Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005

This new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica comes on a single DVD, which includes the 54 million words found in the 32 volumes of the printed edition. You will also find nearly 18,000 pictures and 646 video and audio clips.

Of course, all that is of no use unless the content is up to scratch, but the Britannica has no problems on that score. Everything from the books is digitally duplicated on the DVD, from '1054, Schism of' to the Polish town of Zywiec, and has been updated to the end of 2003.

You can choose from the main encyclopaedia or the student or elementary editions, which are tailored towards secondary and primary school pupils. You can also install either the entire encyclopaedia on your hard disk (requiring 4Gb of free space) or just the program files. If you have the space to install it all, doing so means you won't have to keep inserting the DVD.

Once fired up, navigation is simple, with the main page allowing you to browse articles, video, animations and sound files, look up the atlas, open timelines or choose a 'Year in Review' from 1993 to 2003. You can also search for keywords using a box at the top of the window, while links in articles will take you elsewhere in the encyclopaedia.

Another interesting way to browse is by using the BrainStormer: pick a topic and it will display related sub-topics, and direct you to the appropriate articles. It's a good way of thinking up topics for essays or for research, or just playing around.

Annoyingly, though, there is a strong American bias. Search for Salisbury or Cambridge, for example, and it will direct you to Maryland or Massachusetts rather than Wiltshire or the Fens. It does include the English entries but they're further down the search page.

Although it's easy to use, there are other niggles, such as each new article opening in a new window, which can quickly become overwhelming.

Contact: Britannica 0845 075 7000
www.britannica.co.uk