In the UK, Britannica is free to a wide range of users. It's free online and in print to anyone who goes into a public library. What's more, it's free online at home to everyone who has a library card. It's free to every student and academic in universities and colleges who have a subscription (and most do); it's free to increasing numbers of shcoolchildren and teachers who work and study in schools and local authorities that subscribe (and the number goes up every day). In many places it's also free to children and parents at home, through the school network.

The new edition of Britannica Online that will soon be available is a development that sits securely within Britannica's Enlightenment values - it is educated, intelligent, current, humane and confident. It creates a platform of confidence for users to build their own knowledge and understanding. The core encyclopedia continues to be commissioned from expert writers, fact-checked, edited and published at three language levels - adult, teenage and primary - and continuously refreshed. The new edition takes full advantage of technological and social innovation in the way we think and develop knowledge and understanding and offers a wider door to the contributions and comment that Britannica has always welcomed.

And if you wish to subscribe as an individual, it's currently less than 11 pence per day - far less than a newspaper or a TV licence - and the trial period is free as air. Visit britannica.co.uk.

I could hardly believe my eyes when i saw the headline!! Oh! How we've bashed out at wikipedia and hail the 'holy' britannica! Please don't do this to us. Don't allow the internet to rob your prestige. If the guys at Brittanica does'nt know, let them read this: The 'Truthiness' of Wikipedia (http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=556&doc_id=154805&F_src=flftwo)

Idiots... It's not that you can contribute content, that makes wikipedia popular. It's the fact that it's FREE!

Imagine if they made Britanica available for free... An enzyclopedia you can trust, and doesn't have to pay for?!? They would blow all the pediaphiles out of the water!

Right, so I'll have to go and make sure my link refers to that part, then.

Oh lovely... what next? Will they have a blog too? Maybe some terrible youtube-like videos for different subjects? I just wish some things would remain steadfast against the internet trends.