Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Completely Revamped, September 12, 2005
The Encyclopedia Britannica 2006 (established in 1768) is a completely revamped product. Its interface is intuitive and uncluttered. It is far more fun to use. For instance, it now offers a date-based daily selection of relevant articles. The search box is persistent - no need to click on the toolbar's "search" button every time you want to find something in this vast storehouse.
The new Britannica's display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of new windows with every move. Most importantly, articles appear in full - not in sections. This major improvement facilitates finding relevant keywords in and the printing of entire texts. These are only a few of dozens of user-friendly alterations and enhancements. The 2006 edition is a breakthrough. The Britannica seemed to have finally got it entirely right.
The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant encyclopedia, print or digital. But its has noticeably enhanced it non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, and more words).
The Britannica fully supports serious research. It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up to date bibliographies, and relevant multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy.
The Britannica's 80-100,000 articles (depending on the version) are long and thorough, supported by impressive bibliographies, and written by the best scholars in their respective fields. The company's Editorial Board of Advisors reads like the who's who of the global intellectual and scientific community.
The Britannica comes bundled with an atlas (and 287 World data Profiles of individual countries and territories), the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, classic articles from previous editions, eleven yearbooks, an Interactive Timeline, a Research Organizer, and a Knowledge Navigator (a Brain Stormer).
In its new form, the Britannica is as user-friendly as the Encarta. Regrettably, it is updated only 2-4 times a year, a serious drawback, only partially compensated for by 3 months of free access to the its impressive powerhouse online Web site.
The Britannica is an embarrassment of riches. Users often find the wealth and breadth of information daunting and data mining is fast becoming an art form. This is why the Britannica incorporated the Brain Stormer to cope with this predicament. But an informal poll I conducted online shows that few know how to deploy it effectively.
The Britannica also sports Student and Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product, replete with a Homework Helpdesk - but it is far better geared to tackle the information needs of adults and, even more so, professionals. It provides unequalled coverage of its topics. Ironically, this is precisely why the market positioning of the Britannica's Elementary and Student Encyclopedias is problematic.
The current edition is fully integrated with the Internet. Apart from the updates, it offers additional and timely content and revisions on a dedicated Web site. The digital product includes a staggering number of links (165,808!) to third party content on the Web. The GeoAnalyzer (compares national statistical data and generates charts and graphs) is now Web-based and greatly enhanced.
The Britannica would do well to offer a browser add-on search bar and integrate with new desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must and will be able to ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, and the Web - using a single, intuitive interface.
Having used the product extensively in the last two weeks and on different platforms and operating systems, I find myself entertaining some minor gripes:
The atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus incorporated in the Britannica are surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - and dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries for specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, for instance)?
Despite considerable improvement over the previous edition, the Britannica still consumes (not to say hogs) computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes it it less suitable for installation on older PCs and on many laptops.
The Britannica now uses a new graphic and text renderer. On some systems, the user needs to modify his or her desktop settings to get rid of jagged fonts and blurry photos.
Moreover, despite the hype, relatively few users possess DVD drives (but those who do find the entire reference suite available on one DVD).
But that's it. Don't think twice. Run to the closest retail outlet (or surf to the Britannica's Web site) and purchase the 2006 edition now. It offers excellent value for money (less than $50) and significantly enhances you access to knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Potential problems, August 20, 2006
I had problems with my Britannica order that customers may anticipate. The first version I received came in a 2006 Edition box and jewel case, but the CD's were 2005 Edition. The replacement (which Amazon did promptly) had the correct CD's but there was no serial number on the jewel case or packaging (you are asked for it when you install). As a lark, I put in 16 numbers at random and it accepted it without a problem. Still, can you imagine such incompetence from an encylopedia company?
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Encyclopedia Britannica 2006 Delux for PC, March 10, 2006
The first few times I used Britannica 2006 I was amazed at the additional information it supplied, not available on my other encylopedia computer program. However, I ran into that new search technique they use and even though I write data bases I was not successful in finding out which birds regurgitate food to their chicks -- crazy search anyway. I'm sure the answer is there but I only found the answer applying to one bird -- a quail; and I was looking for a buzzard.
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