Product Reviews

The print version of Encyclopedia Britannica costs over £500 and comprises a hefty 32 volumes. If that sounds a bit too weighty you could take the easy option and buy all 32 volumes on one DVD for less than £50.

Britannica's main strength is the length and detail of its articles, as we noted in the review of Encarta. The article on photosynthesis is almost 9,000 words long, nuclear fission gets almost 8,400 words, Picasso just under 5,000 and so on. These articles are so detailed that you could use them as the main source for an A-level or even a university essay.

Britannica also comes with student and elementary editions, aimed at intermediate and younger schoolchildren. The articles in these are shorter and use simpler language, which is good for younger readers who may feel baffled and intimidated by the amount and complexity of information in the main encyclopedia. Despite this supposed simplicity, the Student Library often assumes a high level of knowledge. The article on communism in the elementary edition,

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for example, starts by paraphrasing The Communist Manifesto and within seven sentences is observing that Lenin was too inexperienced to manage the Soviet economy. If you're a 15-year-old who doesn't really know what communism is, this is likely to lead to confusion rather than enlightenment.

Both extra editions are integrated into the Britannica browser tabs, so it's easy to move between them quickly. Unfortunately, when you move between edition tabs, all the articles you've been reading remain open in all tabs. This can be confusing and slows the browser. Even if you stay in one tab, when you move from one article to another or between index points in an article, everything you've previously read remains open.

Where Britannica has improved since previous versions is in its ease of use. The new browser allows you to see all the articles, images and videos relevant to your search. This makes it easy to find exactly what you want, and to gather as many source materials as possible for your query. If you still need more information you can refer to the comprehensive reading lists and web links at the end of each article.

Impressive as the new interface is, it doesn't work as smoothly as Encarta's and the content, text, audio, images, maps and timelines don't work as well together as they do in the Microsoft title. If you're buying for yourself, an A-level or university student, Britannica's long, detailed articles provide the best value. If you're buying for a child or younger teenager, Encarta's easy presentation, simple language and web-style interface are far friendlier and more accessible.