In what might appear to be a story from the past, Google is partnering with On Demand Books, the makers of the Espresso Book Machine. The Espresso Book Machine does what it says on the tin: it makes books. Feed it a digital file, and in less than five minutes, you can have a “library quality” (I’m somewhat dubious of this claim) book, complete with real dead-tree pages. On Demand Books has now obtained the rights to print books from Google Books’ archive of public domain titles. See for yourself:
While you can’t argue with the ability to print rare, out-of-print books anytime you like, it seems like a move in the wrong direction. And at $100K for the Espresso Book Machine, it’s unclear who will be in a position to purchase the device – after all, any sizeable book seller is already scheming to either build an e-reader of their own, or partner with a device manufacturer.
Am I missing something? Who is the real target market for this device?
[via ReadWriteWeb]