The End of Print Media is in Full Effect

[Kevin Dong]

I think this is too bad as I had these encyclopedias at school and used them quite a bit. The death of print is ever so apparent...Soon all media will be digital and books will cease to exist. I wonder what will happen if there are no more books, and something happens to the internet?

Encyclopedia Britannica ceases to exist -- in print




Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been around 244 years, is the oldest English-language encyclopedia in existence. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)




By Rene Lynch March 14, 2012, 9:54 a.m.



Encyclopedia Britannica is closing the book on its print edition. The move may be the single most powerful symbol to date of our rapidly changing media world, a world in which hard copies of books could become a quaint thing of the past.


Today, we clutch iPads and Kindles and Nooks, bragging about how they lighten our load and encourage us to read more. When we want to "look something up," we're far more likely to reach for our laptops than walk across the room to thumb through a reference book.


And that unquenchable desire for convenience makes for a world in which a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica -- the oldest English-language encyclopedia in existence -- no longer has a home.

"Change: It's Okay. Really." That's the headline Encyclopedia Britannica's blog, Facts Matter, uses in discussing the encyclopedia's transition to a digital-only product.
Yes, it's sad that we're bidding farewell to 244 years of history, the blog says. That's how long the thick reference volumes have lined shelves around the globe, providing a "source of enlightenment" to all that rifled through them. But fear not, the blog says reassuringly: "...in a larger sense this is just another historical data point in the evolution of human knowledge."
The encyclopedia will live on, "in bigger, more numerous, and more vibrant digital forms," the company promises.
And for starters, it will be cheaper.


The flagship 32-volume printed edition costs $1,400, according to Reuters, and will be available only until current inventory is sold out. An online subscription will set you back about $70 a year. One superior digital advantage: The online edition is updated constantly with new data, in keeping with the rapidly changing world around us.
Reaction at the encyclopedia website ran the gamut.


"Printed books have been around for more than 600 years; e-books have been around for only a tiny fraction of that time. Isn't it too soon to put all your eggs in the digital basket?" asked one commenter at the blog.


"Thank god," said another, "tired of searching for 3+ minutes for my answer in an encyclopedia when I can google it in 3 seconds. Best change ever."


And then there was this comment:


"We have the set of Britannica that my mother-in-law bought for my husband and his sister. I told the kids that they are a love letter from Grandma to Daddy. It says 'I want you to grow-up, learn everything you can, succeed, and be happy.' You just need to sell the idea that the subscription is the same kind of love letter. I hope you'll make it available on Nook Color!"

[GroobyKrissy]

Does this mean my set is now a collector's edition Yay!

[Willie Escalade]

Digital is just more current! I can't tell you how many libraries I went to where the encyclopedias were out of date.

I've even resorted to stop buying magazines...at least the ones I can get in digital format.

That's technology for you!

[Falrune]

Next thing you know, porn will go digital.

[GroobyKrissy]

Food needs to go digital.

[Prospero]

Britannica will continue onlie. It updatable all the time that way. It IS the end of an era but inevitable really. And Britannica is - at least - more reliable than an openwork like Wikipedia which has got me into trouble once or twice.

[Willie Escalade]

Next thing you know, porn will go digital.

No it won't!

[Stavros]

The curious thing is that we were once told it was paper that computing would make obsolete, and yet in offices all over the world people print out their emails and particular articles from newspapers...and fora...

Maybe its more economic for series like EB or the Grove Dictionary of Music rather than for novels or other books, since a print run of 1000 copies of my latest novel means 1000 copies, but for a 32 volume set is obviously more expensive. In addition, it is as the article says easier -and more essential- to update a reference book online -you normally get one version of a novel, until some post-modern genius comes up with a perpetual novel that gets updated and the plot changed online every month...hmmm...sounds like Dickens....

One benefit of hard copy: the unexpected joy of finding something you were not looking for: a name, an event, a musical instrument that you would not find with the precision of digital media, because you accidentally turned the wrong page, or went to look for Wolf, and found Wolf-Ferrari instead...

[MdR Dave]

Britannica will continue onlie. It updatable all the time that way. It IS the end of an era but inevitable really. And Britannica is - at least - more reliable than an openwork like Wikipedia which has got me into trouble once or twice.

Friends don't let friends Wiki.

Crowd sourcing stuff like fact is a bad idea.

[Faldur]