The most expensive software edition is $40. It is listed as containing "Over 100,000 articles"
Surely it doesn't cost over a thousand dollars to print 32 books?
For example, the fans of Jack Vance published an authoritative 44-set of his collected works, printed and bound similar to an encyclopedia. It was a nonprofit volunteer effort. The "reader's edition" was supposed to cost $1250 a set, but the price ultimately had to rise to $1500 to cover costs. The all-leather "deluxe edition" cost $3000.
Why torture such a noble product as an encyclopedia by putting it in competition with modern internet distribution and price, better that they put it out of it's misery.
What we need are wikipedia ebook devices gets updates via rsync. Something like a Kindle DX with an SD card and wifi.
Printing books isn't just about printing books. Someone actually has to come up with the contents and this person has to be paid!