Rating: 
Summary: Encarta, brand-new every year.
Review: I buy ENCARTA every year, and BRITANNICA from time to time. This is my opinion:
TEXT: Britannica's writing style is more sophisticated, and its authors are very well known. However, Encarta is not bad written at all, its authors are good and the contents are more or less the same, or better in the last versions.
You can update Britannica over the Internet free for a year, but only quarterly (4 times). Encarta is updated EVERY WEEK with new articles and additions to the old ones.
MULTIMEDIA and FEATURES: Encarta devastates Britannica with a lot of animations, interactivities, videos, music and sounds, pictures, literature sidebars, new translation dictionaries, Atlas, 2 D and 3 D virtual tours, timeline, games ... It's not only the quantity and quality. It is the easy access you have to all the multimedia, and that text, multimedia and features are completely integrated.
NAVIGATING: Encarta wins again. You only have to type a phrase, a word or de beginning of a word to see all the articles and multimedia that contains it. If you have typed the name of a small village lost in Senegal (e.g.), you see it in the Atlas without clicking again. If Encarta does not find anything, it gives you alternative spellings and you meet with what was looking for. To go "jumping" from article to article is very easy and quick, because you have a lot of links and the "Related Articles" section. If you need to copy text or pictures, the integration with Microsoft's WORD is perfect.
Navigating with Britannica is different. You do not get crazy, but ... I only say that, if you do not know the exact and correct spelling of a name or word, it does not help you with alternative or similar spellings.
My computer is Pentium III 1000 Mhz 256 RAM, and I have copied Britannica into the hard drive (the same with Encarta). The fact is that it is very slow, and that takes a lot of RAM (50 % more or less). If you have other programs open, perhaps Britannica does not work. With Encarta, you do not have any problem.
I hope my opinion is helpful for you.
Rating:
Summary: Encarta, brand-new every year.
Review: I buy ENCARTA every year, and BRITANNICA from time to time. This is my opinion:
TEXT: Britannica's writing style is more sophisticated, and its authors are very well known. However, Encarta is not bad written at all, its authors are good and the contents are more or less the same, or better in the last versions.
You can update Britannica over the Internet free for a year, but only quarterly (4 times). Encarta is updated EVERY WEEK with new articles and additions to the old ones.
MULTIMEDIA and FEATURES: Encarta devastates Britannica with a lot of animations, interactivities, videos, music and sounds, pictures, literature sidebars, new translation dictionaries, Atlas, 2 D and 3 D virtual tours, timeline, games ... It's not only the quantity and quality. It is the easy access you have to all the multimedia, and that text, multimedia and features are completely integrated.
NAVIGATING: Encarta wins again. You only have to type a phrase, a word or de beginning of a word to see all the articles and multimedia that contains it. If you have typed the name of a small village lost in Senegal (e.g.), you see it in the Atlas without clicking again. If Encarta does not find anything, it gives you alternative spellings and you meet with what was looking for. To go "jumping" from article to article is very easy and quick, because you have a lot of links and the "Related Articles" section. If you need to copy text or pictures, the integration with Microsoft's WORD is perfect.
Navigating with Britannica is different. You do not get crazy, but ... I only say that, if you do not know the exact and correct spelling of a name or word, it does not help you with alternative or similar spellings.
My computer is Pentium III 1000 Mhz 256 RAM, and I have copied Britannica into the hard drive (the same with Encarta). The fact is that it is very slow, and that takes a lot of RAM (50 % more or less). If you have other programs open, perhaps Britannica does not work. With Encarta, you do not have any problem.
I hope my opinion is helpful for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great piece of software
Review: I first bought Encyclopedia Britannica's 2002 DVD, but I soon exchanged it for Encarta's 2002 DVD. And I made the right decision.While Britannica's interface makes it difficult for you to search for information, Encarta presents everything in an easy-to-understand format. Want a complete list of every available article? Encarta's got it. Want a complete list of all available images? Encarta's got that, too. In fact, you can choose to display EVERYTHING, if you wish. Articles, images, sounds, videos, maps, etc. This makes it extremely easy to just browse through the contents of the encyclopedia. But maybe you want to search for something specific. Well, just type in the word or words, and click "Go." Encarta makes searching for information easy. You can choose to search the entire encyclopedia, or limit your search to specific categories. Encarta also allows you to install the entire program on your hard drive, thus eliminating the need to use the DVD. (Britannica's 2002 DVD does NOT allow this.) This not only saves time, but for those of us with only one DVD/CD drive, it allows us to pop in and listen to a music CD while researching articles in Encarta. I appreciate Encarta for its ease of use, but the scope of articles contained within this encyclopedia is also to be complimented. And if you use this encyclopedia while connected to Internet, the program integrates almost seamlessly into web content. For example, visit an article on a specific city, and if you're online, you'll also get current weather conditions in that city, as well as the current news related to that city. And the world atlas? Amazing. You have MANY options when using the world atlas. View the world by day or night, using satellite images. View the world in terms of its population, its religions, its temperatures, etc., etc. Zoom out, zoom in. To be honest, it's just fun spinning the globe. But you don't just get an atlas of the earth. No. You can also view the moon. Spin a globe of the moon, zoom in on specific areas, click on article links. The world atlas included within Encarta is great. My only complaint about Encarta is that you have to be running the encyclopedia before you can use the dictionary/thesaurus. And the dictionary/thesaurus window is not resizable. But this is a minor complaint and can be easily overlooked. In my opinion, you get your money's worth when you buy Encarta's 2002 DVD. I've yet to experience any bugs in this program, and the multimedia contents are plentiful and useful. Give it a shot. If you don't like it, Microsoft offers you a 30-day money back guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: Great piece of software
Review: I first bought Encyclopedia Britannica's 2002 DVD, but I soon exchanged it for Encarta's 2002 DVD. And I made the right decision. While Britannica's interface makes it difficult for you to search for information, Encarta presents everything in an easy-to-understand format. Want a complete list of every available article? Encarta's got it. Want a complete list of all available images? Encarta's got that, too. In fact, you can choose to display EVERYTHING, if you wish. Articles, images, sounds, videos, maps, etc. This makes it extremely easy to just browse through the contents of the encyclopedia. But maybe you want to search for something specific. Well, just type in the word or words, and click "Go." Encarta makes searching for information easy. You can choose to search the entire encyclopedia, or limit your search to specific categories. Encarta also allows you to install the entire program on your hard drive, thus eliminating the need to use the DVD. (Britannica's 2002 DVD does NOT allow this.) This not only saves time, but for those of us with only one DVD/CD drive, it allows us to pop in and listen to a music CD while researching articles in Encarta. I appreciate Encarta for its ease of use, but the scope of articles contained within this encyclopedia is also to be complimented. And if you use this encyclopedia while connected to Internet, the program integrates almost seamlessly into web content. For example, visit an article on a specific city, and if you're online, you'll also get current weather conditions in that city, as well as the current news related to that city. And the world atlas? Amazing. You have MANY options when using the world atlas. View the world by day or night, using satellite images. View the world in terms of its population, its religions, its temperatures, etc., etc. Zoom out, zoom in. To be honest, it's just fun spinning the globe. But you don't just get an atlas of the earth. No. You can also view the moon. Spin a globe of the moon, zoom in on specific areas, click on article links. The world atlas included within Encarta is great. My only complaint about Encarta is that you have to be running the encyclopedia before you can use the dictionary/thesaurus. And the dictionary/thesaurus window is not resizable. But this is a minor complaint and can be easily overlooked. In my opinion, you get your money's worth when you buy Encarta's 2002 DVD. I've yet to experience any bugs in this program, and the multimedia contents are plentiful and useful. Give it a shot. If you don't like it, Microsoft offers you a 30-day money back guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: The most important software you can buy for your family!
Review: I have been buying Encarta almost every year since 1995. I've followed it from a clunky Windows-unfriendly program to what it is today - the best reference software available for your family! This is the third year that they've had it available on DVD and it's definitely the way to go! No swapping disks! And for the first time, they have an option to copy the whole thing your hard drive, so you can run it without the DVD in the drive (you can listen to a music CD while looking things up, for example). Today's new computers have HUGE hard drives, so take advantage of this feature if you can! Every year, Encarta seems to get better. One of the improvements this year is that the updates you download from the internet are available more often than once a month. Previously, you had to wait til the 10th of the month to download the previous month's update. Now there are many updates available each month - at least every week there is something new you can download! The way that Encarta accesses the web is seamless. You hardly know where Encarta ends and the internet begins. The "web center" is a browser and the Encarta folks frequently update the llinks so your research on a certain subject is supplemented by great internet content. For the past couple of years, Encarta has included the Encarta Afrikana, which has also won awards! This encyclopedia which focuses on African-American culture, including the rich heritage of music. The multimedia features are growing by leaps and bounds too. In addition to the sound clips and video clips there are many "interactivities" that tend to cause you to spend more time at the computer than you'd planned - but hey, it's educational! I really enjoy the Dynamic Timelines. You can really see how all of history fits together. You can browse the timeline, then click on something that interests you, and more info pops up. And of course Encarta has World Maps section - you can "grab" and spin the globe and zoom out and zoom in on your favorite location. The maps feature alone is worth the cost of the program. It's truly interactive.
For teachers, and students writing papers, Encarta will make your job easier. There are curriculum guides, report organizers, research helpers and much more. It truly is a program for the whole family. You can literally sit down with your computer and Encarta and 3 hours later, you're still clicking and learning! Oh, and Encarta has a subscription fee...to get the new Encarta as soon as it's released to the public. It's worth it to me! My only complaint about Encarta 2002 is that the Dictionary part doesn't seem as good as in years past. In last year's Encarta, you could click on the word and it would pronounce it for you. This year, you just get a pronunciation guide - hardly the same!.. Also, I miss the "Bookshelf" features they used to have - the extensive quotes dictionary. I haven't been able to find that on Encarta 2002. But the dictionary is my ONLY complaint about this wonderful program! Buy this software for your family today - you'll all enjoy learning...
Rating:
Summary: The most important software you can buy for your family!
Review: I have been buying Encarta almost every year since 1995. I've followed it from a clunky Windows-unfriendly program to what it is today - the best reference software available for your family!
This is the third year that they've had it available on DVD and it's definitely the way to go! No swapping disks! And for the first time, they have an option to copy the whole thing your hard drive, so you can run it without the DVD in the drive (you can listen to a music CD while looking things up, for example). Today's new computers have HUGE hard drives, so take advantage of this feature if you can! Every year, Encarta seems to get better. One of the improvements this year is that the updates you download from the internet are available more often than once a month. Previously, you had to wait til the 10th of the month to download the previous month's update. Now there are many updates available each month - at least every week there is something new you can download! The way that Encarta accesses the web is seamless. You hardly know where Encarta ends and the internet begins. The "web center" is a browser and the Encarta folks frequently update the llinks so your research on a certain subject is supplemented by great internet content. For the past couple of years, Encarta has included the Encarta Afrikana, which has also won awards! This encyclopedia which focuses on African-American culture, including the rich heritage of music. The multimedia features are growing by leaps and bounds too. In addition to the sound clips and video clips there are many "interactivities" that tend to cause you to spend more time at the computer than you'd planned - but hey, it's educational! I really enjoy the Dynamic Timelines. You can really see how all of history fits together. You can browse the timeline, then click on something that interests you, and more info pops up. And of course Encarta has World Maps section - you can "grab" and spin the globe and zoom out and zoom in on your favorite location. The maps feature alone is worth the cost of the program. It's truly interactive.
For teachers, and students writing papers, Encarta will make your job easier. There are curriculum guides, report organizers, research helpers and much more. It truly is a program for the whole family. You can literally sit down with your computer and Encarta and 3 hours later, you're still clicking and learning! Oh, and Encarta has a subscription fee...to get the new Encarta as soon as it's released to the public. It's worth it to me! My only complaint about Encarta 2002 is that the Dictionary part doesn't seem as good as in years past. In last year's Encarta, you could click on the word and it would pronounce it for you. This year, you just get a pronunciation guide - hardly the same!.. Also, I miss the "Bookshelf" features they used to have - the extensive quotes dictionary. I haven't been able to find that on Encarta 2002. But the dictionary is my ONLY complaint about this wonderful program! Buy this software for your family today - you'll all enjoy learning...
Rating: 
Summary: Not for adults; wonderful for kids, homework and browsers
Review: I purchased Encarta Reference DVD 2002 with high hopes. Despite several industry awards (e.g. "Computing's finest encyclopedia"), the encyclopedia lacks the sophisticated content and scholarly treatment appropriate for college-level users. Finding Encarta's encyclopedia only suitable for browsing, I was very disappointed, and immediately compared my purchase to Britannica Online.
Encarta is slick software, with lots of colorful pictures, hyperlinks, and multimedia, but the text seems really targeted at the parents of school-going children (grades 6 to 10) with short attention spans. The expository style is far more USA Today, rather than New York Times, Scientific American or the Economist. Even the quantity of text is lacking: Encarta Deluxe has 26 million words as against Britannica's 50+ million. What Encarta is missing most of all is the scholarly introductory treatment of the academic (as opposed to high-school level) subject, something 15 or 20 pages long. For instance, the Encarta article on algebra would be useless for any college-level user - it primarily covers elementary (10th grade) algebra, like quadratic and simultaneous equations - but omits all but a passing mention of abstract algebra, like group theory, or even for that matter linear algebra. Groups and rings aren't defined properly, and the article wrongly suggests that only numbers can comprise groups. No mention at all of fundamental theorem of algebra. What it does have are worked solutions for quadratic and simultaneous equations, just the thing so dad can help Junior with his 7th-grade homework. In contract, Britannica article is a longer, but comprehensive treatise on algebra, including a good definition of groups and rings, and how they're used. Britannica's article might be boring unless you're already interested (it's not MTV; it has no pictures at all), takes some effort to understand, and would probably be way over the heads of most middle-schoolers. Another useful illustrative comparison is Encarta's facts, figures, pictures and sound-bites coverage of Shakespeare, which has many extracts from his plays. But Encarta doesn't say why Shakespeare is so special, how his education might have influenced his plays, who else could have authored plays attributed to him and so on. In contrast, the Britannica article available free online is far more interesting, opinionated, and through. There also many topics of current interest that Encarta only covers cursorily or not at all: the Human Genome Project, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Signal Transduction, Cyclins, Computational Biology. The Encarta entry on anthrax fails to distinguish the different prognoses for the inhaled, ingested and cutaneous manifestations, incorrectly lumping them together under a 20% fatality rate. Britannica has none of these shortcomings. I very much like Encarta's automated maps and atlases, which I found immensely fun to browse. I also like the digitized walk-through tours of a few significant places, such as the Coliseum. Both these features justify the purchase price, but of course are no substitute for the poor encyclopedia. I urge anyone considering buying to first try out the free online trials for both Encarta and Britannica. You can see which is best. I think Encarta is really for children, but I imagine many adults will appreciate it for its color, easy browsability, and simplicity. Microsoft probably intentionally dumbed down Encarta in order to capture fully the 'kids and homework' market, fully aware the demand for scholarly, intelligent encyclopedias (as with the demand for The Economist or Foreign Affairs) is far more limited. My vote, however, is clearly for Britannica's quality scholarship. - aas76, San Francisco
Rating:
Summary: Encarta Reference Library 2002
Review: I spent a weekend evaluating the new Encart Reference Library. Like it's predecessors it is full of new articles and sidebars adding to an already rich learning experience. The universal search engine is a nice addition, it gives you the ability to see related content in all of the Encarta programs. The only drawback to the new Encarta is that the programs are all bundled together in a single package. The disadvantage to this is that you can't open an Aricana article on, let's say, Carthage, while having the the Encyclopedia article on Carthage open simulataneously. The dictionary is also incorporated and opens in a small diaglog box that can't be resized and the style guide as well as other features have not been included in the new Encarta. Having the reference suite as seperate programs that can be open simultaneously was extremely handy. All in all though, this is still the best reference you can buy! George Regal
Rating:
Summary: Encarta Reference Library 2002
Review: I spent a weekend evaluating the new Encart Reference Library. Like it's predecessors it is full of new articles and sidebars adding to an already rich learning experience. The universal search engine is a nice addition, it gives you the ability to see related content in all of the Encarta programs. The only drawback to the new Encarta is that the programs are all bundled together in a single package. The disadvantage to this is that you can't open an Aricana article on, let's say, Carthage, while having the the Encyclopedia article on Carthage open simulataneously. The dictionary is also incorporated and opens in a small diaglog box that can't be resized and the style guide as well as other features have not been included in the new Encarta. Having the reference suite as seperate programs that can be open simultaneously was extremely handy. All in all though, this is still the best reference you can buy! George Regal
Rating:
Summary: Definitely the best reference software
Review: It's nice that Encarta is now on DVD-ROM. The rich multimedia features, the rich set of reference tools, and a clean user interface make this by far the best reference software on the market. Plus the new version has improved the Internet features. At its heart is the encyclopedia, which has always been a joy to use. While not as "scholarly" (read, pretentious) as some other encyclopedias, Encarta is rich with sights and sounds and makes a great educational tool for adults and children alike. With over 67000 articles in the package that are updated, it also makes a terrific value. If there's one electronic reference you'd like to own, this is it.
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