Slashdot Mirror
Google Working To Make 'iPod/iTunes for Books'
nettamere writes to mention an initiative by Google to take the library online. The end result of the Google Book Search, the company hopes to see a future where they are not merely referring customers to Amazon, but instead offering them the ability to download books directly. According to the Times Online, Google hopes to 'do for books what the iPod did for music.' From the article: "One of Google's partners, Evan Schnittman of Oxford University Press, said he foresaw a number of categories becoming popular downloads: 'Do you really want to go on holiday carrying four novels and a guide book?' The book initiative would be part of Google's Book Search service and its partnership with publishers, which will make books searchable online with publishers' approval. At present, only a sample of each book is available online."
I'll buy one of these electronic guide books provided it has the words "do not panic" in large, friendly letters on the cover.
If not I'll stick to my hard-edged paper travel guides which also come in useful for swatting the local wildlife without ruining the guarantee.
Maybe if I worked at Google I'd have enough vacation time to read 4 novels and use a guidebook to do some sightseeing. :P
-Rich
Dear sweet, evil-less overlords,
Please please please PLEASE bring the unwashed masses electronic paper. Thousands of pages, hundreds of hours of power. Please! Break the cartel of book publishers that strangle poor college students' wallets. Give them an e-reader and downloads of their texts for free/cheap. Allow universities site licenses for their texts, and give outgoing students the option to buy their copy. You are more powerful than Harry Potter!
And do it quickly, before Sony writes a textbook destroying rootkit.
Tourists worry too much. This is why you print "don't panic" in large, friendly letters on digital guide books.