Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005 v Microsoft Encarta 2005

The days of using heavy, printed encyclopaedias are long gone. Now, all you need to do is move your mouse around digital pages on your PC. Microsoft and Britannica have released 2005 versions of their reference suites; we looked at the DVD editions.

Encarta 2005
With a logical interface, extensive content and components, Encarta has been our favourite in previous years. The latest DVD allegedly holds more information than 60 print volumes, with some 130,000 articles, 1.8 million map locations and over 3,000 audio and music clips. There's a large archive from The Times and a year of free online updates.

The main addition to Encarta 2005 is the children's version, containing content for six- to 12-year-olds with images, sounds and educational games. This section is safe to leave little ones in front of, as even the web links have been tested through 30 steps to ensure that content is entirely suitable. More literate children have the option to extend searches into the full Premium Suite content.

Encarta's Study Centre will be handy for students of all ages; it has information about the national curriculum in various subjects, and study questions linked to key texts.

Another new feature is the optional Search Bar, which sits in the Windows System Tray and allows you to search the encyclopaedia, dictionary and thesaurus at any time. You can even have a word translated into other European languages. Typing in a search term brings you straight to Encarta's search results page, but you don't need to have Encarta pre-loaded.

The Interactive Timeline shows cultural, social or scientific events across the years and how they relate. This is as impressive as ever, allowing users to jump in and out of history to find out more about key developments.

As with previous versions, you get an excellent interactive atlas, 3D virtual tours and lots of video, including content from the Discovery Channel.

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005
Encarta's biggest competitor, Encyclopaedia Britannica, has been around in some form since the 18th century. The single-disc DVD Ultimate Reference Suite 2005 contains a Student Library, Elementary Library, General Reference Library and the Britannica Brainstormer.

With 100,000 articles, 54 million words and 646 audio and video clips, users have access to a range of content, updated to the end of last year. There are plenty of learning games and links to some 165,000 websites selected by Britannica's editors.

Britannica displays search results in alphabetical order, rather than order of importance or according to the country you're in. For example, searching for 'London' will show up London in Ontario, Canada, before London, England.

The student and children's versions of the reference library are filled with content adapted to younger researchers, and entries in the student section have been tailored to suit school curricula. If you register, you'll receive free access to Britannica's online encyclopaedia, which is useful for students who often use different computers for research.

The Brainstormer is new to 2005. It is designed to let users widen their views, get inspiration and gain different perspectives on a topic. Searching for Chemistry, for example, will flag related topics, such as Marie Curie.

Britannica is let down by poor interface design. Each article still opens up in a new window, making it hard to return to one without wading through them all. Where Encarta excels with its Interactive Timeline, Britannica feels a bit dull with its scrollable boxes. The atlas still doesn't fit onto a 1,024 x 768 screen, and the outline feels flat.

Encarta is miles ahead thanks to its impressive content, use of multimedia and easy navigation. There's no denying the pedigree of Britannica, but it hasn't made the best transition from print to desktop.

DETAILS:

Microsoft Encarta £69.99 (£59.57 ex VAT)
Contact: Microsoft 0870 601 0100 www.microsoft.com/uk
System requirements:

• Windows 98/ME or higher
• Pentium 333MHz processor
• 64MB of Ram for 98/ME; 128MB of Ram for XP/2000 Pro SP3
• 250MB hard disk space
• DVD-Rom drive
• 800 x 600 display

Encyclopaedia Britannica £59.99 (£51.06 ex VAT)
Contact: Britannica 0800 282 433 www.britannica.co.uk
System requirements:

• Windows 98SE or higher
• Mac OS 10.3 or higher
• Pentium 350MHz processor
• 256MB of Ram
• 550MB hard disk space
• DVD-Rom drive
• 800 x 600 display