Google Editions

[kennyc]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/19563...questions.html

Google’s E-Book Store: Five Burning Questions

Ian Paul

May 5, 2010 6:21 am

Google reminded us this week that the company's e-book retail platform, Google Editions , will launch sometime in the next two months, as expected . Google Editions will be device agnostic, (similar to how Amazon allows Kindle books to be read on almost any computer platform), but will rely on the Web to deliver and store a user's purchases, instead of direct device downloads like the Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and Apple's iBookstore.

..... more at link above.

[MaggieScratch]

He misses the obvious question: Has Google fixed the severe OCR problems that make some of their books unreadable?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

He misses the obvious question: Has Google fixed the severe OCR problems that make some of their books unreadable?

I don't think the article was really discussing googe books, but the soon to be book store - Google Editions which will (I presume) be something like epub format ...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I don't think the article was really discussing googe books, but the soon to be book store - Google Editions which will (I presume) be something like epub format ...

Last I heard it was going to be a cloud setup where you could only read the books online (no downloadable format) don't know if that's still the case.

[kennyc]

Could be....I'm really not familiar with it, I just ran across the article and it sounded like they were going to make books available via Android.

[pholy]

The claim seems to be that 'browser-based' is 'device agnostic', but it isn't, really. You need that net connection while you are reading, it sounds like. Nothing to download and move off to a different device, so, no ereaders.

We shall see; so far, I'm not too interested.

[khalleron]

Supposedly the books would be 'cached' for offline reading, but the ability to sideload to a dedicated reader does seem to be lacking.

Which lets most of us out. Which of us, after using a dedicated reader, wants to go back to reading on an LCD? I don't, that's for sure.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Supposedly the books would be 'cached' for offline reading, but the ability to sideload to a dedicated reader does seem to be lacking.

Which lets most of us out. Which of us, after using a dedicated reader, wants to go back to reading on an LCD? I don't, that's for sure.

An LCD would be fine with me... if it weighed less than half a pound, fit in my purse, and had at least a 10-hour battery life.

[Marseille]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Last I heard it was going to be a cloud setup where you could only read the books online (no downloadable format) don't know if that's still the case.

Originally Posted by pcworld

This suggested that Google would rely on users to install Web apps, which are essentially shortcut icons to a Web page, on their devices or just bookmark the Google Editions site in their browsers.

But The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Google may decide to build mobile apps to "optimize reading on certain devices like an iPhone or iPad ." That would be a wise decision on Google's part since downloadable applications have proved to be far more popular with users than Web apps.

Google loves the cloud, but they haven't put all their eggs in that basket yet. Android, for example, is both cloud friendly and app friendly. What I'm hoping for from Google is a cloud option + DRM-free epub. Given that fictionwise just lost a chunk of their library for reasons unknown to me, I might be needing a new store soon.

The DRM-free bit is probably a pipe dream, but once upon a time, who would have thought that Apple of all people would force music publishers to go DRM-free mp3?

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

Google loves the cloud, but they haven't put all their eggs in that basket yet. Android, for example, is both cloud friendly and app friendly.....

I think this may be the answer.

I'd be surprised if Google doesn't integrate caching ability in Android, allowing the upcoming Android tablets to read offline. If it's integrated into Andoid, them maybe some of the Android-based eink ereaders will be able to take advantage of it.

I believe we'll find out more at Google I/O starting on May 19th. I sure hope there is a Google tablet being announced then, too

[Lirael]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

He misses the obvious question: Has Google fixed the severe OCR problems that make some of their books unreadable?

This was my first thought as well. I've never had a book from google without hundreds of OCR errors - and once, a lovely photograph of someone's bleeding hand!

It doesn't bother me too much when the content is free, but if they're charging money for something I sure hope the quality is higher...

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Last I heard it was going to be a cloud setup where you could only read the books online (no downloadable format) don't know if that's still the case.

Which is rather unattractive in places where mobile bandwidth is expensive.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

Which is rather unattractive in places where mobile bandwidth is expensive.

It may be it operates like their GMail, or Docs, where there are "offline" modes. For instance, you can auto or manual synch GMail for flaky connections or just knowing you're going offline, so you can still use it, and access your synched email, when you don't have a connection. Likewise, you can work offline with (some?) documents in their Docs office suite.

This is just me hypothesising, though I do think there is a likelihood of them having an awareness of
an online-all-the-time limitation, especially when reading may be precisely the type of thing many may wish to do when voluntarily or involuntarily out of range. They use and are expanding that technology now, so, to me, it makes logical sense that it would be incorporated from the get-go.

I will acknowledge that "logical sense" is not always readily apparent in this developing ebook environment.

Cheers,
Marc

[neilmarr]

Piece about GE in today's Publishers Weekly here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...ublishing.html

Cheers. Neil

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Supposedly the books would be 'cached' for offline reading, but the ability to sideload to a dedicated reader does seem to be lacking.

Which lets most of us out. Which of us, after using a dedicated reader, wants to go back to reading on an LCD a computer screen? I don't, that's for sure.

Me. But even a LCD screen doesn't mean you can read those google books. As my LCD reader doesn't have an internet connection. I think you meant going back to a computer screen instead of a dedicated device...