Last edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica printed

After 244 years the 2012 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica will be the last one published in print or book form.

The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being available when the current stock runs out, the company said. The Chicago-based company will continue to offer digital versions.

www.physorg.com...

The trend to digital versions, where you can do text searches is obvious.

Others see Wikipedia as having played a role:

"While Wikipedia has become ubiquitous, the Britannica remains a consistently more reliable source," she said.

The oldest paper book dates back to 868 AD, and is known as the Diamond Sutra. So, while paper books can last over 1,000 years, digital media doesn't last as long:

Unrecorded CD-R and CD-RW: 5-10 years
Recorded CD-R: 50-200 years
Recorded CD-RW: 20-100 years
Recorded DVD-R: 30-100 years
Recorded DVD-RW: up to 30 years
Recorded BD-R and BD-RE: 30-200 years

www.cd-info.com...

If there ever was a nuclear war, the EMP bursts would destroy our computers and digital devices (anything with a chip). Even if some computers survived, the digital storage media itself would be useless after at most 200 years.

Will survivors of a post-nuclear war holocaust see the world as it was up to only 2012?

Even if there isn't (hopefully) a nuclear war, will digital books still "disappear" after at most 200 years?

You got me thinking here...

How long until the schools require purchase of or provide a kindle instead of the classroom book? It's cheaper and re-downloadable if lost.

It's already alot cheaper to download a book than to buy a paper novel.

reply to post by Nicolas Flamel

Ah, a sad moment for some of us who spent hours with a flashlight under the blankets instead of falling asleep when other kids did. My brother and I escaped into the secret worlds inside the Britannica books. He has inherited our family's set now. But their magic was special. Thanks Britannica!