May 31, 2006

Multimedia encyclopedias make it easy to find and use information on almost any topic, and it’s all just a few clicks away--right on your computer. The multimedia part means the information is searchable by word or subject and often supplemented with videos, audio recordings, animations, interactive maps, 3D diagrams, color photos, graphs and charts, and much more.

We looked at the 2006 versions of Encarta, Microsoft Student and World Book, and found that each one has added features that make these editions a valuable resource for any home and many offices.

Encarta Premium 2006 (Microsoft, Windows 2000SP4/XP with Pentium, $49.99) has a new user interface that makes it easier to find information and then sort it by relevancy or group results in a variety of ways; there’s also a new Web companion to find information from almost any other search engine without launching additional applications. This edition includes 32 Discovery Channel videos, more than 25,000 photos and illustrations, 2,800 audio clips and 400 videos and animations--in addition to the 68,000 articles. Updates are available on the Web.

The included interactive world atlas gives you access to more than 1.8 million interactive locations, and the dictionary, thesaurus and translation dictionary continue to be one of the more useful tools.

Encarta Kids is an area designed for children 12 and younger and offers a fun way for children to learn and also to find help with school work. There are more than 500 articles, organized into 10 categories such as animals, science, sports and recreation, arts, reading and writing, people, places, history and more. The included games and activities add even more fun to all the learning, and links give youngsters full access to the entire encyclopedia.

Microsoft Student 2006 (Microsoft, Windows 2000SP4/XP with Pentium, $49.99) includes Encarta 2006 Premium, but also has added features designed to help students (and parents too) carry out research, write and illustrate reports, create presentations, projects and demonstrations and more. These features include graphing calculator software, project starters, literature guides, a style guide and online mathematics homework guide tools. The program also includes tutorials and templates for using these features in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The student edition also includes 2,000 more articles than Encarta Premium, and you can access everything from your task bar if you choose.

The Student Edition offers extensive help in any type of school work: mathematics, social studies and history, geography, English, science, arts and music and foreign languages (including assistance for students writing in Spanish, German or French, in addition to options available in the translation dictionary for several other languages). Each category has a wide variety of options available; there’s everything from a pop-up calculator and display of the periodic table to guidance in writing reports, creative projects, essays, oral presentations, bibliographies and much more. The literature area contains an vast list of books searchable by title or author, and summaries of many books; the arts and music area is filled with photos, videos and biographies of famous artists and their works, often shown on a video or audio clip; science encompasses physical and biological sciences and more.

The graphing calculator software displays a handheld graphing calculator similar to the one most students are required to use, and there’s even help for learning how to use it: just hover over any button on the display to see an explanation of its functions, along with an example. An equation library gives students access to most relevant equations and formulas. There’s even an option for adding "skins" to the calculator.

There’s much more in this edition, and time spent learning all that’s available would pay big dividends.

World Book Encyclopedia 2006 Edition (Topics Entertainment, Windows 98+ with Pentium, $19.99) is based on the company’s 87 years of experience creating encyclopedias, and this latest edition continues the established excellence. This edition has 519 new illustrations and maps, 226 new articles, and more than 5,000 newly-revised entries--in addition to the 1,900 tables and timelines, 12,700 photos and illustrations, and much more. You can easily search by article or category or just browse to see what’s available.

The dictionary contains 248,000 definitions, accessible by double-clicking on any word. Very cool. And a click on the tool bar lets you highlight text or sections to create a "sticky note" from any text.

The timelines are especially interesting, with options for searching by era, century, decade or year and then display history or geography of the time chosen--or both. Illustrations are comprehensive and very well done, making it easy to visualize the topic or item selected.

Student help comes in the form of the Homework Wizard, which lets students select from categories such as reports, charts, timelines, web pages and more. Each category contains a list of steps to guide students in creating a complete report in the format chosen.

Another new fun learning feature is "Surf the Ages," that lets you visualize web sites as they might have appeared throughout history. You can look at Ancient Times, Middle Ages or Modern Times, and there are several subsections within each category.

The maps section has overlays of many areas, a calculator to measure distance between locations, tools to find climate, economic and population details and more.

The World Book Encyclopedia 2006 is a clear, concise resource that presents a wealth information in a simple, easy-to-understand manner, all at a reasonable price.

Click Here to Return to the Main Column Archive Page

Click Here to Return to the Home Page