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.

Comments

Re:ugg

[hedwards]

The app is Adobe Editions, and it's a completely different app. Chances are good that it's already installed on the computer of most people with an ebook reader. I think the Kindle right now is the only one that doesn't support the format.

so far seem to be identical prices

[Trepidity]

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.

If I know Google

[Iamthecheese]

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.