Friday, September 4, 2009

Google and Books

Remember 1994, when Napster was all the rage? The music industry hasn't been able to figure out what to do with itself since.

Well, the publishing industry is about to experience something similar. Book piracy is not too far away, I'm afraid. Sure, there are plenty of people who manage to download books for free on file-sharing sites, but this is going to be on a much bigger scale.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/30/google-library-project-books-settlement

I might start going into libraries, walking down a random aisle, and taking home the first book I see. I might inject some serendipity into my life. Who knows what I might find? Before you know it, we might not be able to walk into libraries anymore. And I can honestly say that I will never want to curl up in bed with an Amazon Kindle or whatever device google (or whomever they partner with) will inevitably produce.

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