Comments On The "10K Special" DVD From Project Gutenberg

by Michael S. Hart


You have here the first DVD produced by Project Gutenberg,
containing nearly all of our first 10,000 eBooks, except
the Human Genome Project and our audio eBooks due to the
limitations of their large file size, and except for the
Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks due to copyright.
We will be working on DVDs for "life +50" and "life +70."

The official release date of this DVD is December 10, 2003,
and we are starting production a month beforehand, so don't
worry if you have received yours early, as we have made no
effort to keep these out of the hands of the public.

You should have received this DVD free of charge, other
than perhaps $1 to $2 for the media and shipping. . . .

We would LOVE it if you could make copies of this DVD
and hand them out, particularly to others who would be
willing to make even more copies. We do realize that
most of you can't afford to give away lots of free DVDs,
but one or two a week would still be VERY helpful.

We also will be handing out CDs, which are so inexpensive
that they can be handed out free of charge. Sometimes with
rebates CDs ARE actually free.

If you hand out over 100 copies, I would love to hear from
you at hart@pobox.com each time you hand out 107 copies. . .
that's about 1,000,000 eBooks.

We will be keeping track of blank DVD prices, so please let
me know of the best deals you find, and we will add that to
our list and send you back our collected price list.

December 10, is the 10th Anniversary of Project Gutenberg's
100th eBook, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and is also
the 14th Anniversary of my father's death, without whom it
is quite possible you would not have either Project Gutenberg
or this DVD. Lighting a candle for my Dad would be greatly
appreciated any December 10th, and probably any other day.

On December 10, 2003 we should be about 6% of the way to 20K
DVDs that we hope will be dual-layered or dual-sided, so you
will still be able to use a single DVD to hand out a 20K DVD
similar in nature to this one by December 10, 2005.

For the record, it took 25 YEARS for us to make the first 600
eBooks and it should take less than that many MONTHS to get
from 10,000 eBooks to 20,000, and then hopefully on to 40,000.

If we can keep up the growth rate we have established over the
past 10 years, we should be able to have a million eBooks for
you to hand out some 10 years from now, from an ever widening
number of languages and cultures.

So, here you have it, the result of over 32 years of work. . .
a single DVD you can hold in your hand, copy for about $1. . .
and mail to anyone without worrying about shipping costs. . . .

Can you imagine what may happen 32 years from now?!?!?!?!?!?!?