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Amazon Plan Would Allow Text Search Of Books

Posted by Hemos on from the interesting-ideas dept.

emmastory writes "The New York Times is running a story (free registration required) about a new development at Amazon - they plan to assemble "a searchable online archive with the texts of tens of thousands of books of nonfiction." Users would only be able to read a certain portion of the text from any one book, but it sounds promising nonetheless. The Times article suggests that this is part of a larger strategy to compete with Google and Yahoo by making Amazon an authoritative source of information on everything book-related."

7 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Patent this by number_man · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shouldn't somebody patent this process before Bezos does??

  2. Amazon by jester · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember when doing a search on Amazon for "Database Admin" returned the number 1 response of "The fine art of vaginal fisting" and the reviews that it prompted ... pushing this book up into the top 100 bestsellers. Now what would the ability to read some text from books do ;-)

  3. Re:if I search for "the" will all pages come up? n by mirko · · Score: 5, Funny

    and if you look for "TEH", will you be redirected to Salshdot ?

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  4. Be careful, Amazon! by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Any returns of C or C++ code might get SCO's law team on your ass..

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  5. Invasion of Privacy by BillFarber · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't this a violation of the privacy of all the people who have biographies for sale at amazon? John Ashcroft could search the text and find out anything they want about Abraham Lincoln! This article should be listed under "Your Rights Online".

  6. Like META tags in books? by JZ_Tonka · · Score: 5, Funny

    This will then prompt publishers to include several pages at the beginning of every book with nothing but "sex sex sex sex sex sex..."

  7. Oh Goody by jayhawk88 · · Score: 5, Funny

    *Accessing http://www.amazon.com/search*
    Enter your search criteria:______________
    *Enter search "Moby Dick"*
    Search Complete:

    Moby Dick
    by: Herman Melville

    Call me...
    Would You Like to Read More? This title can be purchased for $14.95 through our...

    *Back Button*
    Enter your search criteria_____________
    *Enter search "Tale of Two Cities"*
    Search Complete:

    A Tale of Two Cities
    by: Charles Dickens

    It was the best of times, it was the...
    Would You Like to Read More? This title can be purchased for $29.95 through our...

    *Back Button-Back Button-Back Button-Close*