<3>After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it willno longer publish a print edition of its famous reference books. Thecompany's most recent set of printed encyclopedias is the2010 edition, which has 32 volumes, weighs about 59 kilograms, andcosts 1,395 US dollars. Sales of the print edition have declineddramatically over thelast decade asconsumers have turned to free Internet sites, such as Wikipedia andGoogle for their reference needs. Encyclopedia Britannica will nowfocus on developing more digital products for educationalinstitutions and individual consumers.

     EncyclopediaBritannica began publication of its first print edition in 1768 inEdinburgh, Scotland. Over the years, the company's famousgold-lettered encyclopedia sets became mainstays in libraries andhomes throughout the United States and Britain. Many of theencyclopedia sets were sold by door-to-door sales people , andfamilies paid for them over time in monthly installments. Thepopularity of the encyclopedia sets peaked in 1990, when the companysold 12,000 sets in the United States alone. In contrast, only 8,000sets of the 2010 edition have been sold, with 4,000 sets stillavailable to customers while supplies last.

    Since2001, Encyclopedia Britannica has struggled with competition fromWikipedia, Google, and other online reference sites. The high costand large size of the print edition, along with the ability of onlineproviders to instantly update their sites, caused sales of theprinted encyclopedia sets to drop dramatically. EncyclopediaBritannica will still publish an online edition with a $69.95 annualsubscription fee, but the company expects that its biggest profitswill continue to come from educational products for largeinstitutions, which currently produce 85% of its revenue. Althoughmany observers have expressed nostalgia for the printedencyclopedias, the company maintains that its focus on digitalproducts will provide readers with a reliable source of accurate andwell-researched reference information.