Print this page
Reincarnation
Google has said that the 2 million books in its digital library could be reincarnated as paperbacks.
Google is allowing part of its index to the maker of a high-speed publishing machine that can manufacture a paperback-bound book of about 300 pages in under five minutes. The "Espresso Book Machine" has been around for several years already, but it has become a Nintendo bit useful now that so many out of print books scanned from some of the world's largest libraries can be used.
On Demand Books, the Espresso's maker, potentially could get access to even more hard-to-find books if Google wins court approval of a class-action settlement giving it the right to sell out-of-print books. A Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson said the development will allow people to pick up the physical copy of a book even if there may be just one or two other copies in some library in this country, or maybe it's not even available in this country at all.
On Demand's printing machines already are in more than a dozen locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and Egypt, mostly at campus book stores, libraries and small retailers. The books published by The Espresso Machine will cost $8 per copy, although the final decision will be left to each retailer. New York-based On Demand Books will get a $1 of each sale with another $1 going to Google, which says it will donate its commission to charities and other nonprofit causes.
Published in
News
Google turns ebooks into paperbacks
Reincarnation
Google has said that the 2 million books in its digital library could be reincarnated as paperbacks.
Google is allowing part of its index to the maker of a high-speed publishing machine that can manufacture a paperback-bound book of about 300 pages in under five minutes. The "Espresso Book Machine" has been around for several years already, but it has become a Nintendo bit useful now that so many out of print books scanned from some of the world's largest libraries can be used.
On Demand Books, the Espresso's maker, potentially could get access to even more hard-to-find books if Google wins court approval of a class-action settlement giving it the right to sell out-of-print books. A Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson said the development will allow people to pick up the physical copy of a book even if there may be just one or two other copies in some library in this country, or maybe it's not even available in this country at all.
On Demand's printing machines already are in more than a dozen locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and Egypt, mostly at campus book stores, libraries and small retailers. The books published by The Espresso Machine will cost $8 per copy, although the final decision will be left to each retailer. New York-based On Demand Books will get a $1 of each sale with another $1 going to Google, which says it will donate its commission to charities and other nonprofit causes.