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RR 2005/282 Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005 DVD Encyclopaedia Britannica London and Chicago, IL 2005 £59.99, $69.99
Keywords Encyclopaedias, Electronic media
Review DOI 10.1108/09504120510613003
The Encyclopaedia Britannica has long been synonymous with the delivery of high quality information. From its roots in the 18th century Scottish age of Enlightenment, where "utility" was the quality strived for by the Edinburgh-based Society of Gentlemen, the encyclopedia grew in size and stature, becoming a multinational concern. Its early editions boast many distinguished contributors, from Sir Walter Scott to Marie Curie and Kropotkin.
The initial selling point of the reference work, "utility", has perhaps fallen a little by the wayside. Certainly it seems in the age of technology, the size and style of the current Britannica print edition may stand in the way of its appeal to the general public. Stretching to 32 volumes in hardback, the print edition is rather cumbersome, not to mention expensive. The full set costs just under £1,000, and even the children's 13-volume edition My First Britannica will set you back £149. With the print edition, information is also finite, and will only be updated with the production of the next multi-volume edition. With this in mind, the publishers have utilized new technologies and can now offer the entire contents of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on one DVD, which is not only portable, but also significantly cheaper than buying the 32 volume set. Even subscribing to the online service at £39.99 per year ($69.95) will work out more expensive in the long run than buying the DVD for a one off payment of £60. The added feature of downloading updates onto your programme for free is an added incentive. The Britannic CD-ROM is cheaper at £39.99 but contains selected information rather than the full content and is issued on three discs rather than just one.
The 2005 edition is an improved version of the Britannica DVD brought out two years ago. As well as an enormous amount of information (over 100,000 articles, three encyclopedias, a thesaurus, dictionary and updated atlas, 17,891 images and maps), the new edition also includes the "Britannic Brainstormer", an interactive browsing tool designed...