---
product_id: 39929989
title: "Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite"
brand: "avanquest"
price: "₹ 535"
currency: INR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 4
url: https://www.desertcart.in/products/39929989-encyclopedia-britannica-2005-dvd-ultimate-reference-suite
store_origin: IN
region: India
---

# 21,000 images 32 volumes 1,300+ maps Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite

**Brand:** avanquest
**Price:** ₹ 535
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Summary

> Unlock the World of Knowledge! 🌍

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite by avanquest
- **How much does it cost?** ₹ 535 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.in](https://www.desertcart.in/products/39929989-encyclopedia-britannica-2005-dvd-ultimate-reference-suite)

## Best For

- avanquest enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted avanquest brand quality
- Free international shipping included
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- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Global Insights:** Explore the world with an atlas featuring over 1,300 detailed maps.
- • **Ultimate Knowledge Hub:** Access a complete 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica at your fingertips.
- • **User-Friendly Navigation:** Easily categorized into 3 comprehension levels for all ages.
- • **Visual Learning Experience:** Engage with 21,000 vivid illustrations, videos, and audio clips.
- • **Comprehensive Language Tools:** Includes 2 dictionaries and thesauruses for enhanced vocabulary.

## Overview

The Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite is a comprehensive digital library that offers a complete 32-volume encyclopedia, two dictionaries, a thesaurus, and a world atlas with over 1,300 maps, all enhanced with 21,000 vivid images, videos, and audio clips, designed for easy navigation across three comprehension levels.

## Description

From the Manufacturer Owning the Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite is like having a complete reference library right at your fingertips. Its contents would easily fill a large bookcase--and now you can have this vast trove of information on your personal computer. Categorized into three easy-to-use comprehension levels, the suite includes over 100,000 articles in three complete encyclopedias, two dictionaries and thesauruses, rich multimedia, a world atlas, timelines, and more. The Ultimate Reference Suite is the knowledge you need from the worlds most trusted source. Features: Encyclopedia Britannica: access the worlds most authoritative information in these 100,000 articles, containing the entire 32-volume Britannica and more. Britannica Student Encyclopedia: find information easily in 15,000 entries that are tailored to school subjects. Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia: instill a look-it-up habit that will stay with students in school and in life. Two Merriam-Webster Dictionaries and Thesauruses: together, Merriam-Websters Collegiate and Student Dictionaries and Thesauruses provide access to 555,000 definitions, synonyms, and antonyms with a click of the mouse. World Atlas: take a tour of the world through more than 1,300 maps linked to articles about countries, economies, cultures, and national statistics. Timelines: watch history unfold with timelines that show the people, events, and discoveries of the past. Rich multimedia: view vivid illustrations with 21,000 images, video, and audio that bring topics to life.

Review: Battle of the Titans - Encarta vs. the Britannica - The Encarta Encyclopedia - and even more so, the Encarta Reference Library Premium 2005 - is an impressive reference library. It caters effectively (and, at $70, cheaply) to the educational needs of everyone in the family, from children as young as 7 or 8 years old to adults who seek concise answers to their queries. It is fun-filled, interactive, colorful, replete with tens of thousands of images, video clips, and audio snippets. The Encarta is extremely user-friendly, with its search bar and novel Visual Browser. It comes equipped with a dictionary, thesaurus, chart maker, searchable index of quotations, games, and an Encarta Kids interface. Installation is easy. The Encarta is augmented by weekly or bi-weekly updates and the feature-rich online MSN Encarta Premium with its Homework Help offerings. The Encyclopedia Britannica (established in 1768) sports Student and Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product - but it is far better geared to tackle the information needs of adults and, even more so, professionals. Its 100,000 articles are long and deep, supported by impressive bibliographies, and written by the best scholars in their respective fields. The Britannica, too, come bundled with an atlas (less detailed than the Encarta's), dictionary, thesaurus, classic articles from previous editions, an Interactive Timeline, a Research Organizer, and a Knowledge Navigator (a Brain Stormer). It is as user-friendly as the Encarta. The Britannica, though, is updated only 2-4 times a year, a serious drawback, only partially compensated for by 3 months of free access to the its unequalled powerhouse online Web site. It seems that the Britannica and the Encarta cater to different market segments and that the Britannica provides more in-depth coverage of its topics while the Encarta is a more complete, PC-orientated reference experience. The market positioning of the Britannica's Elementary and Student Encyclopedias is, therefore, problematic. Encarta has an all-pervasive hold on and ubiquitous penetration of the child-to-young adult markets. Both encyclopedias offer an embarrassment of riches. Users of both find the wealth and breadth of information daunting and data mining is fast becoming an art form. Encarta introduced the Visual (Virtual) Browser and Britannica incorporated the Brain Stormer to cope with this predicament. But few know how to deploy them effectively. Encarta actively encourages fun-filled browsing and Britannica fully supports serious research. These preferences are reflected in the design of the two products. The Encarta is a riot of colors, sidebars, videos, audio clips, photos, embedded links, literature, Web resources, and quizzes. It is a product of the age of mass communication, a desktop extension of television and the Internet. The Britannica is a sober assemblage of first-rate texts, up to date bibliographies, and minimal multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy. Indeed, the Encarta and the Britannica offer competing models for interacting with the Internet. Both provide content updates - the Encarta weekly or bi-weekly and the Britannica 2-4 times a year. Both offer additional and timely content and revisions on dedicated Web sites. But the Encarta conditions some of its functions - notably its research tools and updates - on registration with its Plus Club. The Britannica doesn't. The Encarta incorporates numerous third-party texts and visuals (including dozens of Discovery Channel videos, hundreds of newspaper articles, and a plethora of Scientific American features). The Encarta's multimedia offerings are also impressive with thousands of video and audio clips, maps, tables, and animations. The Britannica provides considerably more text - though it has noticeably enhanced it non-textual content over the year (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but text). Both reference products would do well to integrate with new desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must and will be able to ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, and the Web - using a single, intuitive interface. The new Encarta Search Bar, which was integrated into the product this past year, enables users to search any part of the Encarta application (encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, etc) without having the application open. Definitely a step in the right direction. Having used both products extensively in the last few months, I found myself entertaining some minor gripes: The Encarta offers 3-D tours which gobble up computer resources and are essentially non-interactive a limited. Is it worth the investment and the risk to the stability and performance of the user's computer? The editorial process is not transparent. It is not clear how both products cope with contemporary and recent developments, minority-sensitive issues, and controversial topics (such as abortion and gay rights). The Encarta tries to cater to the needs of challenged users, such as the visually-impaired - but is still far from doing a good job of it. The Britannica doesn't even bother. The atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus incorporated in both products are surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - and dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries for specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, for instance)? The Encarta's New English Dictionary dropped a glossary of computer terms it used to include back in 2001. All's the pity. Both encyclopedias consume (not to say) hog computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes them less suitable for installation on older PCs and on many laptops. Despite the hype, relatively few users possess DVD drives (but those who do find, in both products, the entire encyclopedia available on one DVD). But that's it. Don't think twice. Run to the closest retail outlet (or surf the relevant Web sites) and purchase both products now. Combined, these reference suites offer the best value for money around and significantly enhance you access to knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"
Review: I sent 2004 back - 2005 is worse! - Last year I bought the EB 2004 CD-ROM. It was so pathetically slow and buggy on my fast Mac, that I sent it back under their 30 day guarantee. Tech support confirmed my bugs and said no fix was forthcoming. I was sent a promo email to obtain this version, which I did. It is even slower than 2004. As far as I can tell, the whole thing is written in Java and launches in a modified browser. It acts, feels and looks like a hastily written Java application. When running, the rest of my G4 system grinds to an absolute halt. I am sure the content is authoritative (I used to own the print set of EB), but the path to it is so painful, I don't really care. I even opted to install the whole thing on my system so it didn't require the DVD, but it makes no difference. The install routine itself is full of typos. And - a nice touch for Mac users - the program automatically takes you to the download page of an updated application called The Brain(stormer) which is part of the DVD. It's a Windoze only program. I'm not sure whether this whole thing is funny or tragic.

## Features

- Brings first-rate reference materials right to the computer
- Complete 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica
- 2 dictionaries and thesauruses; world atlas with 1,300+ maps
- Vivid illustrations with 21,000 images, video, and audio
- Categorized into 3 easy-to-use comprehension levels

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN  | B0002HQWLC |
| Customer Reviews | 3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars (16) |
| Date First Available  | June 18, 2004 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer  | Yes |
| Item model number  | 8300 |
| Manufacturer  | Avanquest |
| Package Dimensions  | 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches; 3.2 ounces |

## Images

![Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 DVD Ultimate Reference Suite - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/5138J714A8L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Battle of the Titans - Encarta vs. the Britannica
*by S***N on March 14, 2005*

The Encarta Encyclopedia - and even more so, the Encarta Reference Library Premium 2005 - is an impressive reference library. It caters effectively (and, at $70, cheaply) to the educational needs of everyone in the family, from children as young as 7 or 8 years old to adults who seek concise answers to their queries. It is fun-filled, interactive, colorful, replete with tens of thousands of images, video clips, and audio snippets. The Encarta is extremely user-friendly, with its search bar and novel Visual Browser. It comes equipped with a dictionary, thesaurus, chart maker, searchable index of quotations, games, and an Encarta Kids interface. Installation is easy. The Encarta is augmented by weekly or bi-weekly updates and the feature-rich online MSN Encarta Premium with its Homework Help offerings. The Encyclopedia Britannica (established in 1768) sports Student and Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product - but it is far better geared to tackle the information needs of adults and, even more so, professionals. Its 100,000 articles are long and deep, supported by impressive bibliographies, and written by the best scholars in their respective fields. The Britannica, too, come bundled with an atlas (less detailed than the Encarta's), dictionary, thesaurus, classic articles from previous editions, an Interactive Timeline, a Research Organizer, and a Knowledge Navigator (a Brain Stormer). It is as user-friendly as the Encarta. The Britannica, though, is updated only 2-4 times a year, a serious drawback, only partially compensated for by 3 months of free access to the its unequalled powerhouse online Web site. It seems that the Britannica and the Encarta cater to different market segments and that the Britannica provides more in-depth coverage of its topics while the Encarta is a more complete, PC-orientated reference experience. The market positioning of the Britannica's Elementary and Student Encyclopedias is, therefore, problematic. Encarta has an all-pervasive hold on and ubiquitous penetration of the child-to-young adult markets. Both encyclopedias offer an embarrassment of riches. Users of both find the wealth and breadth of information daunting and data mining is fast becoming an art form. Encarta introduced the Visual (Virtual) Browser and Britannica incorporated the Brain Stormer to cope with this predicament. But few know how to deploy them effectively. Encarta actively encourages fun-filled browsing and Britannica fully supports serious research. These preferences are reflected in the design of the two products. The Encarta is a riot of colors, sidebars, videos, audio clips, photos, embedded links, literature, Web resources, and quizzes. It is a product of the age of mass communication, a desktop extension of television and the Internet. The Britannica is a sober assemblage of first-rate texts, up to date bibliographies, and minimal multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy. Indeed, the Encarta and the Britannica offer competing models for interacting with the Internet. Both provide content updates - the Encarta weekly or bi-weekly and the Britannica 2-4 times a year. Both offer additional and timely content and revisions on dedicated Web sites. But the Encarta conditions some of its functions - notably its research tools and updates - on registration with its Plus Club. The Britannica doesn't. The Encarta incorporates numerous third-party texts and visuals (including dozens of Discovery Channel videos, hundreds of newspaper articles, and a plethora of Scientific American features). The Encarta's multimedia offerings are also impressive with thousands of video and audio clips, maps, tables, and animations. The Britannica provides considerably more text - though it has noticeably enhanced it non-textual content over the year (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but text). Both reference products would do well to integrate with new desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must and will be able to ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, and the Web - using a single, intuitive interface. The new Encarta Search Bar, which was integrated into the product this past year, enables users to search any part of the Encarta application (encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, etc) without having the application open. Definitely a step in the right direction. Having used both products extensively in the last few months, I found myself entertaining some minor gripes: The Encarta offers 3-D tours which gobble up computer resources and are essentially non-interactive a limited. Is it worth the investment and the risk to the stability and performance of the user's computer? The editorial process is not transparent. It is not clear how both products cope with contemporary and recent developments, minority-sensitive issues, and controversial topics (such as abortion and gay rights). The Encarta tries to cater to the needs of challenged users, such as the visually-impaired - but is still far from doing a good job of it. The Britannica doesn't even bother. The atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus incorporated in both products are surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - and dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries for specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, for instance)? The Encarta's New English Dictionary dropped a glossary of computer terms it used to include back in 2001. All's the pity. Both encyclopedias consume (not to say) hog computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes them less suitable for installation on older PCs and on many laptops. Despite the hype, relatively few users possess DVD drives (but those who do find, in both products, the entire encyclopedia available on one DVD). But that's it. Don't think twice. Run to the closest retail outlet (or surf the relevant Web sites) and purchase both products now. Combined, these reference suites offer the best value for money around and significantly enhance you access to knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

### ⭐ I sent 2004 back - 2005 is worse!
*by B***3 on December 11, 2004*

Last year I bought the EB 2004 CD-ROM. It was so pathetically slow and buggy on my fast Mac, that I sent it back under their 30 day guarantee. Tech support confirmed my bugs and said no fix was forthcoming. I was sent a promo email to obtain this version, which I did. It is even slower than 2004. As far as I can tell, the whole thing is written in Java and launches in a modified browser. It acts, feels and looks like a hastily written Java application. When running, the rest of my G4 system grinds to an absolute halt. I am sure the content is authoritative (I used to own the print set of EB), but the path to it is so painful, I don't really care. I even opted to install the whole thing on my system so it didn't require the DVD, but it makes no difference. The install routine itself is full of typos. And - a nice touch for Mac users - the program automatically takes you to the download page of an updated application called The Brain(stormer) which is part of the DVD. It's a Windoze only program. I'm not sure whether this whole thing is funny or tragic.

### ⭐⭐ Adequate (barely)
*by M***A on July 21, 2005*

I have Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz PC with 256k memory and Win XP. Though I've loaded the Suite onto my hard drive, it's very slow to start up and slow to bring up articles and media. The Atlas really only serves as a SLOW visual index to articles in the encyclopedia since it only has country level maps and some links don't work. The media ranges from quite nice to outdated stuff they must have dug out of the broom closet. On the other hand, being Britannica, the content of the encyclopedia is good and the separate interfaces for adults, teens, and children has potential - if only they could speed it up! The rebates make this a product I'll keep, but rarely use - I could drive to the library and still get my answers from the Encyclopedia Britannica - maybe quicker.

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*Store origin: IN*
*Last updated: 2026-04-30*