Rating: 
Summary: Excellent content. Bug in the installation process
Review: Just as some of the buyers have complained here in Amazon.com, the "convenient" installation in this Britannica DVD doesn't work. Obviously, this is due to a bug in the program. So I have to keep the DVD always in the computer, an inconvenient option. The multimedia is not as bad as some Encarta enthusiasts claimed. This DVD has great content and is good for adults and researchers. When I click "Islam," I get pages after pages of articles. You don't get that much from Encarta. Verdict: Good for people 18 and above. Kids may not find it interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Defective software
Review: The "convenient" install went OK. After it was installed, I immediately registered the product on-line and downloaded the latest update (both content and an apparent bug-patch). Nevertheless, this piece of software seems to have a memory leak, and typically uses 320 Megabytes of system memory EVEN AFTER I QUIT THE APPLICATION. This requires me to re-boot my computer to regain usage of HALF OF MY SYSTEM MEMORY. This is inconvenient, and utterly ridiculous for modern software. Unless you enjoy re-booting your computer everytime you use the Britannica, I advise you to NOT buy this software. This saddens me, because I like the textual content. The multi-media element,
however, leaves much to be desired. System details:
- Macintosh 867 G4
- 640 MB RAM
- OS X 10.1.4
Rating: 
Summary: Great product, excellent value
Review: This is simply the best reference product I have ever purchased for my family. I have read all the reviews in this forum, and want to point out a few things: 1. Although there is no practical way to do a complete installation with the 2002 DVD, their customer service department is more than happy to exchange your version for a CD Deluxe edition, which does support this installation (nearly 2GB) 2. One reviewer said that there was no alphabetical browse feature, but there IS one in the product. Additionally, there is a subject browse tool called the Knowledge Navigator, which is based loosely on the content from the Propaedia volume of the printed edition. 3. While the multimedia does tend to be scant, it is all EB's original content. Other companies tend to license videos and photos like crazy, but have very little REAL content as far as the text goes. Britannica is known for its original content, and the transfer to CD/DVD is wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Getting better all the time.
Review: This time around the folks at Britannica have produced a fine product. Feature rich, and full of information. I feel confident in recommending this over MS Encarta. They are poised to take the top slot in this market.
Rating:
Summary: shoddy
Review: Within an hour of installing the DVD, the registration process hadn't worked, the online service wouldn't let me in because I hadn't provided information for which there was no blank, and the online updating had frozen my computer twice (and never worked). On the disk info itself I'd found three typos and a broken link, and had been crashed once while following an ordinary link. The single QuickTime movie I looked at was visually dark and had oddly pointless clips with minimal information. The dictionary gives no pronunciations and the atlas, as far as I can tell, is surprisingly limited. The logic of the encyclopedia's organisation is far from transparent though I suppose that might improve with use. Graphic design is ugly, very unlike the print Britannicas I remember from school, and page layout (again as far as I can see from brief acquaintance) inflexible (e.g. the window for marginalia can't be collapsed to get more of the actual article onscreen). I'm near returning it for falling so far short of what it could be, but there IS a lot of information here--in a package which really should have been designed (and copy-edited!) to higher standards.
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