In 1994, Britannica released CD and online versions of their encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia was available initially for an annual fee of US $ 85, but, finding it impossible to contend with all of the free reference material on the web, they began in 1999 allowing part of their content to be viewed for free. Yet even this last concession failed to reverse their troubled fortunes.
1994 年，大英百科也推出光碟版和網路版，網路版年費美金 85 元，但已難敵網路資訊免費的潮流，1999 年大英百科再度讓步，改為免費，仍未能挽回頹勢。