Comments on: Google Books: Classic Books Available via the Espresso Book Machine

By: CrosleyAuthor

CrosleyAuthor — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:58:26 +0000

The market for the overwhelming majority of Public Domain books is tiny.

By: Blesss2000

Blesss2000 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:27:59 +0000

I was on the edge of me seat waiting to actually see the book after it was finished. All I saw come down the shoot was a notebook looking thing. Why didn’t they show the finished product up close and personal?

By: CalLadyQED

CalLadyQED — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:19:43 +0000

Watch 1:50 to 1:54. They show the finished product. Doesn’t look like a notebook. Looks like a normal, glossy-covered paperback.

By: CalLadyQED

CalLadyQED — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:29:58 +0000

That’s why it’s better to print them one at a time as each individual copy is demanded. Cost to print is higher per book, but you don’t have the waste.

By: jbbrochard

jbbrochard — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:17:41 +0000

This is great!!!!

By: javy150

javy150 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:54:57 +0000

Google is the coolest company ever.

By: mask8

mask8 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:18:47 +0000

go eco. save trees

By: Bioprofessional1983

Bioprofessional1983 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:07:17 +0000

that guy sounds gay

By: ursimon

ursimon — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:48:19 +0000

yeah, how much is that machine?

By: markm0nk

markm0nk — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:03:41 +0000

Also, what they don’t tell you is that you can get your OWN book published if it is in PDF format for about $5 overall cost.

By: pwntalive

pwntalive — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:22:23 +0000

1. Small demand for
2. A huge number of public domain titles
3. Plus on demand printing
4. ???????????
5. Profit !!!1!

By: schrillismus

schrillismus — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:17:42 +0000

Google suxX!!!

By: DeeJayBounce

DeeJayBounce — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:12:34 +0000

Which eliminates all existing forms of quality control. i.e. publishers. BAD.

By: tallaussiebloke

tallaussiebloke — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:14:10 +0000

Comics/graphic novels could be done on these too! SWEET!

By: ReaderViews

ReaderViews — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:10:56 +0000

Not really. They charge 6 times as much per page for color output. You could do a 100 page graphic novel but it would cost like $40 retail.

By: ReaderViews

ReaderViews — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:34:07 +0000

On Demand as this was written had 16 machines installed at various stores, libraries and universities, and planned to make another 64 available in 2010. The machines are priced at $75,000-$100,000 each and have the capacity to generate around 60,000 300-page books a year.

By: brickgaragedesign

brickgaragedesign — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:15:37 +0000

I did some conceptual work for OnDemandBooks a couple years ago when they were just beginning to work on the prototypes of the second generation of the machine. Google had nothing to do with the development of this technology and the machines that have been developed from that technology. All Google is doing is providing content. The machine was invented and developed by a (very cool) guy in Missouri.

By: brickgaragedesign

brickgaragedesign — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:47:52 +0000

Also, this is not just about public domain titles. When publishers realize that they can sell books for profit for zero investment, look out! Imagine being able to walk into a Starbucks and buy a copy of a book that’s been out of print for a couple of decades for less than the original cover price.

By: GoodNewsBroadcast

GoodNewsBroadcast — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:14:01 +0000

The real value here is in eliminating wastage in retail. Many books, are discarded into the land fill, after the covers are torn off, and sent back for credit. The rest of the unsold books, goes into landfills. This is industry malpractice, and anything that alleviates the bookstream into landfills is a good thing, in my view.

By: VariedInterest

VariedInterest — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:19:56 +0000

It doesn’t “decentralize” anything, it just makes a new product for google to sell. There are low volume presses around which are better than this, and as far as printing on a consumer scale, this is uselessly slow. I guess making another product which is a lame version of something already around is the same sort of “innovation” google offered with their new online book database, which is totally not a shit pile version of Project Gutenberg! Of course not! Thanks for the innovation google!