Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite

The Britannica approach to fighting off the prevalence of Web resources is quickly apparent. It involves finding as much content as possible and throwing it in the direction of the DVD-ROM.Thus, as the packaging proudly boasts, there are three encyclopaedias for your money - an Elementary (for kids up to ten years old), a Student (which works out as anyone above ten involved in studies) and the traditional main encyclopaedia.Also a new Homework Helper has been introduced, plus there's a comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus, over 20,000 pieces of multimedia and 150,000+ articles and Web-links. We weren't inclined to check that count, but can assure you that it all feels suitably comprehensive. It's wrapped up in a new interface too, which we'll come to shortly.

The three-encyclopaedia approach was one that Britannica pushed last year as well, the problem being that only the main one was properly localised for UK audiences. Americanisms were rife in the others. Sadly, it's a problem that's not been fully rectified. In the student library, for instance, searching and selecting 'football' does concede that the American version of football is different from the rest of the world, but the associated table of contents then talks about High School and College Football

The Elementary library, meanwhile, doesn't even bother: football is American and 'yah boo sucks' to the rest. So once again it's the excellent main Britannica library that's been tailored for the UK, and we're expected to let our kids loose on the areas that are very US-centric.Fortunately, that main library - which has the bulk of the package's content - is outright brilliant. There's a huge amount of content there that's relevant, well chosen and strongly written. And, pretty much for the first time, Britannica has come up with an interface that holds everything together extremely well.All three libraries are accessible from tabs at the top of the screen, and the main body features traditional and non-traditional ways to get at the content. We liked the Brainstormer feature, for instance, which allows you to follow the whims of your mind through a few mouse clicks, although the Homework Helper was at times a little too clinical and dry in its approach.

Britannica 2006 is a phenomenally comprehensive resource. We wouldn't be inclined to allow youngsters near the so-called dedicated encyclopaedias in a hurry, but the main body of content is so strong that it presents genuine justification for attracting the attention of your credit card.