|
| Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate 2008 [OLD VERSION] | ![Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate 2008 [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J5iENP-kL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | From: Avanquest
Category: Software
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $14.00
You Save: $25.99 (65%)
New (2) Used (1) from $14.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 843
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows Xp, Mac Os X, Windows Vista, Mac Os X Intel
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media: DVD-ROM
Edition: Ultimate
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.3
MPN: 8025
Model: 8026
UPC: 018059080256
EAN: 0018059080263
ASIN: B000QFRT0S
Release Date: May 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Great tool for school February 23, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This has come in so handy for reports that my kids have done. There are three different levels that you can use, depending on the age of the person using it. I'm so glad that I bought it!
 Save your money January 26, 2008
10 out of 18 found this review helpful
My only reasoning for acquiring Britannica was I thought that spending some money could land me a more comprehensive resource for quick research other than the free Wikipedia. As soon as I installed it, I did some quick article comparisons between the $35 "2008 Ulimate Britanica" and the free Wikipedia and found that pretty much on every article I was looking at, Britannica fell way short in the depth of content. Their articles were at least 75% shorter than the ones offered on Wikipedia, it offered no scholarly citations, no organization, few pictures, and fewer articles in general.
I'm not here promoting Wikipedia, but I was just wanted perhaps a more credible source of information. Instead, I only found that there was just so little information on this product it's not even worth the comparison. I hope Encarta is a lot better than this... or is our encyclopedic authority left to precarious user-submitted sites?
I am a college student at a four-year university, btw.
Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate 2008 January 23, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
GREAT IDEA!!! A must GET for any college student who must do research papers. The DVD gives two types of citations: MLA AND APA. Both are needed in today's colleges. One year of free updates, online Britannica, and other items just sweeten the deal. Again a MUST GET/GREAT IDEA for any college student.
Awesome January 18, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was the best gift I could've given to my sister's family with kids ranging in age from 2 to 9 yrs! Very cool with a large multi-media section.
Academic database of wisdom two and a half centuries in the making January 8, 2008
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
The Encyclopaedia Britannica was first published in 1768 and still remains the best scholarly volume of knowledge available, and now at a breathtakingly cheap price. Subsequent editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica took decades to update but the tome would double and triple in size each time. In 19th century the Encyclopaedia Britannica had gone from 1 book to 20. By the first decade of the 20th century the Encyclopaedia Britannica had grown to 29 with over 40,000 articles.
In the course of the 1950s the Encyclopaedia Britannica established a worldwide editing team to give the publication global representation. This era of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is widely regarded as one of the most expensive and work demanding investments ever undertaken for a publication. Over 4,000 scholars where assembled for this project.
During the 1970s until the 1990s the Encyclopaedia Britannica went through restructuring into different categories to make the articles easier to access. The finalized version (1985-present) consists of a 32 volume set and is the one that this software is based on.
The next major transformation took place in the early 1990s when the Encyclopaedia Britannica took advantage of the CD-ROM revolution. The digital technology innovators claimed that the new data storage medium could be compared to containing the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica on one disc. The Encyclopaedia Britannica was released on one disc becoming one of the most popular software packages available on the new CD-ROM format.
Along with providing one of the most comprehensive Encyclopaedias available for computers, the Encyclopaedia Britannica hosts the domain Britannica on the Internet.
Even though the Internet revolution offered considerable challenges to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, such as Google's search engine capabilities, Wikipedia the free on-line Encyclopaedia, along with Microsoft's Encarta software, the Encyclopaedia Britannica still has a powerhouse collection of articles that are edited by a staff of academics that are specialized in each field. You are guaranteed quality information. This makes the Encyclopaedia Britannica a dependable resource for anybody who just wants to get their facts about the world right. Journalists depend on it, as do researchers and students alike.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica has over a whopping 100,000 articles to read.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, for the full experience, takes up 4 GB of drive space. It is still on one disc although the medium is now a single DVD and not a CD. Even on high-end machines the Encyclopaedia Britannica can take quite some time to install, so be prepared to wait around while 4 GB of data extracts onto your computer. The Encyclopaedia Britannica software runs like a web browser and resembles Apple's Operating System widgets. Quickly the Encyclopaedia Britannica becomes a workspace. You can browse timelines, view the atlas, or explore popular events. There is a nice brainstormer, powered by TheBrain software, which allows you to go through huge sections of material by category, very rapidly.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica A-Z is always going to stand out as the reason to own this package. The material is just so well presented in terms of the quality of English, layout and the vast array of support material including graphics, videos, many of which the user can interact with. The search feature not only pulls up direct articles, but also one's linked to it, images and a book of the year list.
There are a few downsides but they are minor. One is that the package is the equivalent of opening up several intensive web pages over a web browser. If your system hangs or slows down considerably if you open up lots of new tabs or windows with content heavy pages, then you can expect the Encyclopaedia Britannica to act the same way. It has always been a hardware intensive package and still continues to be. So make sure your PC is in order for it. The other thing is that it requires you to register or else you will be asked every time you use it with a pop-up that doesn't stop until you do. It is a little annoying. The only way to turn it off is to register. It is also nice to have the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary imbedded in the software but it is just a basic dictionary search and thesaurus and lacks any advanced power like the full version dictionary. However the Encyclopaedia Britannica itself makes up for these minor quibbles.
Overall the Encyclopaedia Britannica does one other thing well which all others fail to do. It makes you want to read it from start to finish. Many people have done this and it is a completely viable option given that you do a little bit each day over the course of a year or more depending on how much you do. Where other Encyclopaedias are for reference, the Encyclopaedia Britannica almost demands to be read. You just know the experience would be time well spent.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica could very well be one of the most important items you could ever own. Education is the best investment you can make.
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
