Google eBooks
Google eBooks (formerly Google Editions) is an e-book program run by Google,[1] originally set to open in mid-summer 2010.[2][3] It was opened on December 6, 2010 to customers in the United States.[4] It offers universal access and non-restrictive copying. The store is headed by Dan Clancy, who also directs Google Books.[2]
Google eBooks purchased at the Google eBookstore (Google eBooks' online store front) or other retailers are stored online and linked to the customer's Google account.[5] They can then be read online, or downloaded to a cache for offline reading. Holding purchased books on Google's server theoretically allows Google to serve books to users under a variety of formats, including new formats that might not be available at the time of purchase.
Reception
Reception of eBooksStore at launch was mixed. Reviewers noted that it was still glitchy, and that books lacked reviews even for those that were centuries old.[6] Also others remarked that Google touted the EBookStore as "open", but that it was still using Adobe's Adept eBooks Digital rights management.[7]
Salon also remarked that searching for books was ironically really not easy, and that integration with the older Google Books service was awkward. They also found that the interface was poorly done.[8]
References
- ^ Getting started with Google eBooks
- ^ a b Ken Auletta, "Publish or Perish: Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business?", The New Yorker, April 26, 2010, [1]
- ^ Technology spurs new competition for electronic readers, The Arizona Republic
- ^ Google launches eBookstore with more than 3 million titles, MacWorld
- ^ Google Presents Google Editions at Digital Book World, mediabistro.com: eBookNewser, 26 Jan 2010
- ^ "Google eBookstore: How Does It Stack Up?". tabletpcreview.com. 2010-12-08. http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1793&news=google+ebookstore+ereader+ebook+store. Retrieved 2011-01-15. "Google eBooks isn't entirely elegant yet, either. We experienced a few glitches, for example, in trying to preview books. Either the preview content didn't always appear in the designated window, or all you got was the title page. For whatever reasons, a lot of the titles on Google eBooks still lack online reviews, including some titles that are centuries-old"
- ^ "First Look: Google eBookstore". Macworld. 2010-12-08. http://www.macworld.com/article/156275/2010/12/first_look_ebookstore.html. Retrieved 2011-01-15. "In order to load a Google e-book onto a supported reader (the Nook and the Sony Reader are on the list, the Amazon Kindle isn’t) you have to first install Adobe Digital Editions onto your computer (this runs on both Mac and PC since it is an Adobe AIR application)."
- ^ "Is Google leading an e-book revolution?". Salon.com. 2010-12-07. http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/12/07/google_ebookstore. Retrieved 2011-01-15. "The first is that Google eBookstore isn't necessarily easy to search -- an irony considering that the Google empire was built on search. There's only one search field in which to enter terms, and while it's possible to delimit the search by using such formulations as "inauthor:'George Meredith'", this isn't explained anywhere and there's no advanced search page allowing you to specify that you only want to see results with, say, the title "Diana of the Crossways" and the author "George Meredith(...)Google eBookstore's poor consumer interface -- you can tell it was devised by people who know next to nothing about the book trade -- isn't going to introduce many readers to new books and authors""
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