trove of information on your Personal computer. Categorized into three easy-to-use comprehension levels, the suite includes over 100,000 articles in three complete encyclopedias, two dictionaries and thesauruses, rich multimedia, a world atlas, timelines, and more. A world of information from one of the world's most trusted source. Vivid illustrations with 21,000 images, plus Video and Audio that bring topics to life

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Brillant text content, September 10, 2004

By 

Nack Cive - See all my reviews

This review is from: Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite (DVD-ROM)

I'm using the Mac-Version of Britannica Ult. Reference Suite 2005. I'm using it on my PowerBook with 1.25 GHz and 512 MB Ram.

Benefits: it contains the authoritative content of the Britannica. That's fine. 2 stars for that.

BUT: The app just SUCKS, everything is LAME. The startup, the search features, the tools, EVERYTHING. It's annoying to use it. The Britannica team seems to trust totally on the content, but that's a failure, cause I will not by a product of them again till I read the announcement: "Britannica has rebuilt its Suite from the ground up in Cocoa, with focus on SPEED."

The Atlas has absolutely NO features, it isn't interactive at all, just a collection of images you surf through. You can view the world, each continent and each land, but THAT'S IT. If you click in a province of Italy e.g., you will get to the article. That's boring. I've heard in Encarta you can get much more details, as you can see the main streets of many cities. Here you don't even see whole provinces in detail!

The Britannica "ultimate" reference edition is a slow tool which connects to a text database with a few pics and movies. It is NOT an interactive, useful application.

If it isn't possible to create an application fast AND convenient, then I would prefer a snappy, sleek little Tool to fly through the articles, really fast and not bloated. That's more important than any features. Actually the built-in features like mindmapper and notices are so ugly and lame, that I won't ever use them.

Fine content, but the app makes it very hard to reach.

68 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Pentium III 1000 MHz 516 RAM, September 19, 2004

By 

Billy Budd "an_encyclopedias_addict" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite (DVD-ROM)

I buy every year Britannica and Encarta. Your can read my opinion in Encarta 2005.
The system requirements they recommend in www.eb.com and in the box of the product are very cheap, but the reality is different.
Britannica 2004 was slow, but 2005 is exasperating. I made a full installation (4.1 GB, 510 videos) and then tried installing only the Application (550 MB) and the Articles (only 390 MB), but it's the same. It's not a problem of quantity of contents: Encarta 2005 takes 3.2 GB and responds immediately. It's a problem of the application. I've bought a new and more powerful PC and I'll tell you how it goes. One pro for Britannica: it's compatible with MAC (Encarta isn't).
About the content I can't say very much for the moment. They have added 510 videos but, still, it is not a multimedia product due to, in part, the limited options you have to search (Encarta has a lot). Its AUTHORITATIVE TEXT is still authoritative, but some of their authoritative contributors died years ago, and updating does not work with Britannica (Encarta is updated every week free till October 2005 with new articles and additions to the old ones).One example: Encarta's articles for George Bush and John Kerry are updated till August 18. Kerry has 12 sections, 2 photos, internet links, related articles... George Bush has more. Britannica does not have entry for Kerry (mentions him twice when it was only a Senator) and Bush has utterly less information (perhaps more authoritative... I'm not an expert). Britannica's large articles of printed edition have been shortened, and others modified (for good or bad). They make comparison in the box with Encarta and World Book and claim that they have "More than 100.000 articles!" They confuse articles with sections and windows, windows and more windows that open slowly but inexorably. In Encarta one article is one article, good or bad, and you can scroll very fast or open in any moment the Index and go immediately to any section. Encarta 2005 includes "Encarta Kids" with an interface very colorful and appealing. Britannica has "3 encyclopedias in one": Britannica, Student and Elementary. The interface is the same for all. If you're not interested in Student and Elementary, you can buy Britannica Deluxe. But I've heard it goes very slow too!
All this said, I think Britannica is a marvelous encyclopedia. I have the printed edition (32 volumes, 32.000 pages) and I buy every year "Britannica Book of the Year". Why don't make an "only text" electronic edition like the first one in 1995? Its performance was excellent even in those old computers.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars negative stars??, February 8, 2005

By 

Betty Lawrence - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite (DVD-ROM)

This is my third version of Britannica. It is a definite improvement in content but a disaster in performance. Not only does it require returning to an obsolete version of Java runtime, it conflicts with my antivirus. Save yourself the time and trouble of returning it.