Google to enter e-book biz (rumor)

[Colin Dunstan]

According to the guys at WSJ, eReader & Co might soon face a new challenge: Google. It is rumored that Google has approached at least one book publisher to measure interest in a program for consumers to "rent" an online copy of new books for a week.

While the exact shape of any rental approach by Google doesn't appear to be final, the current discussion with the publisher is a strong indication the Internet-search company plans to head in the digital book-renting direction. "Google Print is exploring new access models to help authors and publishers sell more books online, but we don't have anything to announce," a Google spokesman said.

Though before you indulge in that fantasy, note that the publisher said that at least for the beginning, books wouldn't be downloadable or printable; in other words, better get comfortable with your 24" computer screen sitting on your lap when you curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, a bowl of fruit, and a good book in mind.

[via ars technica]

[Bob Russell]

Hmm. That's still a step in the right direction.

But many public libraries already do something like this with page-by-page online pdf reading of books. This seems more like it should be a public library service, maybe supplemented by Google for books that are less popular and not carried by libraries.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Colin Dunstan

Though before you indulge in that fantasy, note that the publisher said that at least for the beginning, books wouldn't be downloadable or printable; in other words, better get comfortable with your 24" computer screen sitting on your lap when you curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, a bowl of fruit, and a good book in mind.

Well that makes it pretty much worthless right now.

When we all have fuel cell powered laptops and WiFi everywhere, a non-downloadable version will be useful, but not before.

I think that these little experiments into eBooks that libraries and such are doing are great. But that's all they are: experiments. Until companies stop thinking that DRM is good and the content needs to be tied up forever these experiments are doomed to be never more than just "experiments".