Rating: 
Summary: Britannica 2000 is problematic
Review: At first, Britannica 2000 CD worked reasonably well. However, now, it does not work at all. It hangs during application start-up. I suspect it has a problem sharing one or more DLLs with other applications, since there was an update to Britannica 1999 to resolve a similar problem. The excellent content is of NO value if you can't access it (and I can't).
Rating:
Summary: Britannica 2000 is problematic
Review: At first, Britannica 2000 CD worked reasonably well. However, now, it does not work at all. It hangs during application start-up. I suspect it has a problem sharing one or more DLLs with other applications, since there was an update to Britannica 1999 to resolve a similar problem. The excellent content is of NO value if you can't access it (and I can't).
Rating:
Summary: Do NOT buy this software.
Review: Britannica is now owned by . . . (are you ready?) . . . Matell Interactive. And this product shows it.I have tried two separate versions of Britannica (most recently the DVD version) and neither one loaded properly. Thinking that there must be something wrong with me or my machines, I went to the reviews at www.cnet.com, a website frequented by knowledgeable computer users, and found that a lot of other users were experiencing the same frustrations. A real software company would post a downloadable fix, but if you go to the Britannica website (www.britannica.com), you won't find one. There are two possible explanations: (1) the software is so defective that Mattel has not been able to develop a fix, or (2) they don't care. Either way, buyers end up on the losing end.
Rating:
Summary: Do NOT buy this software.
Review: Britannica is now owned by . . . (are you ready?) . . . Matell Interactive. And this product shows it. I have tried two separate versions of Britannica (most recently the DVD version) and neither one loaded properly. Thinking that there must be something wrong with me or my machines, I went to the reviews at www.cnet.com, a website frequented by knowledgeable computer users, and found that a lot of other users were experiencing the same frustrations. A real software company would post a downloadable fix, but if you go to the Britannica website (www.britannica.com), you won't find one. There are two possible explanations: (1) the software is so defective that Mattel has not been able to develop a fix, or (2) they don't care. Either way, buyers end up on the losing end.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Encyclopedia
Review: Britannica worked flawlessly on my computer and helped me write many reports with the help of the Research Assistant. The articles were in depth and interesting. Compass and Analyst helped with visual aids as did the timelines. Overall, Britannica was very easy to use.
Rating:
Summary: Best Encyclopedia
Review: Britannica worked flawlessly on my computer and helped me write many reports with the help of the Research Assistant. The articles were in depth and interesting. Compass and Analyst helped with visual aids as did the timelines. Overall, Britannica was very easy to use.
Rating:
Summary: Don't do it!
Review: Don't buy this product. I wrote the long review below (Dec. 5th) about the headaches involved, but at the time I was trying to use the product anyway. It has since crashed my computer repeatedly. It interferes with other software apps (for example, if the EB app. is running while MSWord is running, I sometimes can't print my Word documents). I cannot print the EB entries without logging onto the EB website, where the word is looked up there--and then when I try to print the entry from the website, it sometimes crashes my browser. And annoyingly, even after you've paid for the CD version, you are not allowed to log onto the EB website directly, which you might want to do to avoid having your CD stumble around and then log you on to get what it needs. I hate this CD ROM. I ended up subscribing to the online version after all. Even though the website crashes soemtimes, it is far more useful than the CD ROM. But I still harbor ill will toward this company for causing me so much pain. I had to UNinstall the program AND everything else on my system because this CD ROM introduced some kind of bug into my system--the problems didn't go away just because I stopped opening the EB application.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a decent encyclopedia. But it is not great.
Review: Encyclopedia Britannica(ECB) offers a decent quality of information for a low price. In fact, I do not know any beter computer encyclopedia for the price. However, ECB program has some serious usability problems and is weaker than the printed verison of Britannica.
Rating: 
Summary: frustrating but eventually useful
Review: First, don't fall for the rebate thing. When I tried to peel the rebate sticker off the box, it pulled blue ink off the box with it, which ruined the side of the sticker that had all the vital info. on it. Also, don't expect to get an exact version of what you use online if you've been using their website. The look and feel of this software is entrely different, and some of the options automatically log you on to their internet website where you use the online stuff anyway(which is okay unless you bought the CD thinking it would be a good way to avoid the random crashes of EB's website, when it keeps saying "This page is unavailable.") Anyway, the other frustrating thing is that the "standard" version that the "install" disk loads doesn't have everything on it. Once you try to look up a word (which is after you've figured out how to use the new look and feel"), you keep getting messages to "insert CD #1" or "insert CD#2." I had to UNINSTALL the installed version and then reinstall with the "custom" option so that I could tell it to load the info. on the other disks. However, I didn't have enough room on my hard drive for all the info. on the other disks, so I still have to keep switching out the CDs while I'm trying to look things up. One other thing, this software also loads Microsoft Internet Explorer onto your system, which is how it accesses the Internet to get info. for you. It takes you to some kind of EB home page where they want you to make a home page and set up e-mail and so on. WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED? I just wanted my own, reliable copy of the on-line encyclopedia so I could look up a word whenever I wanted without worrying about the site being down. I got a whole lot of other headaches along with what I wanted. I'll use it, but I wish it was simpler and less sly about coercing me BACK onto their website.
Rating:
Summary: Encyclopedia Britannica 2000
Review: Good graphics--poor tech support, hard to load, locks up machines, custom version has problems.
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