Encarta Ready for the New Millennium

No contest this year: Microsoft's Encarta Reference Suite 2000 is the best all-around multimedia encyclopedia on the market. Even at a pricey $100 (for five CD-ROMs or a single DVD-ROM), it's a smart choice for first-time buyers or anyone who's looking to upgrade.

The suite contains Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2000, as well as the Encarta Interactive World Atlas 2000 and new Encarta World English Dictionary. I tested an advance copy of the new suite on DVD-ROM and heartily recommend that format. DVD-ROM provides more and better multimedia than CD-ROM, eliminates disk-swapping, and lets you perform a single search across all three products.

The encyclopedia is the centerpiece of the reference suite, featuring 42,000-plus articles with a generous assortment of multimedia supplements. Encarta's superb design offers a variety of navigation tools, including interactive timelines and research organizers. The atlas is much improved over last year's version, letting you zoom from a virtual spinning globe all the way down to street grids of major world cities. And the dictionary is actually an integrated set of reference works, including a thesaurus, an almanac, and a style guide.

If you're looking for a less expensive alternative (and one that is especially good for younger students), consider the $49 Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 2-CD Deluxe Edition. This two-CD set is aimed squarely at junior-high and younger high-school students and features a less complex design, with friendly homework helpers. The Research Starters section is nicely revamped, grouping content into seven overarching subject fields likely to be relevant to the secondary-school student--geography, social studies, U.S. history, and so forth. This year's de rigueur Millennium timeline feature in the shipping version we reviewed provides another engaging "front door" for students seeking information.

Grolier lacks the depth of Encarta--it has fewer articles (around 37,000) and substantially less multimedia fireworks. However, Grolier is preparing a bulked-up $99 DVD-ROM release with 50 percent more video content than the CD version and that will include AC3 sound support. The DVD version should appear in stores before the end of the year.

If you need a first-class encyclopedia now, opt for Encarta 2000. For those with tighter budgets or who don't have a DVD-ROM drive, Grolier is a good choice.

SUMMARY

Encarta Reference Suite 2000 Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 2-CD Deluxe Edition PRO: Superior design and content, DVD-ROM offers better multimedia. CON: Expensive VALUE: The best all-around reference title on the market, for all age groups. PRO: Less expensive; simpler interface; great homework helpers. CON: Lacks the depth of Encarta. VALUE: A good option for younger students. Street price: $49 Microsoft Grolier Interactive 800/426-9400 203/797-3530 www.encarta.com gi.grolier.com