After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses - Polidicks

[QUOTE]After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print.Those coolly authoritative, gold-lettered sets of reference books that were once sold door to door by a fleet of traveling salesmen and displayed as proud fixtures in American homes will be discontinued, the company is expected to announce on Wednesday.In a nod to the realities of the digital age — and, in particular, the competition from the hugely popular Wikipedia — Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools, company executives said.[B]The last edition of the encyclopedia will be the 2010 edition, a 32-volume set that weighs in at 129 pounds and includes new entries on global warming and the Human Genome Project.[/B]“It’s a rite of passage in this new era,” Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., a Chicago-based company, said in an interview. “Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. The Web site is continuously updated, it’s much more expansive and it has multimedia.”In the 1950s and 1960s, a set of encyclopedias on the bookshelf was akin to a station wagon in the garage or a black-and-white Zenith in the den, an object coveted not only for its usefulness but as a goalpost for an aspirational middle class. The books were often a financial stretch, with many families paying for their encyclopedias in monthly installments.But in recent years, print reference books have been almost completely wiped out by the Internet and its vast spread of resources, particularly Wikipedia, which in 11 years has helped replace the authority of experts with the wisdom of the crowds.Created as a free online encyclopedia that is now written and edited by tens of thousands of active contributors, Wikipedia has been gradually accepted as a largely accurate source, even by scholars and academics, and one that meets the 21st-century requirements of comprehensiveness and instantly updated material. It has nearly four million articles in English, many of them on pop-culture topics that would not pass muster in the pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.The oldest continuously published encyclopedia in the English language, the Encyclopaedia Britannica has become a luxury item with a $1,395 price tag; it is typically purchased by embassies and well-educated, upscale consumers who feel an attachment to the set of bound volumes. Only 8,000 sets of the 2010 edition have been sold, and the remaining 4,000 have been stored in a warehouse until they can be purchased.The 2010 edition had more than 4,000 contributors, including Arnold Palmer, the professional golfer (who wrote the entry on the Masters tournament), Jack J. Lissauer, a space scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center (who wrote about extrasolar planets), the professional skateboarder Tony Hawk (skateboarding) and Panthea Reid, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University and author of the biography “Art and Affection” (Virginia Woolf).[B]Sales of Encyclopaedia Britannica peaked in 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold in the United States. But now print encyclopedias account for less than 1 percent of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s revenues. About 85 percent of revenues come from selling curriculum products in subjects like math, science and the English language; the remainder comes from subscriptions to the Web site, the company said.[/B][B]About half a million households pay a $70 annual fee that includes access to the full database of articles, videos, original documents and access to mobile applications. A selection of articles is already available free on the Web site, said Peter Duckler, a spokesman for Britannica.[/B]At least one other general-interest encyclopedia in the United States, the World Book, is still printing a 22-volume yearly edition, said Jennifer Parello, a spokeswoman for the company, who declined to provide sales figures but said it is purchased primarily by schools and libraries.Gary Marchionini, the dean of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the fading of print encyclopedias is “an inexorable trend that will continue.”“There’s more comprehensive material available on the Web,” Mr. Marchionini said. “The thing that you get from an encyclopedia is one of the best scholars in the world writing a description of that phenomenon or that object, but you’re still getting just one point of view. Anything worth discussing in life is worth getting more than one point of view.”[/QUOTE] Britannica goes out of print... I still have my set...

Source?

Now how will I beat my child to death and blame it on the fall of literature?

The fact that I just read Know-It-All and then I see this, makes it oddly sad.

People still buy/use encyclopedias? They are so slow, out of date and inconvenient as well as more expensive than a notebook with google.

bout fucking time.

[QUOTE=GameDev;35127308]There will probably still be an online version[/QUOTE] [quote]Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopedias[/quote]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvomoMTPZrg[/media] I don't know, I can find this shit really fast with a book.

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;35127345]-quotes-[/QUOTE] About that pokemon fetish, salty

Use it a lot in college and it's considered a solid source of info for academics, at least they will continue with their online work.

The entire encyclopedia fits on a single MMC card. [img]http://www.hpwebos.com/asia/assets/images/products/accessories/expansion/P10922U.gif[/img] It was getting rather hard for door to door salesmen to sell something that now fits on a card the size of a postage stamp.

[QUOTE=MIPS;35128394]The entire encyclopedia fits on a single MMC card. [img]http://www.hpwebos.com/asia/assets/images/products/accessories/expansion/P10922U.gif[/img] It was getting rather hard for door to door salesmen to sell something that now fits on a card the size of a postage stamp.[/QUOTE] Oh you MIPS. You and your outdated, phased out technologies.

[QUOTE=MIPS;35128394]The entire encyclopedia fits on a single MMC card. [img]http://www.hpwebos.com/asia/assets/images/products/accessories/expansion/P10922U.gif[/img] It was getting rather hard for door to door salesmen to sell something that now fits on a card the size of a postage stamp.[/QUOTE] Stay classy, MIPS.

for $1400 a set and 1% of their revenue I'm not surprised

You know, as obsolete as it was, I kept fantasizing that one day I would get rich and shit, and I would buy a brand-spanking-new set of Encyclopedia Brittanicas. And I would hardly use it because of the Internet. It'd be cool though, you know? One time I went to the Brittanica website, and I was sad because the book sets had like 3/5 stars average reviews, and that's basically the main thing they wanted to sell.

[QUOTE=blacksam;35127218]Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., a Chicago-based company[/QUOTE] lol

I can see some kid asking me what books are when I get older. "Well son, their like heavy paper computer chips with stories printed on them." "Eww, why would anyone waste their time on that gay shit?" And then I'm going to cry.

[QUOTE=Snake7;35129182]I can see some kid asking me what books are when I get older. "Well son, their like heavy paper computer chips with stories printed on them." [B]"Eww, why would anyone waste their time on that gay shit?"[/B] And then I'm going to cry.[/QUOTE] To be fair, that already happens with reading in general.

i remember my mum used to have a whole set of torn up old encyclopedia's. oh how wonderful it was for me when i discovered the bit about reproduction.

[QUOTE=thisispain;35129278]i remember my mum used to have a whole set of torn up old encyclopedia's. oh how wonderful it was for me when i discovered the bit about reproduction.[/QUOTE] I remember having Webster's big-ass dictionary (we called it the Mother of All Dictionaries because it was 5 inches thick) and finding it [I]so scandalous[/I] that there were articles on "damn" "ass" "vagina", etcetera.

[QUOTE=Snake7;35129182]I can see some kid asking me what books are when I get older. "Well son, their like heavy paper computer chips with stories printed on them." "Eww, why would anyone waste their time on that gay shit?" And then I'm going to cry.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.elijahfan.com/gallery/gal/Movies/Back_to_the_Future/btf-010.jpg[/img] you have to use your [I]HANDS?[/I] that's like a baby toy!

[QUOTE=OrangeElimin;35127336]People still buy/use encyclopedias? They are so slow, out of date and inconvenient as well as more expensive than a notebook with google.[/QUOTE] Goodness forbid we read books! OH NO

[QUOTE=sHiBaN;35130967]Goodness forbid we read books! OH NO[/QUOTE] ...but in all seriousness the Internet and computers have rightfully displaced books and that is acceptable, and anything from an encyclopedia may be found online, faster and often in greater detail. Encyclopedia Britannica's website. Or Wikipedia. Or just Google it.

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;35130981]...but in all seriousness the Internet and computers have rightfully displaced books and that is acceptable, and anything from an encyclopedia may be found online, faster and often in greater detail. Encyclopedia Britannica's website. Or Wikipedia. Or just Google it.[/QUOTE] Wikipedia better than factual data? Come on, you learn in college never to use it as a source Regardless, those books are timeless. Besides, how are you to access information without electricity? Its like we all became dependent on tech all of a sudden. I had access to a set as a child and I enjoyed every moment of it.

You have to admit though, this will become a huge collectors item, since basically the only reason why people got EB for household use was to have it as a collectors item. Now that it's out of print, people could probably make good money selling complete collections in good/mint condition in the future.

I still have a set of Encyclopedia Britannica volumes, of the 15th edition printed in 1993. Who knows, maybe they'll be collectable one day.

[QUOTE=Megafan;35131089]I still have a set of Encyclopedia Britannica volumes, of the 15th edition printed in 1993. Who knows, maybe they'll be collectable one day.[/QUOTE] They're almost twenty years old, they're probably collectable already

[QUOTE=latin_geek;35131112]They're almost ten years old, they're probably collectable already[/QUOTE] 1993 was 19 years ago, just saying [QUOTE=sHiBaN;35131040]Wikipedia better than factual data? Come on, you learn in college never to use it as a source Regardless, those books are timeless. Besides, how are you to access information without electricity? Its like we all became dependent on tech all of a sudden. I had access to a set as a child and I enjoyed every moment of it.[/QUOTE] not use as source =/= not use Also worth noting: talking about dependence on electricity is not a good argument, as, in the event of loss of electricity, pretty much everything else we do grinds to a halt, this is no different.

We have devices smaller than our hands that can access every bit of knowledge our race currently knows There's no more need for 129lb sets of books. They're nice to have in places like libraries and schools, but not for the every man

[QUOTE=sHiBaN;35131040]Wikipedia better than factual data? Come on, you learn in college never to use it as a source[/QUOTE] Then use the references that they provide for all credible articles. I don't understand when people say Wikipedia is all bullshit when most articles have links to reputable sites that provided the source information.