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Compton's(R) Interactive Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition 1998 (CIE98) is a new two-disc CD-ROM edition of CIE which is not only literally packed with information articles, but expanded multimedia learning entertainment ("edutainment") features. CIE98 is also available as a single-disc product with fewer multimedia features. Content
CIE98's two-disc product contains more than 38,000 articles (as does the single disc product), more than 150 videos, 16,000 photos and illustrations, nearly 20 hours of sound and music, and a complete dictionary and thesaurus - as well as games. The 1998 CIE also has a new interface (which may account for some operational problems discussed later).
CIE98 is a CD-ROM/Web hybrid, offering its own online link to the Internet. Online access is $19.95 per month. -- As in our review of the 1997 edition of CIE (see Online Libraries and Microcomputers March 1997 p. 10), we do not recommend this online access or the CIE "Electric Library" online feature which is not free either. (By comparison, Microsoft's Encarta product offers free online access.) However, it should be noted that The Learning Company has recently re-established its own...