Google may be getting more headlines lately, but Amazon.com continues
to be digitally busy. Yesterday the company announced expansions of its
Search Inside the Book program in ways that make it resemble iTunes.
And because Amazon said it plans to work with copyright owners,
the plan may have an easier time than Google's Print Library project,
the object of suits by both the Authors Guild and five publishers
supported by the AAP.
The new Amazon Pages program will allow customers to buy and read online a few pages of a book, likely for a few cents a page. For example, the company said, "an entrepreneur interested in marketing his or her business could purchase the relevant chapters from several bestselling business books."
Amazon Upgrade will allow customers who buy a book on Amazon.com to have "complete online access" to the same text. "Buy a cookbook," the company said, "and you will not only have it on your shelf, but also be able to access it anywhere via the Web." This extra e-bonus could cost several dollars for a $20 book.
"It makes it more like browsing in a bookstore," Think Equity Partners analyst Edward Weller told the Los Angeles Times, "and you don't even have to put your clothes on."
Publishers and the Authors Guild reacted positively to Amazon's approach of allowing copyright holders to determine such matters as whether pages could be printed or downloaded. The company will give publishers leeway with pricing, too. Also yesterday, Random House issued guidelines for online cooperation that seem to mesh with Amazon's plans--but not Google's. Apparently Random intends to charge more for peeks at certain texts, such as cookbooks.
Not to be left out of the digital fray, Microsoft yesterday announced that it will provide digital copies of some 25 million pages of books from the British Library over the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Library has 13 million books, and Microsoft will scan more material in the future. Microsoft's service is called MSN Book Search and focuses for now on books in the public domain.
Talking about e-books in general, David Steinberger, CEO of Perseus Book Group, told the New York Times that the developments of the past week are "much more significant than what we saw during the Internet boom. This time it looks like this really might happen."
The new Amazon Pages program will allow customers to buy and read online a few pages of a book, likely for a few cents a page. For example, the company said, "an entrepreneur interested in marketing his or her business could purchase the relevant chapters from several bestselling business books."
Amazon Upgrade will allow customers who buy a book on Amazon.com to have "complete online access" to the same text. "Buy a cookbook," the company said, "and you will not only have it on your shelf, but also be able to access it anywhere via the Web." This extra e-bonus could cost several dollars for a $20 book.
"It makes it more like browsing in a bookstore," Think Equity Partners analyst Edward Weller told the Los Angeles Times, "and you don't even have to put your clothes on."
Publishers and the Authors Guild reacted positively to Amazon's approach of allowing copyright holders to determine such matters as whether pages could be printed or downloaded. The company will give publishers leeway with pricing, too. Also yesterday, Random House issued guidelines for online cooperation that seem to mesh with Amazon's plans--but not Google's. Apparently Random intends to charge more for peeks at certain texts, such as cookbooks.
Not to be left out of the digital fray, Microsoft yesterday announced that it will provide digital copies of some 25 million pages of books from the British Library over the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Library has 13 million books, and Microsoft will scan more material in the future. Microsoft's service is called MSN Book Search and focuses for now on books in the public domain.
Talking about e-books in general, David Steinberger, CEO of Perseus Book Group, told the New York Times that the developments of the past week are "much more significant than what we saw during the Internet boom. This time it looks like this really might happen."