Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia by Microsoft. There was a more complete version called Encarta Premium made in 2008. It had more than 62,000 articles and many photographs and illustrations. There was also music clips, videos, maps and timelines with some activity games. It also included an atlas, and homework tools. It was available on the internet if you pay a yearly fee, or to buy on DVD-ROM, or CD-ROMs. Many articles could also be read online free of charge, a service which is paid for by advertisements.