According to an
article on Yahoo News, HP has partnered with the University of Michigan to scan their collection of over half a million out of copyright books, and will be making these books available for purchase as Print-On-Demand books through Amazon.
The article doesn't mention if digital versions of these books will also be made available (but I'd be surprised if they weren't). The article also quotes HP saying, "collaborating with the university to eliminate barriers and increase access to content as part of an ongoing effort to make the concept of 'out of print' a thing of the past."
"Out of Print" and "Public Domain" are two different things, so it sounds to me like HP may also be copying books that are still copyrighted but long out of print. It would be nice to see Congress modify the copyright laws to allow these kinds of books back into the public sphere (while still compensating the original authors or their estate).