The price reduction effectively catalyzed sales that outstripped competitors.
Following slow sales, later that year the CD was given away with the Windows software suite that was included with the purchase of many computers, and the stand-alone price was dropped to $99. The initial CD product was released in March 1993 with a retail price of nearly $400, equivalent to such competitors as Compton’s MultiMedia Encyclopedia. The encyclopaedia was later offered in a range of foreign-language and regionally specific editions. Additional features included a time line of human history, a dictionary and thesaurus, and a quiz game called MindMaze. Approximately 40 percent of the articles were biographies. After efforts resumed in 1991, the company proceeded to illustrate the approximately 25,000 articles using an array of sound files and maps as well as more than 5,000 public domain images and a small selection of videos. The project, however, was put on hold in 1990 due to concerns about the commercial viability of the product. The company approached a range of reference publishers before signing a nonexclusive contract with Funk & Wagnalls to use their 29-volume New Encyclopedia in establishing a database in 1989. The possibility of a digital encyclopaedia was first discussed at Microsoft in 1985. Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.Ī student holding a CD-ROM of the 1995 edition of Encarta, a digital encyclopaedia published by Microsoft.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.