Re: EAN/ISBN

tlmfru wrote:
> HeyBub <heybub@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:5a6dnfsfC7ChHr3VnZ2dnUVZ_smnnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> tlmfru wrote:
>>> The EAN is actually an upgrade of the current 12-digit UPC scheme.
>>> The ISBN13 is a way of using the current ISBN as a UPC.  I thought
>>> you were joking when you spoke of "Bookland" but it's true!  979
>>> will be used as a prefix "when the current numbers run out",
>>> whatever that means, and 977 is for periodicals presently under the
>>> ISSN.
>>
>> "Joking?" The book business is rapidly approaching 1950. We don't
>> joke about things like that. There is only ONE major publisher in
>> the United States that owns a printing press (Doubleday for its
>> Anchor Bible series). There are over 3,000 trim sizes for hardbound
>> books. Book jackets are applied by hand. Unsold mass-market books
>> are destroyed in situ because it's cheaper to burn 'em than to print
>> another.
>>
>
>
> But surely that's only a problem if the length of the fields is fixed
> or have a maximum?
>
>>
>>>
>>
>> It's worse. The EAN believes in an optional, additional, digit
>> (making 14 in all) to indicate packing quantity.
>>
>> Example:
>> No leading digit = single can of armadillo-flavored chili
>> 1 = case of 12 cans
>> 2 = pallet of 50 cases
>> 3 = truck load of 22 pallets
>> 4 = shipping container of 3 truck loads
>>
>> Each of these will have a different check-digit.
>>
>> Fortunately, in the book business, this silliness is irrelevant.
>> Publishers traditionally assign a different ISBN/EAN to each packing
>> quantity, leading often to "You ordered 3 PALLETS of 'Collectable
>> Locomotives' ?!! Have you been sniffing shipping cartons again?"
>>
>>
>
> There's also an extension for price ...
>

Right. Also an add-on for (in the case of peiodicals) for issue number.