Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite review

These are turbulent times for encyclopedia publishers, with print versions largely replaced by CD-ROM and DVD, and these disc-based versions coming under increasing threat from the Internet.

Britannica, now in its tenth year on disc and 235th in print, is still hanging on - but it's now the only competitor to Microsoft Encarta.

The 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite comes as a single DVD or three-CD set. The big new idea this time round is the inclusion within a single interface of three separate encyclopedias, aimed at different age groups. For adults, there's the venerable Encyclopaedia Britannica itself; for children aged 11 and over there's the Britannica Student Encyclopaedia. Younger children are catered for with the Britannica Elementary Encyclopaedia. In addition, the Reference Suite's Web page gives access to a large collection of magazine articles, thousands of short video clips and links to selected Internet sites.

The classic Britannica encyclopedia is still unequalled for its broad, deep and balanced articles, though its scholarly style is aimed squarely at students and educated adults. This year's new entries include first-rate articles on artificial intelligence and globalisation. However, unlike Encarta, Britannica isn't released in a UK-specific version, so it lacks Encarta's hundreds of local-interest entries.

The Student Encyclopaedia is constructed from Compton's Encyclopedia, a title for secondary school children that was a Buyer favourite before its demise two years ago. The articles in Elementary Encyclopaedia are mainly simplified versions of entries from the other two works, though they often use a vocabulary and style that even a 14-year-old might find difficult.

One of Reference Suite's strongest points is the range of beautifully drawn diagrams that accompany its university-level technical articles. Unfortunately many of the other images are rather drab and functional, often black and white.

Reference Suite has been written in Java, so that it can run both on PC and Mac. Unfortunately, this seems to have led to excruciatingly slow searches, even if you copy the full contents of the disc(s) onto your hard drive. Another irritation is the fact that keywords aren't highlighted in the articles found.

This is a terrific resource, compromised by an attempt to rush out a single product for all ages and both PC and Mac. It may be that Britannica sees a future when everyone will have broadband access and disc-based encyclopedias are a thing of the past. In the meantime, Microsoft walks away with the prize again.