The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia has been a mainstay of electronic educational resources for many years: I remember it being bundled with the first 386 I bought back in the early nineties, and was impressed back then at the video and audio clips, maps and information contained on the CD.

Every year or so, the Encyclopedia gets updated and refined, but theres only so much multimedia information that can be crammed on one disc, hence the 2002 Deluxe version is a two CD set. This comprises the single disc of the Standard Edition (available separately for $69.95), with the second disc containing most the multimedia goodies.

The design of the software is simple to use and you can easily sort through the features and article types. A search function also helps narrow down the many articles, but if there is a problem with the design, its that it has a browser-like interface that requires double clicking throughout.

This encyclopedia is an excellent resource for school children, but you may find that there is not much depth to many of the articles and features within. However, as a starting point for homework research, its hard to beat as it features loads of Web links for further digging.

The majority of the content is US-centric, with an entire section devoted to US events, but the other categories should offer enough variety to satisfy.
As an extra offer (valid until 22 August), any family that purchases the Deluxe Edition can choose to donate a second copy to its school of choice.

Darren Ellis