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Google eBookstore Launched
angrytuna writes "The New York Times is running an article this morning about the launch of the Google ebook store. Independent bookstores such as Powell's, based in Portland, OR, have partnered with Google in this, selling the format directly in addition to their other ebook offerings. The ebooks appear to rely on Adobe Digital Editions for DRM; instructions are provided to transfer from the 'cloud' to a handheld device. iOS and Android have a dedicated app for accessing the store, and will download for offline immediately; other clients like the Nook and Sony eReader seem to be relying on the ADE platform to manage the transfer for offline reading."
NPR tried it out on a few different devices and posted their experience.
I own a Nook, but I am a bit curious as to what this move means for Amazon. Up until now they've been the only ones using .mobi as a file format on their Kindle, and haven't added any support for epub at all, as far as I can tell.
It would be nice to be able to buy ebooks at amazon that have DRM, but not be stuck using a Kindle. Not that I think DRM is a great thing.
Don't tell me the ebooks can only be opened with adobe pdf reader? If so I really don't think it will last, I hate adobes pdf reader, so slow and clunky.
Say goodbye to Amazon! The writing is on the, er, eTablet...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Maybe over there in the great US of A, but not in Europe )-; Does anybody else think that the WHOLE INTERNET is quite US centric?
(Whooo -- first comment!)
"It looks like you're located outside of the United States. Although you're welcome to read about Google eBooks, please note that Google eBooks are only available for sale to customers in the U.S. at this time."
sigh.
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
Google is advertising the store as compatible with computers, obviously (for those who want to read that way), but also with iPads and iPhones, Android devices, and standalone e-readers including Sony and Nook devices as well as others that run Adobe Digital Editions. (But not your Kindle, there, buddy.)
My work here is dung.
Don't tell me the ebooks can only be opened with adobe pdf reader? If so I really don't think it will last, I hate adobes pdf reader, so slow and clunky.
Then why do you use it when there is a selection of alternative PDF readers?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
the Bankgate papers.
Yours In Electrogorsk,
Kilgore Trout
I find it's always worth mentioning that there are publishers out there who respect their customers enough to not do the DRM dance, and from the author's view (yes, I am one) the danger of people not reading your stuff is more scary than the danger of not getting paid for every last copy.
Full disclosure: I have a book out on No Starch, The Book of PF, 2nd ed.
-- That grumpy BSD guy - http://bsdly.blogspot.com/
It uses Adobe Digital Editions - "Adobe originally announced a Linux version would be published at the end of 2007 but later changed their mind.[1] All promises of future versions have now been removed from the Adobe's official FAQ."
Netflix, ebooks, there's an ever increasing amount of content that being a Linux user locks you out of.
Soon it might be time to reconsider my commitment to using Linux as my preferred OS :-(
In theory it seems that more competition should be good for prices, but not so far: everything I looked up is priced identically to the Kindle price.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Trying desperately to find some new businesses for themselves. In the end it'll just look like a "dollar-store", where you can find anything and everything.
Some Google employee will end up "accidentally" releasing a key that releases every Google book within 4 years. Shockingly enough comprehensive documentation about how to use it on various devices will also surface. This documentation will be of such quality that it had to have taken real work by a professional publishing staff to make it happen.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
I know that, but what I'm wondering about is at what point does Amazon admit that their format lost and add support for epub to their product. And hopefully drop .mobi as a failed file format.
Well, earlier this year, Amazon was enjoying 90% of the eBook market share. It's projected to plummet over the next five years and I think the iPad gobbled up 22% of the eBook marketshare instantly. Of course, I would bet that 22% was growth, not switch. Like, I think it's safe to say most people who bought iPads didn't sell/disable their Kindles immediately afterward and they probably had no eReader to begin with. I'm guessing that the Kindle still enjoys large numbers and has a comfortable lead still in market share.
At what point does Amazon admit defeat in this? Somewhere way down the road. If (as the article above predicts) they're still at 35% of the marketshare five years from now, then I'd say that it won't be happening until after then.
So aside from all that, you are dependent on Amazon just genuinely caring about the end user experience and giving up some lock-in that they've already established. *snicker*
Personally I'm making due with my android phone and awaiting the color readers (Hanvon, etc) as I'm really interested in what this could do for the graphic novel/comic industry. For too long it's been dominated by large publishers.
My work here is dung.
Well, given how much I fucking hate Adobe products, Google has precisely zero chance of making a sale to me.
Fuck you, Adobe. I already spend enough time dealing with your crap.
"Sharing
You may not lend or co-own any of your Google eBooks purchases with another person."
http://books.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1062968
Maybe I haven't studied this too in depth, but how is this not a conflict of interest over the stated goals of Google Books? You know, the Google project to index books so that they were searchable?
Yeah, it turns out they were indexing them to sell eBook versions. I would love it if their Library project partners sued them for it.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
This kind of makes me wish I hadn't bought the wifi nook already, it is much better for the cost.
Take heart, your regular Nook gets 10 days sans Wifi while the color gets 8 hours . So I wouldn't go kicking yourself if you have ever gone extended periods without recharging.
And I should have specified color E-ink as it will give comparable periods of use with black and white. It might not be as great with colors like the color Nook's VividView technology but it will last many days. And it will probably be twice as expensive, that's why I'm waiting and watching. For reading, I'm guessing it's going to best Apple's LCD based iPad. We shall see though.
My work here is dung.
This is not really true; the iOS app is a reader, and it accesses your online bookshelf. For accessing the store (when you select the "Get eBooks" button) you are transferred to Safari.
When I purchase an ebook the most top criteria that I look for is freedom:
1. Freedom to read it on any device.
2. Freedom to read it using free software.
3. Freedom to archive and read it offline.
4. Freedom to copy/paste and print selected pages.
Now Google eBooks gives me the first freedom to read it on most of the devices, and have some nifty features such as nice Web UI and synchronization through cloud. But it still doesn't meet my criteria 2 and 3. Now I don't mind too much about criteria 4, but there is no point to prohibit printing if digital duplication is allowed.
The freedom of offline access is the most important criteria that I need. The time when I have no Internet access is the time I have the least distraction and the time I need to read the most to pass my time, and I want to read anywhere including on the bus and plane. The ebook must also readable in Linux as I spend most of my time in front of my Linux laptop, and there is no way I want to be forced to read on Windows or other reading devices if I already have a laptop sitting in front of me.
It is kinda sad that even with so many choices, most of the ebooks stores are still encumbered with the stupid DRM stuff. I know it's not Google or Amazon's fault as there is no way the publishers allow them to sell DRM-free ebooks. But until the day DRM-free ebooks are widely available, no thanks I'm not buying eBooks from any of the store. And if I really want to support the author, I would rather purchase physical books, and then download pirated copy of the DRM-free ebooks for the sake of really reading those books anywhere I want.
Lets summarize the deficits:
No upload of your own already owned (non copy protected) ebooks into the cloud to use it as storage.
No shop access outside of the USA...
Nice try Google, execution, failed the exam.