The Good CD

Several Comdex pilgrims stopped by the booth of Ellis Enterprises, makers of the Ellis Bible Library Series -- 24 digitized versions of the Good Book on four CDs.

John Ellis, president of the company, says foot traffic to his booth is always good at Comdex, where he has exhibited for several years. This year, his modest space was not far from Microsoft's sprawling pavilion.

Ellis says that interest at the show comes mostly from IT professionals interested in a searchable version of the Bible for their PCs. Ellis’s firm also sells Bible reference dictionaries and Christian clip art CDs. He does not sell other digitized versions of religious scriptures.

Ellis says his company was the first transcribe the Bible onto ASCI text format – a project that cost him “several million dollars” and probably left a handful of typists in Jamaica -- where he outsourced the labor -- with sore fingers.

Even in a down economy, business is good, Ellis says, as his firm holds 48% market share for Bibles on CD. Ironically, the biggest threat to his bottom line is “Bible bootlegging” – individuals or companies who make illicit copies of Ellis Bible Library Series CDs and sell them over the Internet or on eBay.

“I could sue them, but what good would that do?” Ellis says. “I’d have the word ‘fool’ written on my tombstone if I did that.”

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