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

Kindle support?

[hedwards]

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.

Re:Kindle support?

[DragonWriter]

from what i can tell all the books are scanned in, including the new ones

The ones that only have scanned page images are listed as "Better for larger screens". The ones without that notation also have reflowable text. (The scanned page images are PDF, the reflowable text is ePub, as I understand it.)

(An interesting effect is that the reflowed text lists the original page number -- or range of page numbers -- from the scanned source material corresponding to the text on the screen.)

sigh

[khendron]

"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.

Re:sigh

[93 Escort Wagon]

"It looks like you're located outside of the United States."

Wow! Clippy, where the heck have you been?

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.

No

[eldavojohn]

According to the NPR article:

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.)

Re:No

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

When the Kindle stops dominating the market. Hard to define them as a "loser" otherwise.

Re:No

[joebok]

It is probably illegal to ask, but how?

I am a long-time Kindle user so my (DRMed) library is all the .mobi based Amazon format. When I made that plunge, I thought (hoped) that the Amazon dominance would set the file format. Oh well. But the ubiquity of the Kindle reader app means I can currently read all of my content on every device I have (BB to iPad to Kindle to PC/Mac) - and they even keep in sync with each other - so I can use whichever device or pc is handy at the time.

I have converted DRM-free ePub (and other) stuff with Calibre to whatever format I want, but protected ePub is a barrier to me - so I have not bought any. So far I haven't run across anything I wanted that I could not get for the Kindle, but that is surely only a matter of time.

Are you tolling?

[Frosty Piss]

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?

Some publishers do without DRM

[badger.foo]

- such as No Starch press (http://nostarch.com), and quite possibly others.

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.

Re:Some publishers do without DRM

[larry bagina]

pragmatic programmer and o'reilly ebooks are plain pdfs.

Re:Some publishers do without DRM

[killfixx]

... 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.

Thank you for the laugh...

That was an excellent point. :)

Re:Some publishers do without DRM

[DragonWriter]

True, some publishers do without DRM. And Google eBooks allows publishers who choose to do without DRM to deliver their ebooks without DRM.

Re:ugg

[fader]

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.

... unless they run Linux, which Adobe promised a DE client for but never delivered. Unfortunately for me, this means I won't be reading any Google books on my nook, which is a shame.

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.

Re:so far seem to be identical prices

[Kypt]

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.

That's because a lot of books are under the "Agency Model" where if you want to sell the books you may not mess with the price at all. You can't do sales on the books, etc. Amazon, B&N, Sony, and now Google are powerless to move prices on these books. Great for competition huh?

No Point of Failure in Sight

[eldavojohn]

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.

Sharing - spouse or otherwise

[Anonymous Coward]

"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

Re:Sharing - spouse or otherwise

[DragonWriter]

"Sharing
You may not lend or co-own any of your Google eBooks purchases with another person."

Restricting co-ownership with a spouse is somewhat difficult; if you live in a community property state most property acquired during marriage is, by law and with only the specific exceptions existing in the law of the State, jointly owned. This includes intangible personal property, which seems to be what is at issue here.

Consequently, in many cases it is legally impossible to own Google eBooks purchases without co-owning them with another person.

Re:ugg

[DragonWriter]

unless they run Linux, which Adobe promised a DE client for but never delivered.

I've never had a reason to try it, but I've seen comments that DE works fine under WINE.

Re:Conflict of Interest?

[DragonWriter]

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?

How is it a conflict with the goals of that project?

You know, the Google project to index books so that they were searchable?

Which did, indeed, make them searchable.

Yeah, it turns out they were indexing them to sell eBook versions.

They are only selling eBook versions of the ones that are in-copyright where the publishers allow them to sell the digital copies.

The out-of-copyright ones are not being sold, and the in-copyright ones that aren't sold through Google eBooks (and even the ones that are) provide links to purchase the book at online bookstores.

I would love it if their Library project partners sued them for it.

How have the Library partner projects been harmed by this? Why would they sue?
 

Re:Linux users locked out?

[DrCode]

They say you can read in a web browser with javascript enabled.