PW: Versabook: Looks to Rekindle Multimedia

Founded by Harry Fox, CEO, and Sol Rosenberg, president, in 1996, Versabooks licenses rights to reference titles then oversees the technical aspects and produces multimedia versions-CD-ROM/DVD or HTML pages-or, most importantly, in downloadable digital book form.

Rosenberg told PW that his company eliminates the need for publishers to invest in multimedia equipment or programming staff and "allows publishers to offer content in the latest formats" at minimal risk. Versabooks has licensing agreements with Simon &Schuster, Random House, Merriam-Webster, NTC Publishing/Contemporary Books and many others.

The company is distributing a CD-ROM that allows the customer to purchase a title online and download it to a hard drive. Rosenberg demonstrated how titles such as Funk &Wagnalls Multimedia Encyclopedia (and more than 60 other reference works), once downloaded to a user's computer, automatically integrate themselves into the Versabooks library interface. Titles or individual articles from many different titles can then be rearranged into any number of personalized, fully searchable databases, complete with full-motion video and sound.

James Withgott, v-p at Merriam-Webster, told PW that "we've worked with them [Fox and Rosenberg] before. They have credibility and an appealing format and we don't have to put in the technical development." However, he cautioned, "For their format to be successful it's got to be widely accepted quickly."