The best thing about the iPad is that I can read my Kindle, iBooks, and Google Books library, not to mention scalable PDF files. Other ebook readers can only do a subset of what the iPad can do.
Thanks. That was fast. I didn't expect it for several more days according to articles. Don't like the logo though, sort of garish.
What's interesting is that even though they've been saying, again, according to articles, that they've got over 3 million books there, the info for the app says more than 2 million. I wonder why?
The more e-books the better. Greater distribution of knowledge benefits individuals and the entire world. Once Google gets instant translation for all foreign language edition books... watch out. I'd love to have access to original ancient texts for perusal.
Another copy-cat move from our favorite copy-cat company: GOOGLE.
this is pathetic!
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
they're running out of tricks. Google is a one-trick pony.
They're good at one thing: SEARCH. the rest of their products/services are CRAP.
Problem with page numbers in ebooks is that there are no pages. If your book has 300 pages and you change the font size you'll suddenly have a 400 page book. Or if you continue to read on your iphone its now a 1000 page book.
The kindle uses something they call "locations." so you can change the font and the pages will be bigger or smaller but locations don't change. Locations are quite sort, so instead of having a two hundred pages book you have a 4000 or 5000 locations book, which is hard to get used to. Nook does not have a solution, so changing the font changes the pages, which makes the page numbers completely irrelevant. And ibooks? I don't know. It seems that they don't have an alternative either. Hopefully the will agree on a format, otherwise quoting is going to be a nightmare.
... The only real problem I see so far is one mentioned in a Macworld article, which I also have. That is, having all your books in separate stores. That's a pain. If that gets solved, it will make buying from different stores easier.
That's the entire problem with the whole eBook thing. I have some books that I've turned into ePub books, and I download lots of free eBooks, but I'm not going to start buying eBooks, from anyone, until there's a consistent, open standard DRM scheme that works across readers. I have no desire to be locked into a particular reader to access books I pay for. That would be like only being able to read physical books if I wear a special pair of glasses.
Yet another eBook store with DRM that's not compatible with all other devices (although this one seems better than most). When are the regulators of any country going to realize that DRM is not being used to prevent piracy, but rather for device and ecosystem lock in?
I'm sick of every industry using piracy as an excuse to be anti-competitive and anti-consumer. It says a lot when Google's "open" solution is still wrapped in DRM.
Yet another eBook store with DRM that's not compatible with all other devices (although this one seems better than most). When are the regulators of any country going to realize that DRM is not being used to prevent piracy, but rather for device and ecosystem lock in?
I'm sick of every industry using piracy as an excuse to be anti-competitive and anti-consumer. It says a lot when Google's "open" solution is still wrapped in DRM.
DRM isn't universal with Google ebooks. Don't underestimate the paranoia of publishers. If you steal a print book, that's one copy. If you steal an ebook, it could be distributed infinitely, or so some publishers think.
And the DRM is courtesy of Adobe; not a standard but at least a known quantity. Adobe is trying to make it a standard that theoretically could be transferable across devices.
I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before, and I'm pretty sure someone else already will have, but I wonder if the Mac App Store will include a new app for iBooks on your Mac... just in time for Christmas, too!
The more the merrier, when it comes to providers of e-books.
I've been an avid e-book reader since Sony introduced its first reader a few years ago. Today I read mostly e-books, and mostly from my iPad. I shop from Amazon, Barns and Noble and Apple. Amazon and Barns and Noble offer extensive libraries. Apple's reader has more sizzle but fewer books. Twenty-two percent? It seems a scant 22 percent when you can't find what you're looking for.
I hope Google's entry compels Apple to do better. Both having some catching up to match the depth of Amazon and Barns and Noble.
I'm delighted to see e-books finally come into their own. Remember the Rocket Book?
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
Because knowing your book buying habits is valuable to advertisers/marketers and they'll pay for the information.
As Eric Sccmidt has said, "We want to have a little bit of Google in every transaction on the internet." That's not because they can place an ad at every point of sale, but because they can harvest information about what you're up to and sell it Never forget that Google's product isn't search, or browsers, or operating systems, or books, or music or movies. It's you.
The real news here is not that Google has opened its own eBook store, but that it is the second CLOUD-BASED READING SERVICE to be offered. This is a big deal for the publishing industry. This is the publishing equivalent of NetFlix or AppleTV vs DVDs and BlueRay.
Unfortunately, the newsies and bloggers don't understand the importance of this and ignore releases from small companies who pioneer the concept, like iPulpFiction.com. We recently released our new HTML 5 / CSS 3 based eReader that supports our cloud-based reading service. This was made possible by Apple's much appreciated assistance in making the iOS 4.2 version of Safari compatible.
If you are using the latest desktop versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or have iOS 4.2 you can access a demo of the iPulp eReader at the following URL:
DRM isn't universal with Google ebooks. Don't underestimate the paranoia of publishers. If you steal a print book, that's one copy. If you steal an ebook, it could be distributed infinitely, or so some publishers think.
And the DRM is courtesy of Adobe; not a standard but at least a known quantity. Adobe is trying to make it a standard that theoretically could be transferable across devices.
I'm pretty sure I could download any book I wanted right now if I wanted to. I'm sure Adobe would love to make their DRM standard. I assume it's licensed out so their taking a cut of the profits, much like Intel gets a cut of blu ray profits. DRM has become an industry now, it's long moved past the the point of preventing copyright infringement.
I don't really care if publishers are scared of their precious books being copied. DRM doesn't work. If they can't come to their senses, government should step in and force them to. DRM has no place in books (or movies). Quite frankly, using it should be illegal. If that can't happen there should at least be a single mandated, royalty free version.
The real news here is not that Google has opened its own eBook store, but that it is the second CLOUD-BASED READING SERVICE to be offered. This is a big deal for the publishing industry. This is the publishing equivalent of NetFlix or AppleTV vs DVDs and BlueRay.
Cloud-based reading will completely suck and will be rejected by consumers. Already reviewers of Google's service (see TUAW) are panning it for just this reason. This will not be a big deal for anyone for this reason. The only thing the cloud has going for it is buzzword compliance.
"Open" only matters if you have 20 different devices. I have an iPad. I buy books on my iPad. How is google's store "helping" me? Because google can rip off more publishers and make more stuff available for free, when they haven't done any of the work to produce any of it? No thank you.
Google is doing this solely because apple has done it. "Look, we have eBooks too!" Again, the point about microsoft is not far off. Google has no right to enter any of these markets, except for the fact they have monopoly power.
But that's ok. I'm sure they will half-ass it enough to please android owners.
Eh... Is this a joke, or did they just scan a bunch of old books, with raster artifacts and all, and published in their book store? I just checked out a preview of Peter Pan and it looked HORRIBLE!! I guesss new books will be based on their digital master, but... Wtf..?
Google said you can download most of the library in ePub or PDF for offline reading. I think Apple will approve the app. It's no different than Kindle app, isn't it?
It is kind of like kindle, but there is not as much bad blood between the two, and Kindle was approved before iBooks was out. Apple could use the "duplicates core functionality" reasoning, and say kindle was grandfathered in before the iBooks was available. Or they can take their time approving it.
Good to know that the books will be in ePub though.
What's really disappointing is that these are just the **same** "three million" books that have been available online for years -- the only thing that promised to make Google's resource in any way significant was that somehow they might be able to wangle a real deal with publishers to make available the HUGE middle ground of books that were published too recently to have entered the public domain but which have been out of print for years with no likelihood of any publisher ever re-printing them. THAT's the real issue here -- and as usual, no progress has been made and no reporter has even bothered to notice! What a hopeless waste.
Comments
BTW, it actually is available from the App Store...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/googl...400989007?mt=8
Thanks. That was fast. I didn't expect it for several more days according to articles. Don't like the logo though, sort of garish.
What's interesting is that even though they've been saying, again, according to articles, that they've got over 3 million books there, the info for the app says more than 2 million. I wonder why?
Another copy-cat move from our favorite copy-cat company: GOOGLE.
this is pathetic!
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
they're running out of tricks. Google is a one-trick pony.
They're good at one thing: SEARCH. the rest of their products/services are CRAP.
Problem with page numbers in ebooks is that there are no pages. If your book has 300 pages and you change the font size you'll suddenly have a 400 page book. Or if you continue to read on your iphone its now a 1000 page book.
The kindle uses something they call "locations." so you can change the font and the pages will be bigger or smaller but locations don't change. Locations are quite sort, so instead of having a two hundred pages book you have a 4000 or 5000 locations book, which is hard to get used to. Nook does not have a solution, so changing the font changes the pages, which makes the page numbers completely irrelevant. And ibooks? I don't know. It seems that they don't have an alternative either. Hopefully the will agree on a format, otherwise quoting is going to be a nightmare.
... The only real problem I see so far is one mentioned in a Macworld article, which I also have. That is, having all your books in separate stores. That's a pain. If that gets solved, it will make buying from different stores easier.
That's the entire problem with the whole eBook thing. I have some books that I've turned into ePub books, and I download lots of free eBooks, but I'm not going to start buying eBooks, from anyone, until there's a consistent, open standard DRM scheme that works across readers. I have no desire to be locked into a particular reader to access books I pay for. That would be like only being able to read physical books if I wear a special pair of glasses.
I'm sick of every industry using piracy as an excuse to be anti-competitive and anti-consumer. It says a lot when Google's "open" solution is still wrapped in DRM.
Yet another eBook store with DRM that's not compatible with all other devices (although this one seems better than most). When are the regulators of any country going to realize that DRM is not being used to prevent piracy, but rather for device and ecosystem lock in?
I'm sick of every industry using piracy as an excuse to be anti-competitive and anti-consumer. It says a lot when Google's "open" solution is still wrapped in DRM.
DRM isn't universal with Google ebooks. Don't underestimate the paranoia of publishers. If you steal a print book, that's one copy. If you steal an ebook, it could be distributed infinitely, or so some publishers think.
And the DRM is courtesy of Adobe; not a standard but at least a known quantity. Adobe is trying to make it a standard that theoretically could be transferable across devices.
I've been an avid e-book reader since Sony introduced its first reader a few years ago. Today I read mostly e-books, and mostly from my iPad. I shop from Amazon, Barns and Noble and Apple. Amazon and Barns and Noble offer extensive libraries. Apple's reader has more sizzle but fewer books. Twenty-two percent? It seems a scant 22 percent when you can't find what you're looking for.
I hope Google's entry compels Apple to do better. Both having some catching up to match the depth of Amazon and Barns and Noble.
I'm delighted to see e-books finally come into their own. Remember the Rocket Book?
Tom
I don't think you understand: Google is a search engine / advertising company. The move to get into eBook publishing is strategic because... um... because Google can embed advertising in books??? I have no idea why Google would get into book sales. Maybe they really do want to just want to piss off Steve Jobs. Maybe they want to set this up for future Chrome OS based tablets... Anyone know?
Because knowing your book buying habits is valuable to advertisers/marketers and they'll pay for the information.
As Eric Sccmidt has said, "We want to have a little bit of Google in every transaction on the internet." That's not because they can place an ad at every point of sale, but because they can harvest information about what you're up to and sell it Never forget that Google's product isn't search, or browsers, or operating systems, or books, or music or movies. It's you.
Unfortunately, the newsies and bloggers don't understand the importance of this and ignore releases from small companies who pioneer the concept, like iPulpFiction.com. We recently released our new HTML 5 / CSS 3 based eReader that supports our cloud-based reading service. This was made possible by Apple's much appreciated assistance in making the iOS 4.2 version of Safari compatible.
If you are using the latest desktop versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or have iOS 4.2 you can access a demo of the iPulp eReader at the following URL:
http://www.ipulpfiction.com/books/_b...pagedDEMO.html
DRM isn't universal with Google ebooks. Don't underestimate the paranoia of publishers. If you steal a print book, that's one copy. If you steal an ebook, it could be distributed infinitely, or so some publishers think.
And the DRM is courtesy of Adobe; not a standard but at least a known quantity. Adobe is trying to make it a standard that theoretically could be transferable across devices.
I'm pretty sure I could download any book I wanted right now if I wanted to. I'm sure Adobe would love to make their DRM standard. I assume it's licensed out so their taking a cut of the profits, much like Intel gets a cut of blu ray profits. DRM has become an industry now, it's long moved past the the point of preventing copyright infringement.
I don't really care if publishers are scared of their precious books being copied. DRM doesn't work. If they can't come to their senses, government should step in and force them to. DRM has no place in books (or movies). Quite frankly, using it should be illegal. If that can't happen there should at least be a single mandated, royalty free version.
The real news here is not that Google has opened its own eBook store, but that it is the second CLOUD-BASED READING SERVICE to be offered. This is a big deal for the publishing industry. This is the publishing equivalent of NetFlix or AppleTV vs DVDs and BlueRay.
Cloud-based reading will completely suck and will be rejected by consumers. Already reviewers of Google's service (see TUAW) are panning it for just this reason. This will not be a big deal for anyone for this reason. The only thing the cloud has going for it is buzzword compliance.
Largest library. Compatible with most platforms.
And I should care, why?
"Open" only matters if you have 20 different devices. I have an iPad. I buy books on my iPad. How is google's store "helping" me? Because google can rip off more publishers and make more stuff available for free, when they haven't done any of the work to produce any of it? No thank you.
Google is doing this solely because apple has done it. "Look, we have eBooks too!" Again, the point about microsoft is not far off. Google has no right to enter any of these markets, except for the fact they have monopoly power.
But that's ok. I'm sure they will half-ass it enough to please android owners.
Google said you can download most of the library in ePub or PDF for offline reading. I think Apple will approve the app. It's no different than Kindle app, isn't it?
It is kind of like kindle, but there is not as much bad blood between the two, and Kindle was approved before iBooks was out. Apple could use the "duplicates core functionality" reasoning, and say kindle was grandfathered in before the iBooks was available. Or they can take their time approving it.
Good to know that the books will be in ePub though.