Goodbye Encyclopedia Britannica…Kinda

Believe it or not there was an encyclopedia before Wikipedia. I know it is a shocker to many, but it is also a sign of the times.

Sadly, it is still hard to believe, but Encyclopedia Britannica will end publication of its printed editions, but will continue with digital versions available online.

For those who grew up with Encyclopedia Britannica, many of us had a fondness for these books as we had  parents and grandparents who spent hundreds of dollars getting he latest edition of the 25 volumes that were the size of the Dallas phone book each. If you also remember, they were out of date, the day they arrived at your house. The best part was seeing the Encyclopedia Britannica sales person lugging the entire set into your house to demonstrate to you how great these books were.

Now it is online and if you have an iPhone or iPad, it is nothing more than an app.

The only thing that makes this a little sad is that Encyclopedia Britannica was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768. However, the change does make sense in the current state of the economy. Consider that a printed edition will run you $1400. An online subscription costs around $70 per year and the company recently launched a set of apps ranging between $1.99 and $4.99 per month. When you consider Wikipedia is free and not as accurrate, it makes a lot of dollars and sense.