The registration card that was originally bundled with Compton's Interactive Encylcopedia on CD-i, gives away a little trivia about the annual versions that were originally planned. In the end, there were only two versions of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, the original from 1991 and a revised Digital Video version in 1995. The original, however, was released in quite some different forms:
Blazers, our CD-i collector, explains: "At one point I had 20 different copies of just the longbox version of
Compton's. I still have a stack that I plan to repurpose for some custom
titles by putting stickers over them. They're unsellable by themselves,
unless perhaps somebody needs replacement cases in bulk.
What really threw me for a loop was that all of the other Compton's
versions that were released in the US are not at all easy to find if one
wants complete copies. Finding all three different jewel-case versions
with the slipcovers was a grueling hunt. These are the 4 different US versions of Compton's. The original
longbox, the initial longbox version re-released into a jewel-case with a
slipcover, a very limited (and for me it was by far the toughest to
obtain) updated version, and a final fully updated version with
full-screen Digital Video.Technically, it's only three different versions, going by the Catalog Numbers on the spines. Of course, there are multiple different Euro versions, including later Updated versions.
The various online checklists often omit a few Compton's versions, both US and Euro. I
have a hunch that the lower(!) Catalog Numbers for the later US
versions is an indicator that those Numbers were originally assigned to
other titles that didn't get released. Both the longbox version and the initial jewel-case re-release were
bundled with players and included in various deals and special offers
and such. I've seen quite a few copies of both with the sticker
indicating as much. For the collectors and potential collectors, the full sub-set of every
different version of Compton's for the CD-i is a by CD-i standards a
moderately challenging goal. Besides the 4 US versions, there are the
Euro versions: the original Eurocase release, the Euro jewel-case
re-release, and the later Updated versions. Even I'm not sure that I
have every one. And then of course there's the Demo versions... The blue version is the worst one to locate, but finding the initial
re-release with the slipcover is also a pain, as few of the copies
retained the sleeve."
[Thanks, Blazers]