2013 WORLD BOOK Encyclopedia

I've owned the full print set which is getting outdated now...so decided to try the software version. Nothing compares to owning the books, but it does have its obvious benefits: Inexpensive, compact, fast research and multimedia presentations. They claim it has all the entries the print set does, and that may be true, although I think they are a bit abridged. Using music for an example, the keyword alone does't bring up an extensive report on the subject...BUT...it does go on to give you a very large amount of links to narrow down a particular sub-category within music. From there you can just go on and on, even getting links to online resources for more info. Doing this depth of searching in the print set would require much time and half the volumes spread across the table. The atlas, time frame and media center are nice additions. What may not be made clear is that the purchase price includes a year of updates for the encyclopedia, and sure enough, I've received several beginning right after the software was downloaded! Very nice feature. If I can't afford to replace my aging print version, I'll be just fine owning the software version...it's a great value for the price.

Not as comprehensive as I would have liked.

I do like the 2013 World Book Encyclopedia because even though it does not have the in depth of other major encyclopedias, it does give enough information about the topic you are looking for. For the price of it, I think it is a very good product.

Well, buying a whole set of encyclopedias will normally run you upwards of $500, $600 dollars. I haven't gotten a chance to really study a lot of its content in depth, but supposedly it contains entries for every article in the 22 volume set. I tested a couple of searches that I thought could be somewhat obscure, but reasonable to find in a comprehensive encyclopedia, and yep, I found them. Just to clarify, this is software, not a DVD for playing on your TV, (well maybe it has that too, but I haven't tried). The software has multiple ways to search and browse, alphabetically, by topic, random, etc. And it also includes a dictionary. And the price is very reasonable. Bottom line, from what I have seen from it, is really good. Can't wait to explore more.

Trivial, superficial coverage of topics. Perhaps suitable for children. Terrible search engine. Useless.Save your money.

I like the DVD; but I still want and will always have and need an entire set of real book encyclopedias. There's nothing like thumbing through a volume of World Book and stumbling upon something quite out of the blue which I've always needed to know but just discovered. This DVD has a bit of a learning curve. And everything has to be spelled exactly right, or you'll come up empty handed. Unlike wikipedia, you can't spell Tianaman Square with only two n's. That's a huge drawback; but STILL, everyone needs an encyclopedia; and this fits the bill pretty well. Plus, one big advantage is that once you load it onto your computer, you don't have to insert the DVD again. It's always there on your hard drive. I have a Mac.

Didn't work. Wouldn't load on my computer. Disappointed.

good information and easy to use. installed ok on pc but not mac