facebook rss twitter

Google teams up with instant book printer

by Sylvie Barak on 18 September 2009, 08:43

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qatzy

Add to My Vault: x

Taking a leaf out of Google’s book

In what can only be described as a fascinating new chapter for Google, the Internet giant has partnered with a firm by the name of On Demand Books (ODB), to let customers print any of the over two million books in Google's scanned collection, on the spot and in no more than five minutes.

Google's new partner in crime (so to speak), ODB, produces high-speed publishing machines dubbed "Espresso Book Machines" capable of churning out 300 page paperbacks in less than five minutes. The machine, which sells for about $100,000, has been around for a few years already, but this is the first time it will have access to an index of books as sizable as Google's.

Not oblivious to the irony of printing out books gleaned from scanning copies of real books in libraries across the globe, a Google spokesperson noted, "It's like things are coming full circle."

The printed books will cost approximately $8 each and both Google and ODB will purportedly receive $1 in royalties per book sold. Google has already pledged to give its share to various charities and not-for profit outfits.

ODB already has "Espresso" machines set up in over a dozen locations in North America, Australia, the UK and Egypt, but Harvard University's book shop will be the first to be granted access to Google's digital library. Libraries which can't afford to shell out the requisite 100k will be allowed to lease the equipment according to an ODB press release.

Currently, Google can only provide the Espresso with its two million "public domain" books, published before 1923 and no longer subject to copyright law. However, if Google manages to win an upcoming class action settlement, the firm could be allowed to sell out of print books too, of which it currently has some six million scanned.

As far as public opinion is concerned, however, not everybody is on the same page, with some critics concerned that giving Google free reign over the digital rights of out-of-print books could infringe on people's privacy by making it that much easier to track people's reading habits. Depends how one reads into it all, really.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 0 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Log in to be the first to comment!