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After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica ceased to publish their printed editions that have been negligible in the past few years. 

As Internet is now the most promising media for communication and information transfer, so  the Britannica focused on the expansion over digital media because of increased competition websites such  as Wikipedia.Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia on the Internet, developed by volunteers with the  help of a special wiki software.

Wikipedia has more than seven million articles in 253 languages. Its articles are written jointly by volunteers from around the world, and the vast majority of articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Any page on Wikipedia can always be amended, so no article is never completed.

• It is, or tries to be, mainly Encyclopedia.

• It is a wiki, that can be modified by anyone (except blocked users).

• It is free and uses the GNU license. 

Representatives of Britannica, who once sold their encyclopedia in direct offer from door to door, now 85 percent of its profit generates on the Internet. And for the access to online edition of full range subscription is required.

Jorge Cauze, president of Britannica, said for the BBC they decided to wade to digital edition due to changes in consumer habits, and that the ability to update content in a very short time also played a big role in the decision to cease printing encyclopedias.

In addition to standard encyclopedic informations, Wikipedia often collects informations that are commonly found in almanacs and gazetteers, or information regarding current events.

All original material supplied for Wikipedia is open, defined by the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that it can be freely consumed, modified, copied and distributed, in condition that any copy modification or amendment shall not place additional restrictions on the content (must be issued under the same consent). 

Wikipedia's content is created by its users, and administrators have more control.

According to a survey conducted by the Public Relations Journal, one of four Wikipedia articles contains incorrect information. The number of errors is large, which shows just how unreliable this site is. Inspite, everyone use Wikipedia, from students to employees of different companies. 

Wikipedia is useful for information on any topic, but for more serious use and transfer of data from Wikipedia, it does not hurt to visit some other sources.

On the Internet, you can find a variety of other encyclopedias, some of them are: Russian Rubrikon, Columbia Encyclopedia, World Wolfram Science, Harvard anthology, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, etc.