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."

Comments

Well...

[kitsunewarlock]

As the iridologists told me one day, watching an electronic screen makes your eyes "nervous" to some extent due to the refresh rate of the screen. Even if you don't see the screen refresh, your eyes sense SOME movement, which gives you a limited degree of anxiousness...you want to do something...click on something...type something.

But when I read an e-book (err PDF...for school usually), I find myself madly clicking around the book or wishing I could walk while reading because the screen just makes me anxious, you know?