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Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 1995

A review of the 1997 edition of Compton's is also available at http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/encyclo2/cie97/merge.shtml

Editors Review Screen Shot CD Encyclopedia Overview
SuperKids' CD Encyclopedia Test
CD Encyclopedia Ratings

Click here to see a better screen sample (70K GIF)
Reviewed on:
Pentium PC w/8Mb and 2XCD


Ease of Installation
Slightly weaker than average for a PC CD. User needs to know about impact of size of files being installed. The default option includes a 10 MB database index file that would provide for speedier searches -- but requires a big chunk of disk space. We tried it both ways, and opted for slower searches (they were not bad). User also has to choose a MIDI music device during installation, which can be a little confusing. We also encountered a General Protection Fault error during installation that required a machine re-boot. We never were able to determine what caused this -- the software worked fine after re-boot.

Pluses...
+ Clear, multiple window layout makes searches easy to follow

+ Contains the full 26 volume paper version, plus multimedia additions

+ User can select media form(all, articles, photos, videos, etc.) for search

Minuses...
- Search engine looks for "last name, first name"

- Long music intro when user brings up the program

Overall
A very well laid-out, easy to use reference tool.

Rating

Rating Table Header

Compton's Interactive
Encyclopedia 1995
Ease of Install * *
Ease of Use * * * *
Manual Utility * * *
Technical Support n/a
SuperKids Test Results * * * *
EDITOR'S RATING * * * *


See also:
CD Encyclopedia Overview
SuperKids' CD Encyclopedia Test
Ratings Table for CD Encyclopedia

System Requirements
PC:
386SX/16 or faster (486 recommended), MS Windows 3.1 or later, 4 MB RAM (8 recommended), SVGA (640 x 480 x 256 colors) graphics card and monitor, mouse, MPC compatible CD-ROM drive, SoundBlaster sound card or compatible with general MIDI support, stereo speakers or headphone


Mac:
Mac LC or better with hard disk, System 7.0 or later, 4 MB RAM (8 recommended), color monitor recommended, CD-ROM drive


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