World Book Concise Encyclopedia 2003 Pocket PC Edition

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0&amp;sectionId=0&productId=64720' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/PlatformPro...productId=64720</a><br /><br /></div>"The #1 selling print encyclopedia in the world is now available for handhelds! Town Compass® presents The World Book Concise Encyclopedia 2003 Handheld Edition. This version features over 17,000 records and over 1,200 images; each record uses the first paragraph from the Print Edition's entries for a concise description on every subject imaginable. Use the built-in Index and Quick Find Auto-Scroll features to find what you're looking for quickly! Whether you are an educator, student, scholar or casual learner, you will find this database fast, comprehensive and extremely valuable. Put authority in your pocket!"<br /><br /><img src="http://www.handango.com/include/pictures/58985/ppcworldbook03a.gif" /><br /><br />This is something I've wanted on my Pocket PC for quite some time now - I wonder if it's any good. Has anyone used it? Maybe I'll download the <a href="http://download.handango.com/shareware/58985/tc_ppcworldbook03dh.exe">trial version</a> and check it out.

[rlobrecht]

Fire up those SD cards.

[Howard2k]

wow! Over 12MB! Still, at $25 it's not that bad..

[dlangton]

Just wanted to mention that the software is available for $5 less at the developer's site at http://www.pocketdirectory.com/ .

[JoshB]

There's a free, open content encyclopedia available for the Pocket PC in TomeRaider format, with content from www.wikipedia.org.

The Pocket PC version (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ATomeRaider_database) of the TomeRaider file is about 100MB (storage card obviously needed), but contains about 250MB of text, in compressed format. The Wikipedia has about 120,000 entries, almost 10 times as many as the encyclopedia mentioned in this post.

For those that aren't familiar with the term Wiki, it's basically a web page that anyone (access can be restricted) can update and improve. Wikipedia is "open content", so people can add new articles and supplement or correct existing ones. The more people that read and contribute, the more complete and accurate it becomes. You can use the full version of Wikipedia at www.wikipedia.org.

I have this on a 256MB SD card on my iPaq 1910, and I just love being able to say "Yeah, I have an encyclopedia with 120,000 entries in my pocket." :D

Check it out - it's completely free, and very cool. You'll need TomeRaider (http://www.tomeraider.com). TomeRaider is handy for many other things, too, like the entire IMDB (details on every movie from 1980-present, including cast, plot summary, trivia and goofs, etc.) in a 9MB TomeRaider file (go to www.memoware.com, search for IMDB - they have other versions, with less data for smaller file sizes). And it's fast, too. No lag or slowdown when accessing entries in the 100MB Wikipedia file.

[Jonathan1]

Nice software but I have two words: Pocket Encarta :(
I'd kill to be able to be in Encarta and sync certain articles to my Pocket PC.

[Merlion]

This is something I've wanted on my Pocket PC for quite some time now - I wonder if it's any good.

Same here, but at only 12MB, I wonder how much info it can contain.

The 100MB Wikipedia with TR that JoshB had mentioned might have better content. I'll have to check that out. Content rules! :)

[CESkins]

Check it out - it's completely free, and very cool. You'll need TomeRaider.
TomeRaider does look like it would be great software. However, the PocPC version hasn't been updated in some time relative to the PalmOS software. JoshB do you know if any/all the features in the latest version of TomeRaider for the PalmOS (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=86348A1C6EC1F11E9B44284DCD9F3819&productId=23668&optionId=1_1_2&productType=2&catalog=1&txtSearch=tomeraider§ionId=0&platformId=1) are supported on the PocPC? Also does it support ClearType?

[tdbunker]

I tried the World Book encyclopedia first as a trial then as a purchase. Initially I had a problem after installing the purchased version over the demo. Could not get the full version to work. I uninstalled the demo and re-installed the full version and it worked OK. As they claim there are thousands of entries but the program is only skid deep. I looked at more than 100 supjects and not one had more then 1 1/2 pages on the screen. Also the content seemed rather simple - like a sixth grade level.

I find the program is OK as a sort of general quick reference and it only cost $19.94 (at www.towncompass.com site) so I will continue to use it. I also intend to look at the large free encyclopedia mentioned in the forum.

I would grade it a C. :(

[trapper]

There's a free, open content encyclopedia available for the Pocket PC in TomeRaider format, with content from www.wikipedia.org.


I've wanted a good encyclopedia for the PPC for a long time and downloaded this file. The content both in range and depth is amazing! If you need a great pocket reference and have 100MB available this product is fantastic. Thanks for the tip.

I couldn't check out the World Book encyclopedia since the viewer is PPC 2002 only.