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Encyclopaedia Britannica posts all 32 volumes on Internet, free|

By DAVE CARPENTER| |AP Business Writer|

CHICAGO (AP) — Encyclopaedia Britannica, the longtime leader in
information that has lost its way in the Internet era, is giving away its
knowledge for free in a desperate bid to
stay afloat. As of today, the publisher’s 32-volume set is available to
anyone who surfs the Web. The only
catch: You have to wade through advertisements — Britannica’s source of
revenue for the risky move — to get
your information. The entire Britannica — from a-ak (an ancient East Asian
music) to Zoroastrianism (a
Persian religion) — can be found at the Chicago company’s retooled site,
www.britannica.com. Hoping to
emulate the success of Amazon, Yahoo and others, the site also offers
current information from newspapers,
news agencies and 70 magazines as well as community services such as e-mail,
weather forecasts and
financial market reports. The head of the new company split off by the
publishing company to house its digital
properties, Britannica.com Inc., tried to put the best spin on the venture,
calling this ‘‘a momentous day for
knowledge seekers everywhere.’’ ‘‘Purchasing the Encyclopaedia Britannica
was once a major milestone in a
family’s life, but today we are fulfilling our promise to make it more
accessible to more people worldwide,’’
said Don Yannias, the new company’s chief executive officer. But giving up
its prime asset for free — bound
volumes still go for about $1,250 a set — shows the straits into which the
231-year-old company has fallen.
Encyclopaedia Britannica had revenue of $650 million and a sales force of
2,300 at its peak in 1989. Revenue
estimates are no longer available from the privately held company, where the
work force is thought to number
about 350. The company lost ground badly when Microsoft, after being spurned
by Britannica, teamed with
discount-market encyclopedia publisher Funk & Wagnalls to produce a
colorful, multimedia encyclopedia on
CD-ROM in 1993. Britannica’s own CD-ROM version, released a year later, was
low on graphics and did not
fare well. It also became the first encyclopedia available on the Web in
1994, but the reception was muted by
the $85-a-year subscription fee. House calls by salesmen, once a company
trademark, were dropped in
1996.


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