In 1990, Microsoft proposed collaborating on a multimedia CD featuring Britannica's content, but Britannica, chuffed by success, felt self-sufficient enough to reject the software giant's overtures. Microsoft turned instead to Encarta Encyclopedia, releasing a CD encyclopedia complete with all of the pictures and entries of the bound volumes, but at a much cheaper price. Cheap enough, in fact, that Britannica was put on the defensive.
1990 年微軟公司有意和大英百科合作推出多媒體光碟版，但大英百科自認有足夠優勢，拒絕微軟的邀約，微軟轉而與另一家百科全書 Encarta 合作，1993 年推出多媒體光碟版百科全書，內容一樣圖文並茂，但售價低廉，讓大英百科難以招架。