12-08-2010, 11:15 AM | #1 |
Junior Member
Posts: 6
Karma: 10
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Iphone 4
|
Laura Miller on Google Ebook Store
Excellent article in Salon about Google Ebooks. Ironically, its greatest weakness, Laura Miller points out, is its search function: "you can tell it was devised by people who know next to nothing about the book trade."
http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mil...gle_ebookstore |
12-08-2010, 02:03 PM | #2 |
Kate
Posts: 1,683
Karma: 3165009
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Oregon, United States
Device: Nexus 7 2013, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Forma
|
deleted
Last edited by khalleron; 12-08-2010 at 02:04 PM. Reason: sometimes i get snarky but i don't like myself that way. sorry. |
12-09-2010, 10:27 AM | #3 |
Karma Kameleon
Posts: 2,934
Karma: 26616647
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: iPad Mini, iPhone X, Kindle Fire Tab HD 8, Walmart Onn
|
To much "theory". In "theory" google's book store is great. In practice, it stinks. The iPad app is terrible. It downloads each new page instead of the whole book. No landscape mode.
Millions of crappily scanned books are not a "great feature". I rate Google Bookstore a failure. Have no intention of using it in it's present form. Lee |
12-09-2010, 10:53 AM | #4 |
Zealot
Posts: 123
Karma: 9550
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Tennessee, USA
Device: Kindle Touch, HTC Thunderbolt
|
The iPad app downloaded the full books for me, both free books and books I had paid for (including one I paid for that "has no download files available"--which was the reason I installed the app in the first place). Once the books downloaded, I was able to turn the iPad's wifi off (it's a wifi only model) and still read them.
All of the books I've paid for look good, both on my iPad and, in the case of those that have epub downloads available, on my Sony. And I like that I have the option of looking at the scan or the flowed text when I'm on the iPad. I rate Google's Bookstore as on par with any other ebook retailer, and I'll buy from them whenever: 1. The book I want is not available elsewhere, whether Google offers an epub download with it or not, or 2. The book I want is only otherwise available in Kindle Topaz format and it's the same price as or cheaper than Amazon and download files are available, or 3. Google has the lowest price and download files are available |
12-09-2010, 01:51 PM | #5 |
DRM killer
Posts: 471
Karma: 793120
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Just northeast of Atlanta, GA
Device: ASUS Transformer Prime (Sold: Nook, Kindle 3, Nook Color, Nook STR)
|
Stopped reading after "Salon" but thanks anyway.
|
12-09-2010, 02:19 PM | #6 |
Séduisant
Posts: 4,706
Karma: 2107018
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Texas, USA
Device: Boox Note Air2+; Kobo Libra2; Kindle Scribe, Oasis3; iPad Mini6
|
|
12-10-2010, 04:50 AM | #7 |
DRM killer
Posts: 471
Karma: 793120
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Just northeast of Atlanta, GA
Device: ASUS Transformer Prime (Sold: Nook, Kindle 3, Nook Color, Nook STR)
|
|
12-12-2010, 02:35 AM | #8 |
Member
Posts: 20
Karma: 10
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Midwest USA
Device: rooted e-ink Nook
|
I like that the search in the Google Ebook Store searches the text in ebooks, so I can find ebooks that talk about what I'm looking for, even if it's not in the title.
The web-reader has good quality as far as I've seen, and it's a nice feature. If I wanted to, I could go online on any computer (like at the library, or a friend's pc) and pull up my ebooks without having to have an app downloaded. The scanned Google Books I've checked out have the option of flowing the text or showing the scanned image. If you flow the text, it looks as good as any other ebook (as long as it's been scanned correctly, which a small minority of them have not). If I download a free Google Book onto my Nook it looks awful, but it looks a lot better from the Google Ebook Store. I haven't tested any apps, but it would be nice if they had pc apps for linux/windows/apple! |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Google Launches eBook Store | Kitabi | General Discussions | 33 | 12-08-2010 12:11 PM |
Google books search on myezread store is broken | jusmee | Astak EZReader | 0 | 04-15-2010 12:47 AM |
Google Books -> eBook. | rrm3 | Introduce Yourself | 18 | 10-23-2009 11:29 AM |
eBook Software Only Opens in Library, Used to Open in eBook Store | Lon Gnome | Sony Reader | 6 | 04-22-2009 04:31 PM |
Google Spreadsheet of Sony eBook Store category totals | anotherchance | Sony Reader | 38 | 11-11-2008 06:55 PM |