Sidebar: Testing BCD

By Mary Holden

Mary Holden is a freelance writer in Chicago.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica's CD-ROM (BCD) 2.0 is a shiny red disc that looks like a drink coaster. Frankly, it's not something that looks like it's worth $695. But after trying it for a few nights, I'm convinced it's a great CD.

BCD took about 10 minutes to install on a Packard-Bell computer with the old 3.1 version of Windows. There's also a version of BCD, which I didn't try, that can be used with a Macintosh.

The first thing you need to do to install Britannica is attach a copy protective plug, known in computer-speak as a "dongle," to the back of your computer. This is to prevent you from copying the encyclopedia. In a review of BCD in the Times' Literary Supplement, writer Erich Segal twitted Britannica for its attitude, joking that the company treats its text like "the crown jewels." But one can see why Britannica wants to do this--when you're selling something for $700, you don't want people making free copies.

Once you have the dongle in place, you can install the CD. If you don't have Netscape, the BCD automatically installs a run-time version of the Netscape package into the computer. That's what took most of the 10 minutes. Once this package is installed, however, you don't have to install it again.

You need a fair amount of memory to run this CD. The manual for the IBM-compatible version says a minimum of 4 MB RAM is required (8 MB is recommended), as well as 10 MB of free hard-disk space. The manual also recommends a 15 MB Windows swap file.

Once the disc is set up, there are basically five ways to search. The first is to enter a word, phrase, or question into the query box, and then hit the "enter" key to launch the search. The screen then tells how many articles there are in your search category. You can limit the search to 10 or however many articles you feel like reading through. A search of "Jean Cocteau," to my surprise, brought up more than 10 related articles.

The other ways to search are to hit either "Nations of the World," "Random Article," "Propaedia," or "Picture Tour." I especially liked Propaedia--it gives you 10 general subjects to choose from, such as "The Earth" or "Art," and then you can go into a subject and narrow it down until you find what you're after.

Another feature: If you run into an unfamiliar word, you can select the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary from the database listing, type the word you want to look up in the query box, or cut and paste it, activate a search, and get a definition.

I compared the Britannica CD to Grolier's. Britannica had more information about every subject I investigated, but Grolier's pictures and sound were of a surprisingly high quality. If I were a librarian and could afford it, I'd want to have both the "fun stuff" and the in-depth articles, because people learn in different ways.