[WikiEN-l] That other encyclopedia

[Daniel Mayer]

--- David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> Seen this?
> 
>
http://store.britannica.com/jump.jsp?itemID=114&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=114&sort=1&dpid=14
> 
> You can get the full Britannica DVD for US$25!
> 
> At that sort of price, I'm tempted to get one myself, not least to say
> to journalists that I'm not only a fan but I bought a copy ...
> 
> And they're clearing this at US$20:
> 
>
http://store.britannica.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=247&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=247
> 
> Anyone with dreams of a printed Wikipedia 1.0 should look at this and
> think how we can get there.

How they can continue to improve their product and make a profit with those prices is a bit
concerning. I bought last year's Deluxe Reference Edition for $89 and thought that was a good
price. But now it seems that price has dropped at least twice. Even more worrisome is that this
year's regular price is even lower than what they say on that page was last year’s regular price.
Hopefully this is just a special and not a sign that EB is becoming desperate in the face of
Encarta and the growing use of the Internet as people's first stop for reference information. 

BTW, I a bit disappointed in what I got ; all this time we’ve been putting Britannica on some kind
of pedestal and yet almost all the articles I’ve looked at were stubs whose only value to me would
be to help improve lead sections in our articles. And most of those had corresponding Wikipedia
articles that were longer, often much longer. Length and size are not everything (accuracy for one
is also very important), but I was expecting more meat for something I pay for. Especially when
the purpose of buying was to make sure corresponding Wikipedia articles cover all the same points.
Of course, a select few of their articles are famously large and detailed, but those seem to be
the exception and stubs seem to be the rule. 

Don't take my word for it ; buy the DVD and see for yourself. It certainly is worth the money now
and something almost all of us can afford. You should also consider buying the Concise edition -
it is great reference to check against to make sure lead sections cover the most vital points of a
topic. I've found that EB’s introductory sections in their regular articles are not a good model
for our lead sections. 

-- mav

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