Tome Raider

By Anita Hamilton

Remember when researching a seventh-grade paper on the Eiffel Tower meant trudging to the school library and lifting--I mean, paraphrasing--passages from the hefty encyclopedia? Even in the world of Google, a good encyclopedia can still be a student's best friend. And the latest electronic versions wisely make use of the Web. In some cases, the online version is even better than the CDs or the DVD.

Here's how the latest releases stack up:

--Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004 DVD With more than 100,000 articles on everything from alpaca to Zionism, this encyclopedia ($70) is by far the most comprehensive. I especially enjoyed original articles (commissioned for print editions eons ago) by the likes of Sigmund Freud and Harry Houdini. To my surprise, however, I preferred the online version, at britannica.com It is easier to search and has many of the videos and photos featured on the DVD. It also deftly integrates thousands of external links (reviewed by Britannica editors). A one-year subscription costs $60.

--Encarta 2004 Reference Library Plus DVD Simply dazzling. What it lacks in depth (only 68,000 articles), it makes up for with engaging new videos from the Discovery Channel and a bright, colorful interface. Encarta at $70 is the best disc-based offering. Famous quotations and translation dictionaries for foreign students are nice extras, and you can download free updates every week. On the downside, there is no full Web-based or Mac version.

--World Book Deluxe 2004 Aimed at kids in elementary school, the $30 World Book on CD has a paltry 22,000 articles and a lackluster interface. Better to visit the website at worldbookonline.com Updated daily, the site features a "Today in History" section that cleverly lures kids into the past. And the "Media Showcase" challenges kids with questions such as "What type of stone was used to build the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia?" (Answer: Sandstone.) A one-year subscription costs $50--almost twice the price of the CD set--but it's worth it for parents with young kids.

Questions for Anita? E-mail her at hamilton@time.com