Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition

Rating:
Summary: Britannica 2004 versus Encarta 2004
Review: I have bought both Encarta and Britannica for years (EB in printed edition too: 32 volumes, 32.000 sheets). This is my opinion in brief: Encarta is excellent in all aspects, but Britannica's authoritative text (sometimes outdated) makes interesting to buy both.
¿DVD or CD? Both editions are actually the same. You can copy them in your hard disk.
TEXT: Britannica is a superb encyclopedia in text (not in visual aid) since 1768 (you know: an article by Einstein and so on...). Text in electronic version differs from printed encyclopedia (very large articles have been shortened). Britannica claims that it has more items than Encarta, but this is a joke: articles like "Mexico" are only one (with a lot of subdivisions) in Encarta, while in Britannica subdivisions are unconnected, and you must "jump" from one subdivision to another, which is slow and very annoying, especially if you want to copy it in "WORD". Very often, the text is not updated.
In the other hand, Encarta's text is not bad at all. Most articles have the name of their contributors (professions, works...): They are not John Doe. You can find large fragments of literary works, literature guides, a lot of sidebars and thousands of quotations. "Encarta Africana" is included. The Pop-Up (double clicking a word) Dictionary and Thesaurus has sound for correct pronunciation (by the way, it can read aloud, with a robotic and ugly voice, a whole article). The "Translation Dictionaries" to Spanish, French, German and Italian must be improved, because they are minimal. It gives you a lot of "Internet links", even if you are not connected. With Britannica you must be "on-line" and it searches in an EB Web page.
In theory you can update Britannica over the Internet free for a year quarterly (4 times), but this does not work: You can not find new files. Encarta can be updated free EVERY WEEK with new articles and additions or corrections to the old ones (till October 2004). With Encarta updating really works. Technically, is amazing to see the changes in old items.
ATLAS Britannica has not a real atlas; only a worlds map whose maximum detail is the States of USA. Statistics are very poor. Encarta's Atlas is like another encyclopedia, with a great detail (1 cm/ 4 km all over the world) and 20 types of atlas presentations (statistical ones can be counted by dozens). If you look a geographical article (city, river...) you can see in a corner where it is placed and, with only a click, open the atlas. In articles of cities, if you are on-line, you can see in another corner the weather of this place in that moment. If it is a USA place, you can read the latest news.
MULTIMEDIA: They say that "serious" or "adult" readers do not care about "pictures"; that multimedia is only for kids. I do not agree, because I think that, sometimes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". Works of art, anatomy, historical maps, diagrams ... Encarta devastates Britannica with a lot of photos, paintings, drawings, charts & tables, animations, interactivities, videos, music and sounds, pictures, 2-D and 3-D virtual tours, 360-degrees views, timeline, games... It is not only the quantity and quality. It is the easy access you have to all the multimedia, and that text and multimedia are fully integrated. Britannica is not really multimedia. It has photos and videos, but they make the program slow and sluggish. They should edit an alternative version with only text, as they did with the first edition in 1995. It worked fast and easy in old computers.
INTERFACE AND PERFORMANCE: This is the worst side of Britannica. With Encarta you only have to type a word or the beginning of a word to see all the articles and multimedia that contain it. If Encarta does not find anything, it gives you automatically alternative spellings. Even if you write the name of a small village lost in any country, you see it in the atlas. If you need to copy text or pictures, the integration with Microsoft WORD is perfect. It has additional ways to find content, including subject or multimedia browsing, "related articles" and the standard A-Z method. The "Research Organizer" is very helpful too. Encarta's TEXT FONT is very clear (Britannica's...) and you can choose 3 sizes.
Navigating with Britannica is different. 2004 edition is better than 2003 one, but still it is disappointing. I will only give you an example: if you do not know the exact and correct spelling of a name or word, it does not help you with similar spellings (unless you open a window and fight with it). As I said before, the program's performance speed is very slow and sluggish, and it must be dramatically improved. To go "back and forward" you do not find any icon and you need to open a "menu".... One "pro" for Britannica: they say it works with Macintosh.
I repeat my modest piece of advice: Encarta is excellent in all aspects, but Britannica's authoritative text (sometimes outdated) make interesting to buy both.

Rating:
Summary: NOT UPDATED - very outdated!
Review: If you already have an older version of Britannica, do not waste your time and money with this product. It has much better interface than 2002 or 2003 version, but as compared with Encarta 2004 or Concise Britannica (2002) it is completely outdated!

Examples:

- Encarta 2004 and Concise Britannica say that Mobil and Exxon are former names (companies) and that the new company is named Exxon Mobil Corp. (since 1999). But Britannica 2004 (Deluxe) says Mobil and Exxon are still independent companies (the last date mentioned is 1972 for Exxon and 1988 for Mobil).

- Concise Britannica say that Merida, Mexico, had a population of 557,000 in 1990 (Encarta 2004: 705,000 in 2000). But Britannica 2004 (Deluxe) provides only an information for 1980(!) (i.e. 400,142)

- Another example of Britannica's outdatedness is a name of the French town of Chalons-sur-Marne: how is it possible that Britannica is the only major encyclopedia which still hasn't noticed that it was renamed Chalons-en-Champagne years ago (according to Hachette in 1995)?

Etc, etc.

Rating:
Summary: Still one of the best sources for information
Review: The title says it all. Encyclopeadia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition features the entire 33 volume books, additonal volumes starting at 1993, Webster's dictionary, theasaurus, articles from the people who made history including notibles like Albert Einstein, world maps and a functional interface that has some problems with the search function and being somewhat sluggish.

The critisism of old information may be true although I profess, I don't spend that much time focusing on one region of the world that changes incredibly quickly. Articles are in-depth and well notated. The language is at times almost poetic and on occasion technically intimidating. The difference between this and the more expensive version may help those of us that want to read about sub-atomic particles without needing to take notes. Yet this attention to detail is why Encyclopeadea Britanica is so world acclaimed. The information on complex subjects is written to the complexity of the subject. Read articles on domesticated house pets and you won't drown in a sea of formulae and densely written text. At it's best Encyclopadea Britannica brings new detail to the subject at hand. Looking over the word "drum" brought about a scholarly response with unexpected richness while at the other end of the spectrum was the Britannica's discussion on Zappa, Frank - typing it in as Frank Zappa gets you nowhere, the strict adherence of proper language important as the flowery prose written about the deceased Composer/Rock Star/Satirist. Zappa would be having a good laugh at the cereberal treatment of his work. Encyclopaedia Britannica takes itself seriously if not laboriously.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Ultimate Reference Suite may make some discussions a bit easier as there are three versions based on school age along with dictionary tools of similar age groupings. You get about 5000 extra multimedia elements which are probably interesting but hardly necessary. The reference suite seems age based in a completeist way.

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition has the same tools as it's larger, higher priced version. It stays within the adult realm. This is a serious thing to consider as you are expected to have well rounded educational skills in this adult version. Having not used this software before it is hard to say the quality is better or worse than previous editions. The updates are generally dated at 2002 as are the Encarta discussions.

One major difference is getting to additional information. You get a full year's worth of content updates opposed to Encarta's fixed date of October 2004. You also are spared having to open an extra internet account (MSN) which Encarta asks of you. Premium services are available for 60 days with an offer to purchase an extra year of premium services at $25. This is slightly less than half price should you join Britannica's online service for 12 months. Again, with Encarta you must become a MSN user with a flat fee of $4.95 a month for their premium service which is often where the expanded content is.

Therefore, Encyclopaedia Britannica is a better value and doesn't tie you into propriatary services, a real disincentive when you have high speed access and are expected to pay for much of the depth of Encarta's information.

What you need to consider is:
1. how do you best learn? If it is visually then you may find Britannica to be a bit on the boring side. As one that enjoys visuals I can say I don't miss them in the face of so much inforation available within Encyclopaedia Britannica. But in terms of media and a fun quotient Encarta is hard to beat.
2. what education level are you comfortable learning in? Again, Encyclopaedia Britannica doesn't compromise much. There is more substance here but with the expectation you will put effort into checking areas you are unfamiliar with. This is very much a encyclopedia in the real sense of the word. But for the good cross reference tools and links to other sites you are reading a book, not "experiencing" information which is Encarta's strongest point and weakest point at once.
3. should you upgrade? Based on others who seem hell bent to pummel this excellent CD set it seems the answer is no. It may be better to stick with Britannica's web solution instead.

In conclusion, Encarta beats Britannica hands down in terms of interface, performance speed and colorful content. But Britannica's best suit is the addition of a theasauras, dictionary, world map, study tools and content. Britannica also has vastly more detail and articles, it's Year in Review books from 1993 to 2002 along with about the same up to date material as Encarta. In terms of comparing software it isn't fair to compair Encarta Deluxe with Britannica Deluxe, the amount of additional material in Britannica Deluxe compares favorably with Encarta Reference Library where again, Britannica wins in most every catagory of information.

I can't give Britannica five stars due to it's slower operation and less developed interface. Nor could I give it any less than 4 stars based on information and find it astonishing that reviewers here are so rough on this wonderful software. Should you want the best of both worlds I'd suggest both Britannica and Encarta but I would also warn you that Encarta Reference Library is the way to go as it is substantially more developed than Encarta Deluxe.

Of the two Britannica is the superior package, providing comprehensive knowledge is what you are looking for.