Google eBookStore Online Now

[Jafo]

http://books.google.com/ebooks

Just free books for now

The latest Google eBooks are not available for sale in your location, yet...

Google is working with publishers around the world to let you buy the latest ebooks from top authors. In the meantime, you can still browse millions of free and public domain Google eBooks and read them effortlessly across your devices

Lifehacker article
http://lifehacker.com/5707180/google...os-reader-apps

[Dulin's Books]

I was able to purchase a book just a moment ago so for the US at least it is live.

However I can't download the book I purchased, the girl with the dragon tattoo. I can read it on any device with a Google ebook app but not download it.

You are allowed to download some books for reading on devices that support Adobe DRM but apparently only some titles and not all. I can for instance download the 3 free ones that they give you in your bookself.

Im not certain whether it warned of this before checkout. Im checking other books to see if it warns you before purchase or not

[Dulin's Books]

well okay it does say right under the price of the book

"No download files included. "

but it seems a bit random . For instance The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire do not provide down-loadable versions , The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest does.

[=X=]

Very cool, downloading the android app now.

It's good to see they are not sticking with an Online only model, I think that would have been bad business for them.

I guess the only downside is there does not seem to be priced any better than any other store.

=X=

[elemenoP]

I don't see where it says "no download files included."

Can this really be true? Some books that you BUY can be downloaded and some cannot? After all the problems of ADE/differing formats/which reader supports what/etc Google is going to add ANOTHER level of complexity to buying ebooks?

eP

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I don't see where it says "no download files included."

Can this really be true? Some books that you BUY can be downloaded and some cannot? After all the problems of ADE/differing formats/which reader supports what/etc Google is going to add ANOTHER level of complexity to buying ebooks?

eP

Yep. And you better have an online-friendly reader, because soon you'll probably not be able to download books at all anymore. because that's what the publishers want, don't they? We can only read ebooks at their terms and never when and where we want to.

[ebookrights]

- No purchases outside US ==> Waiting, hopefully ASAP.
- The Android Google Book app won't even work, think it detected I'm outside US...? (granted, I used a hack to download the app... it won't even show up in Market normally)
- Needs a dedicated desktop app.
- Web app has no offline reading capability.
- Needs a built-in dictionary.
- Needs highlighting capability.
- The Android app needs capability to handle account other than the one registered with Android. I use separated accounts for instance.
- How about borrowing...? Family members...?

[Lilly]

At least the rumor that we would not be able to buy to read on our ebook devices are put to rest! They are prominently advertising that they will work on Sony Readers and Nooks!

[ebookrights]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I don't see where it says "no download files included."

Can this really be true? Some books that you BUY can be downloaded and some cannot? After all the problems of ADE/differing formats/which reader supports what/etc Google is going to add ANOTHER level of complexity to buying ebooks?

eP

To be fair, this is up to the seller/publisher...

A small number of ebooks may not be enabled for download to your eReader due to limits set by the publisher; those ebooks will display an alert message ("No download files included") before you purchase or get the ebook.

http://books.google.com/help/ebooks/content.html

[Dulin's Books]

Also interesting. For some books they have only scanned versions even if they have regular reflowable texts from the same author.

For Jonathan Franzen the books The Discomfort Zone and The Twenty-Seventh City are scanned images and come with the warning

Only scanned pages are available for this eBook, and they can be difficult to read on smaller screens. View a sample before buying.

While the rest of his works are available in reflowable formats

[Sweetpea]

Oh, anybody where google books is not available won't see any results from those search queries.

[ebookrights]

Originally Posted by Lilly

At least the rumor that we would not be able to buy to read on our ebook devices are put to rest! They are prominently advertising that they will work on Sony Readers and Nooks!

Transferring via USB is okay. But I'm hoping for a more seamless integration through.

[abookreader]

Quote:
A small number of ebooks may not be enabled for download to your eReader due to limits set by the publisher; those ebooks will display an alert message ("No download files included") before you purchase or get the ebook.

Okay. Fair enough. But why buy a Stieg Larsson book at that price and not be able to download it when you can buy it from any number of stores for pretty much the same price and keep your own copy on your device? That is what makes me go "huh?"

Sure, you can read it across devices. As long as you have an internet connection. Which many of us often do not.

At least in these "Publisher Restriction" cases we've gone from "we'll lock your books down to specific devices" to ... "We'll just keep your book for you and you can peek in."

[ebookrights]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Okay. Fair enough. But why buy a Stieg Larsson book at that price and not be able to download it when you can buy it from any number of stores for pretty much the same price and keep your own copy on your device? That is what makes me go "huh?"

Sure, you can read it across devices. As long as you have an internet connection. Which many of us often do not.

At least in these "Publisher Restriction" cases we've gone from "we'll lock your books down to specific devices" to ... "We'll just keep your book for you and you can peek in."

Complain to the publisher.

It took years for Apple and others to start selling DRM-free music. So let's don't get too disappointed now...

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ebookrights

Complain to the publisher.

It took years for Apple and others to start selling DRM-free music. So let's don't get too disappointed now...

I've been disappointed by publishers for a long time now. and I don't expect them to learn the lesson the music industry showed. I expect the to go belly up and only then will we see the future of ebooks.