Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2004 DVD

 

 

Create your own review

I hadn't been keeping up to date with Encarta for 3 years, and decided it was time for an upgrade.

I was taken aback by all the new details -- first I started exploring the Discovery Channel videos, which were very informative. What really impressed me though was the new 360 views. 360 views aren't new to Encarta by any means, but for the first time ever I was able to actually move forwards and backwards instead of just looking around. The only thing that disappointed me was Mindmaze: I had expected Microsoft to change it a little. It looked exactly the same in Encarta '95.

All said, Encarta is still a vital tool for any student of any field -- or even people who are just mildly curious about their world.

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 This is my opinion in brief: Encarta is excellent in all aspects, but Britannica's authoritative text (sometimes outdated) makes interesting to buy both.
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.

If you are looking for great presentation, lite content, and biased history, by all means by this product. I reviewed both Encarta and Britannica and found Britannica to more in depth and less biased in its history. Many of Brittanica's articles are by people Encarta only writes snippets about (i.e., you get their point of view not some political hack.) If you are looking for content and a fairer presentation of history buy Britannica.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 14 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy for the dictionary...
First off, my primary reason for buying this product was the dictionary tool, so my review isn't exactly complete. Read more

Published on Feb 21 2004 by Corey Noggle

3.0 out of 5 stars Picture quality could be better
As usual, the DVD version is better than the CD version because you don't have to swap the disks. However, the picture quality of the photos, especially the 360 tour is the worst... Read more

Published on Jan 1 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Bintannica is better
Britannica has more information than Encarta. But Britannica has worse interface than Encarta.

If you want better contents, Britannica will be the one. Read more

Published on Nov 27 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars No QuickDefine
The 2000 Reference Suite includes a QuickDefine feature that allows the ability to highlight a word in a webpage, right click and choose QuickDefine to get an instant definition... Read more

Published on Nov 8 2003 by Thiggy

4.0 out of 5 stars A Slight But Great Improvement
I thought that the 2003, edition of Encarta Reference Library was the ultimate refernce resource. But I was wrong. Read more

Published on Oct 17 2003 by Andre Da Costa

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overall encylopedia with emphasis on multimedia
Encarta is the top seller in the electronic encyclopedia market. It incorporates more multimedia bells and whistles than any of the others, and probably has the slickest interface... Read more

Published on Sep 21 2003 by magellan

2.0 out of 5 stars Horrible interface - crazy caroussel on your screen!
Encarta's interface has for years been much better than Britannica's, but this year's edition (2004) is different. In one word: horrible!

Bill Gates and Co. Read more

Published on Sep 19 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars Same old, Same old.
I usually only write reviews when I have postive comments, but I was disappointed in this years version of Encarta. It has very few improvements or new features. Read more

Published on Sep 12 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Everybody should have one!!
I purchased this item for my 3.5-year-old son who was very curious and also could read by himself. I tought him how to look up words with this software. Read more

Published on Aug 25 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Deal
Just bought my copy at [a local store] in Houston for [$$$] and will get a [$$$] rebate. Imagine 2.65 gb of info for [$$$]!!! Read more

Published on July 26 2003 by J. F. Pesce

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 14 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!