Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 Deluxe - Windows
Rating: 3 of 5
so so
Rating: 4 of 5
product review
the thing I like about this product is it sites the refereces 4 you so if your doing school work & you have 2 site a article you just scroll down 2 the bottum & copy down the reference
Rating: 5 of 5
THE Encyclopedia!
The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 (established in 1768), both in its Ultimate (now also called "Student & Home") & Deluxe versions, builds on the success of its completely revamped previous editions in 2006-8. The rate of innovation in the last three versions was impressive & welcome. It continues apace in this rendition with Britannica Biographies (Great Minds & Leaders), Classical Music (500 audio files arranged by composer), & a great Workspace 4 Project Management (a kind of friendly digital den). Generous 6-12 months of free access 2 the myriad riches of the Britannica Online complete the package.
The Britannica comes bundled with an atlas (close 2 1800 maps linked 2 articles & 287 World Data Profiles of individual countries & territories); the Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, augmented by a Spanish-English translation dictionary; classic articles from previous editions; eleven yearbooks; an Interactive Timeline with 4000+ indexed timeline entries; a Research Organizer; & a Knowledge Navigator (called The Brain or BrainStormer). All told, it offers a directory of more than 166,000 reviewed & vetted links 2 online content.
In its new form, the Britannica is as user-friendly as the Encarta. With a new A 2 Z Quick Search feature, monthly updates & the aforementioned 6-12 months of free access 2 its impressive powerhouse online Web site, it is bound 2 give the former tough competition.
The Britannica's newest interface is even more intuitive & uncluttered than previously & is great fun 2 use. It offers morsels of knowledge, some of it date-specific, appetizingly presented through a ticker tape of visuals that leisurely scrolls across the bottom of the screen plus highly edifying interactive tours of articles & attendant media.
When you enter even the first few letters of a term in the search box, it offers various options & is persistent: no need 2 click on the toolbar's "search" button every time you want 2 find something in this vast storehouse of knowledge. Moreover, the user can save search results onto handy "Virtual Notecards". Whole articles can be copied onto the seemingly inexhaustible Workspace.
The new Britannica's display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of windows with every move. Most importantly, articles appear in full, not in sections. This major improvement facilitates the finding of relevant keywords in & the printing of entire texts. These are only a few of the numerous alterations & enhancements.
Perhaps the most refreshing change is the Britannica's Update Center. Dozens of monthly updates & new, timely articles are made available online (subject 2 free registration). A special button alerts the user when an entry in the base product has been updated.
Regrettably, unlike in the Encarta, the updates cannot be downloaded 2 the user's computer or otherwise incorporated into the vast encyclopedia. Moreover, the product does not alert its user 2 the existence of completely new articles, only 2 updated ones. It takes a manual scan of the monthly lists 2 reveal newly added content.
Speaking of updates, one must not forget 2 dwell on the Britannica's unequalled yearbooks. Each annual volume contains the year in events, scientific developments, & everything you wanted 2 know about the latest in any & every conceivable field of human endeavor or nature. About 10,500 articles culled from the last 11 editions buttress & update the Encyclopedia's anyhow impressive offerings.
The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant encyclopedia, print or digital. But it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, & more words): it now boasts in excess of 22-30,000 images & illustrations (depending on the version) & 900 video & audio clips. This is not 2 mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica's most famous contributors-from Sigmund Freud 2 Harry Houdini, Marie Curie 2 Orville Wright.
The Britannica fully supports serious research. It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up 2 date bibliographies, & relevant multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy.
The Britannica's 84-103,000 articles (depending on the version) are long & thorough, supported by impressive bibliographies, & 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 & scientific community.
The Britannica is an embarrassment of riches. Users often find the wealth & breadth of information daunting & data mining is fast becoming an art form. This is why the Britannica incorporated the BrainStormer 2 cope with this predicament. But an informal poll I conducted online shows that few know how 2 deploy it effectively.
The Britannica also sports Student & Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product, replete with a Homework Helpdesk & interactive tutorials, but it is far better geared 2 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 & Student Encyclopedias is problematic: with Wikipedia & even the Encarta around, the Britannica's brand is distinctly adult & scholarly.
Still, the 2009 editions of both the Student & Elementary encyclopedias improve on the past in terms of both coverage & facilities: the Homework Helpdesk is a collection of useful homework resources including a video subject browse, online learning games & activities, online subject spotlights, & how-to documents on topics such as writing a book review. There are also Learning Games & Activities: hundreds of fun & interactive games & activities 2 help students with subjects like Math, Science, & Social Studies.
The current edition is fully integrated with the Internet. Apart from the updates, it offers additional & timely content & revisions on a dedicated Web site. The digital product includes a staggering number of links (165,808!) 2 third party content & articles on the Web. The GeoAnalyzer, which compares national statistical data & generates charts & graphs, is now Web-based & greatly enhanced.
The Britannica would do well 2 offer a browser add-on search bar & 2 integrate with desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, & others. Currently it offers search results through Google but this requires the user 2 install add-ons or plug-ins & 2 go through a convoluted rite of passage. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must & will be able 2 ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, & the Web - using a single, intuitive interface.
Some minor gripes:
The atlas, dictionary, & thesaurus incorporated in the Britannica are still surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - & dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries 4 specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, 4 instance)?
Despite considerable improvement over the previous edition, the Britannica still consumes (not 2 say hogs) computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes it less suitable 4 installation on older PCs & on many laptops. If you own a machine with anything earlier than Pentium 3 & less than 4 Gb of really free space - forget it!
The Britannica uses a new graphic & text renderer. On some systems, the user needs 2 modify his or her desktop settings 2 get rid of jagged fonts & blurry photos. The software also seriously conflicts with security applications (especially anti-virus & firewall products). This edition, though, is finally compatible with the latest QuickTime.
But that's it. Don't think twice. Run 2 the closest retail outlet (or surf 2 the Britannica's Web site) & purchase the 2009 edition now. It offers excellent value 4 money (less than $40, with a rebate) & significantly enhances you access 2 knowledge & wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited"
The Britannica comes bundled with an atlas (close 2 1800 maps linked 2 articles & 287 World Data Profiles of individual countries & territories); the Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, augmented by a Spanish-English translation dictionary; classic articles from previous editions; eleven yearbooks; an Interactive Timeline with 4000+ indexed timeline entries; a Research Organizer; & a Knowledge Navigator (called The Brain or BrainStormer). All told, it offers a directory of more than 166,000 reviewed & vetted links 2 online content.
In its new form, the Britannica is as user-friendly as the Encarta. With a new A 2 Z Quick Search feature, monthly updates & the aforementioned 6-12 months of free access 2 its impressive powerhouse online Web site, it is bound 2 give the former tough competition.
The Britannica's newest interface is even more intuitive & uncluttered than previously & is great fun 2 use. It offers morsels of knowledge, some of it date-specific, appetizingly presented through a ticker tape of visuals that leisurely scrolls across the bottom of the screen plus highly edifying interactive tours of articles & attendant media.
When you enter even the first few letters of a term in the search box, it offers various options & is persistent: no need 2 click on the toolbar's "search" button every time you want 2 find something in this vast storehouse of knowledge. Moreover, the user can save search results onto handy "Virtual Notecards". Whole articles can be copied onto the seemingly inexhaustible Workspace.
The new Britannica's display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of windows with every move. Most importantly, articles appear in full, not in sections. This major improvement facilitates the finding of relevant keywords in & the printing of entire texts. These are only a few of the numerous alterations & enhancements.
Perhaps the most refreshing change is the Britannica's Update Center. Dozens of monthly updates & new, timely articles are made available online (subject 2 free registration). A special button alerts the user when an entry in the base product has been updated.
Regrettably, unlike in the Encarta, the updates cannot be downloaded 2 the user's computer or otherwise incorporated into the vast encyclopedia. Moreover, the product does not alert its user 2 the existence of completely new articles, only 2 updated ones. It takes a manual scan of the monthly lists 2 reveal newly added content.
Speaking of updates, one must not forget 2 dwell on the Britannica's unequalled yearbooks. Each annual volume contains the year in events, scientific developments, & everything you wanted 2 know about the latest in any & every conceivable field of human endeavor or nature. About 10,500 articles culled from the last 11 editions buttress & update the Encyclopedia's anyhow impressive offerings.
The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant encyclopedia, print or digital. But it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, & more words): it now boasts in excess of 22-30,000 images & illustrations (depending on the version) & 900 video & audio clips. This is not 2 mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica's most famous contributors-from Sigmund Freud 2 Harry Houdini, Marie Curie 2 Orville Wright.
The Britannica fully supports serious research. It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up 2 date bibliographies, & relevant multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy.
The Britannica's 84-103,000 articles (depending on the version) are long & thorough, supported by impressive bibliographies, & 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 & scientific community.
The Britannica is an embarrassment of riches. Users often find the wealth & breadth of information daunting & data mining is fast becoming an art form. This is why the Britannica incorporated the BrainStormer 2 cope with this predicament. But an informal poll I conducted online shows that few know how 2 deploy it effectively.
The Britannica also sports Student & Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product, replete with a Homework Helpdesk & interactive tutorials, but it is far better geared 2 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 & Student Encyclopedias is problematic: with Wikipedia & even the Encarta around, the Britannica's brand is distinctly adult & scholarly.
Still, the 2009 editions of both the Student & Elementary encyclopedias improve on the past in terms of both coverage & facilities: the Homework Helpdesk is a collection of useful homework resources including a video subject browse, online learning games & activities, online subject spotlights, & how-to documents on topics such as writing a book review. There are also Learning Games & Activities: hundreds of fun & interactive games & activities 2 help students with subjects like Math, Science, & Social Studies.
The current edition is fully integrated with the Internet. Apart from the updates, it offers additional & timely content & revisions on a dedicated Web site. The digital product includes a staggering number of links (165,808!) 2 third party content & articles on the Web. The GeoAnalyzer, which compares national statistical data & generates charts & graphs, is now Web-based & greatly enhanced.
The Britannica would do well 2 offer a browser add-on search bar & 2 integrate with desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, & others. Currently it offers search results through Google but this requires the user 2 install add-ons or plug-ins & 2 go through a convoluted rite of passage. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must & will be able 2 ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, & the Web - using a single, intuitive interface.
Some minor gripes:
The atlas, dictionary, & thesaurus incorporated in the Britannica are still surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - & dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries 4 specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, 4 instance)?
Despite considerable improvement over the previous edition, the Britannica still consumes (not 2 say hogs) computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes it less suitable 4 installation on older PCs & on many laptops. If you own a machine with anything earlier than Pentium 3 & less than 4 Gb of really free space - forget it!
The Britannica uses a new graphic & text renderer. On some systems, the user needs 2 modify his or her desktop settings 2 get rid of jagged fonts & blurry photos. The software also seriously conflicts with security applications (especially anti-virus & firewall products). This edition, though, is finally compatible with the latest QuickTime.
But that's it. Don't think twice. Run 2 the closest retail outlet (or surf 2 the Britannica's Web site) & purchase the 2009 edition now. It offers excellent value 4 money (less than $40, with a rebate) & significantly enhances you access 2 knowledge & wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited"
Rating: 5 of 5
Good Value
I wanted 2 add a good general reference encyclopedia onto my laptop because I will be traveling overseas 4 two years & do not want 2 haul books or even extra CDs with me. And I am often not able 2 get 2 the internet 4 any general research. This product was loaded entirely onto my computer & runs very well with MS Vista. Britanica 2009 has good articles, illustrations, maps & diagrams. For me it is an excellent buy.
Your PC unlocks a comprehensive world of reference 4 education, reports, & provocative details on almost anything!
($24.50)
Buy Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 Deluxe - Windows Now!
- Dictionary (part of this s/w) is not as rich as those online dictionary such as theFreeDictionary.com or dictionary.com. No pronounciation (only symbols).
- Forced registration.
This was very annoying 2 me since it pops up literally every time & provides NO option 2 remove. Moreover the registration required a lot of personal information which, I believe, is 4 Britannica marketing people. I sent an email 2 Britannica on this but 4 somehow it didn't go through.