The Funk & Wagnalls DVD-ROM/Web encyclopedia: a publishing revolution's first reference point?

Emedia Professional, Sept, 1998 by Mark Fritz

a publishing revolution's first reference point?

Think back to the seminal days of CD-ROM publishing. What were the trail-blazing commercial titles that really got CD-ROM off the ground? They were the multimedia encyclopedias--first Compton's, then Microsoft's Encarta. Prior to these, the CD-ROM market was stuck in a chicken-versus-egg rut. Average consumers had no incentive to buy CD-ROM drives because outside of library and institutional enclaves, there was nothing really useful to play on them. Then manufacturers started bundling encyclopedia discs with their drives, and the market exploded. Thanks to the multimedia encyclopedias, a CD-ROM drive is now a standard component in almost every PC that ships.

Today's seminal DVD-ROM publishing market seems to need a similar shot in the arm. (Let's face it, unless you want to watch movies on your PC, or need to work with highly specialized databases, there's not much content available for DVD-ROM drive owners.) Perhaps the title that does for DVD-ROM what Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia did for CD-ROM--catapult it into regular-guy relevancy--will be the Funk & Wagnalls Unabridged Encyclopedia. This DVD-ROM title is now available from New York City-based multimedia applications developer Community Network Services (CNS), which has licensed the rights to the encyclopedia for seven years. But CNS has added a new twist beyond DVD. They've tied their DVD encyclopedia to their Web site.

Ironically, what is most compelling about CNS' DVD could-be Killer App is not the DVD at all, but the Web connection. After all, DVD is primarily a bigger bit bucket--it provides high-quality MPEG-2 video, which is nice, but as for Dolby AC-3 surround sound--well... how many PC users do you know who really need or want it? (Most multimedia CD-ROMs use sub-Red Book mono sound and end-users rarely notice the difference.) And how many PC users really have five speakers connected to their computers? In contrast, do you know any PC user who isn't connected to the Internet?

DVD/WEB BEATS DOOR-TO-DOOR DISTRIBUTION ANY DAY

A Web connection for a volatile time-sensitive reference source like an encyclopedia is not just a fashionable idea, but a smart one, solving many problems for both publisher and consumer. The CNS Web site provides ongoing content updates that are transparently and automatically downloaded to the encyclopedia user. No more scrambling around through annual supplements or yearbooks looking for information about the latest scientific discoveries or political maneuvers. You just insert your DVD encyclopedia disc and dial up the CNS Web site.

For example, let's say you want to know about the planet Mars. If you turned to a paper-based encyclopedia, the entry might be so old it still talks about the Martian canals. But turn to a Web-connected encyclopedia and you get pictures just downloaded from the Pathfinder probe now sitting on the surface of Mars.

Indeed the disc/Web publishing model is so compelling that it may eventually revolutionize the publishing business. "I believe the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia is going to send a message to the CD-ROM industry," says CNS CEO Harry Fox. "This constant updating is a great leap forward. It makes both printed and CD-ROM encyclopedias obsolete."

As you might expect, CNS is using high-capacity, high-bandwidth DVD primarily as a multimedia repository, while the low-bandwidth Web site is reserved primarily for text delivery. The Funk & Wagnalls DVD disc contains over 131 MPEG-2 (VOB format)video clips, most with AC-3 Surround Sound. Video clips generally run from one to three minutes. but one (a compilation of NASA footage) runs nearly 15 minutes. The disc also contains 63 animations (mostly Macromedia Flash animations), 333 music clips (mostly standalone AC-3 files/, 160 speeches, 122 sounds (primarily animal calls and sound effects), 637 maps, 228 flags, and 13,085 assorted still-image graphics. One particularly nice feature of the encyclopedia is the way you can call up an entry and, by going to the Media Gallery, get a list of all the media available to illustrate that entry.

The DVD disc also contains the full text of the 29-volume printed version of the encyclopedia. Initially, a user gets all his text from the disc, but since updates are downloaded to the user's hard drive, as time goes on, more and more of the encyclopedia's usable text gets stored on the hard disk. As updated entries arrive via the modem connection, the older entries are effectively replaced by a newly created link which re-routes future searches from the old, now-defunct entry on your DVD disc to the new, updated entry on your hard drive. The Funk & Wagnalls editorial staff posts updates on a monthly basis. Updates are transparently pushed to the user's hard drive whenever he or she logs on to the CNS Web site.

Thanks to this constant updating, according to Fox, "You'll never have to buy another encyclopedia again in your life." Of course, you'll have to pay a subscription fee for the rest of your life. Although CNS has not yet announced a price for the Funk & Wagnalls Unabridged Encyclopedia DVD disc, it has said that the price of the disc will include only one year of free updates. After that, the subscription rate is likely to be close to the $19.95 the company charges for a subscription to the online version of the encyclopedia.