The Encyclopaedia Britannica CD 99, multimedia edition, is a two‐disc product that fully incorporates the entire Britannica 32‐volume set. Included with the two data discs is an installation disc, along with detailed instructions for installing the product. This edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica has 73,000 articles (1,600 new articles since CD 98); 9,000 photos and illustrations (450 new ones); and 30,000 Internet links (twice the number in the CD 98 edition). Also included in the product is the 1998 Britannica Book of the Year, the Merriam‐Webster Collegiate Dictionary, a detailed user’s manual, and the CD 99 Discovery Guide (an instructional booklet focused on helping families make the most of the product). Added benefits include a free one‐month subscription to Britannica Online (with discount for continued use), subscription to Britannica’s Click and Discover quarterly newsletter, free Earthlink software and one month free trial offer, 24‐hour technical support, monthly information updates, periodic discounts on upgrades and other items of interest, opportunities to upgrade to future versions with discounts, and flexible loading options. This product is available for Windows 95 or NT systems only.
Long regarded as the most comprehensive and authoritative encyclopedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica CD 99 contains all the information of the print edition, with all of the wonderful features that multimedia and computer applications currently provide. A number of these features allow the user to manipulate and rearrange the data into graphs, charts, and reports for personal demonstrations and research projects. These features appear along the bottom of the main screen menu. They are:
Spectrum presents an orderly plan for learning based on an outline structure. Knowledge has been divided into categories, branches, and articles. The user can navigate through this “tree” to examine information related by topic and genre.
Compass covers 191 nations and 29 dependent states of the world. The user can use World Map, Continent Map, and Nation Map to find out statistical, regional, and factual information on these countries.
Analyst creates statistical portraits of the nations of the world in reports, tables and colorful graphs. The user can choose two nations or places and compare statistical information regarding the two.
Timelines provides an overview of historical events in the arts, sciences, and other areas of human knowledge and experience. The user can compare two subject areas (like visual arts and technology) side by side along a time axis.
Spotlights offers guided tours of specific subject areas. This edition covers: The Olympics, Ecosystems, Human Anatomy, Dinosaurs, and The American Civil War.
With all of these features, regular search and retrieval options are always available; and the user can attach notes to articles. This edition has obviously harnessed the popularity of the Internet by including more than twice the number of Internet links in last year’s edition.
The multimedia edition reviewed here is a great buy, considering that the print edition is over ten times the price of this software edition. There are also two other CD 99 editions to choose from. The Britannica CD 99 Standard edition, priced at $85, is cheaper because it has only one disc for both installation and start‐up and contains only Compass and the search engine as features. It is usable in both Macintosh and Windows environments. The Britannica CD 99 Ultimate Reference Suite, priced at $149, is more expensive because it contains not only the multimedia edition, but also the de luxe audio edition of the Merriam‐Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Rand McNally’s New Millennium World Atlas Deluxe. It is only available in the Windows environment.
