Its hefty tomes had rolled off presses almost continuously since 1768, but in 1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica abandoned paper and ink for the obvious advantages of CD-ROMs and the Net. Revenues plunged. Oops.
Hungry for a return to profits, the company resumed publishing in hardcover in 2002. Now it's having trouble keeping up with orders. "People just like print," says Britannica sales director Patti Ginnis. "They like the feel of the page." Its competitors are getting the message, too. World Book is printing more reference works again, and so is Encyclopedia Americana. You can't keep a good technology down.
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