"Google says its new service — called Google Editions — will allow users to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers — even independent shops — to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue."
According to Google, the service will sell "online access to million of books. This means you can read an entire book from any Internet-connected computer, simply by logging in to your Book Search account, and it will remain on your electronic bookshelf, so you can come back and access it whenever you want in the future."
For now, Google Editions will only allow users to read in-print books, since Google can't yet distribute out-of-print books. Google's hosted electronic book store will have the following tagline: "buy anywhere, read anywhere," but I think Google should change it to: "buy anywhere, read anywhere you have Internet access".
they can allow renting as well, that would be an awesome feature.
ReplyDeleteGoogle is going to index books from amazon, eBay or from anywhere. Like If I have Book and want to sell will google list it for buyers.
ReplyDeleteAny Idea??
No, you'll be only be able to read books digitized by Google that are currently available on Google Books Search. You've probably noticed that most books can only be previewed and many pages are omitted from the preview.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm a Google fan, but I really don't think they stand a chance against Apple in this area, no matter how much better their prices or technology are.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it have made more sense for Google to work with a company like Amazon, that is already in this market, rather then launching their own bookstore?
Otherwise, it will be just like with the iPod: the iPad & iTunes will be the only well recognized brand for books & tablets, and the competitors will all fade into the background.
That was a disaster for consumers! So please save us from iTunes and avoid balkanizing the eBook market.
So wait... I'll have to PAY MONEY for books that Google has digitized that they took from libraries? Whooaa. SCARY. Whats next for SS Google?
ReplyDeleteIf a book is out of copyright, you can read the full text of the book. If the book is copyrighted, you can only see a preview of the book. Google Editions will allow you to read copyrighted in-print books, but authors and publishers have to be compensated. Read more about Google Books.
ReplyDeleteHmm....
ReplyDeleteSo, if I buy a book from Google, will I only be able to read it online, or is it also possible to download a copy of the book to read when I'm away from my computer?
@Dan:
ReplyDeleteApparently, Google won't sell e-books, it will only sell online access to digitized books. That means you'll be able to read books from any computer that has Internet access by going to books.google.com and logging to your Google account. Right now, only public domain books can be downloaded as PDF/ePub.
thats fine. I have found books in Book Search where I was annoyed because the part I was interested in was snippeted out. If I can do one click at a low price and get access, I will. How big a business it becomes is totally separate from whether its a good idea. it's a no brainer.
ReplyDeleteRB
"buy anywhere, read anywhere you have Internet access" - never heard of downloading?
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, the only way they'll lure me from Amazon is (1) Selling kindle-friendly format and (2) include out of copyright texts for free.
Maybe they plan to launch their own reader? Hmmmm.
The success would depend on how good the reading experience will be.
ReplyDeleteI would expect Google to come up with a mobile App to make the reading better. Reading inside the mobile browser is not gonna be so nice.
ReplyDeleteIf Google intends the books to be view in browsers, authors might then compose multimedia works. There already some such out there, but very few. The few tools for authors to create multimedia books tend to be expensive. However, if an author has Google's exposure to the world, we might see more of them. As an author, that opens up a lot of possibilities for me. Very interesting to see what comes of this.
ReplyDeleteHey I am sold. This sounds better than anything anyone else is offering. Free excess to books that are not under copyright. You pay a fee for full access to copyrighted books. You have the power of Google search to find the content you are looking for. Sounds like a world class library at your finger tips.
ReplyDeleteHey everyone have different point of views. At my point of view google launching a good service.
ReplyDeleteThey'll offer books in just about any format, but the ePub and Kindle versions are by far the most popular. If anyone wants to convert their books to both of these formats, see http://www.mcwriting.com
ReplyDeleteIt will be new phase in e-book or e-publishing industry
ReplyDeletewhat about free e-books? will those books which have outlived their copyright period be distributed free of cost?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThey're already available for free and public domain books can be downloaded as PDF or EPUB.
Actually, you need to have Internet connection only to buy the (in-copyright) books, but then you can access them offline. They're using some kind of cache- application to allow you to do that. Anyways, the file is never downloaded to your reader (whatever it is - cellphone. iPad, etc.). It remains in Google's severs: this way they intend to prevent P2P piracy,
ReplyDeleteWhat about Audio Books?
ReplyDeleteWill they be available too?
@abhishek said...
ReplyDelete"Like If I have Book and want to sell will google list it for buyers.
Any Idea?? "
www.addall.com already searches over 30 booksellers, including amazon, alibris, and more. It's the best one-stop search I've found for used books. Does NOT index EBay, though - that's an auction site.
I'm all for this, but if I can't read a book on my Blackberry (soon to be Android) phone in places where there's no cell service I just can't use it.
ReplyDeleteThis is disappointing, I was hoping that open standards would win again.
would that mean we must buy their books?
ReplyDeleteIt would be a shame for Google to undercut the market so significantly that it undermines the entire publishing world... The amount of work that goes into some of these incredible titles would not be justified by the mere pennies offered, while Google runs away with the Lion's share.
ReplyDeleteMonopoly is NEVER a good thing, regardless of how convenient it may appear to be.
we wish google books & editions (and music) the best. go "open" the world full of uptight content owners. get it right and we'll wait.
ReplyDeleteIrish said:"go "open" the world full of uptight content owners."
ReplyDeleteUptight content owners?
Let me see... that would be the people who create books to make their living, so that you can enjoy them.
Why on earth don't you (Irish) feel they have a right to be compensated for their work? It isn't exactly a high paid job as it is, and without then, there would be no new books.