The article that I read,” Google Lets You Custom Print Millions of Books” talked about how Google has enabled internet users to access millions of books, that have fallen out of copyright, by scanning them and putting them into a search box. Among the books accessible are books from top university libraries. With these advancements in technology, people do not have to leave their house in order to read a book that they might not even be able to access if they went outside of their home anyways. Google has also paired up with On Demand Books, which allows users to turn digital copies into paper copies. This new technology brings down the prices dramatically. A book that you may pay 47 dollars off of Amazon is now available at a price as low as ten dollars. They have come out with an “Espresso Book Machine” that can print out a 300 page paper book in a matter of four minutes.
I think this is a wonderful thing for Google to start up because it allows the world to read books that may have never been accessible before. A lot of people don’t have access to places like the Harvard Library, but now they are able to go to the bookstore next door and have access to all of the books that are out of copyright. It opens up new things to the world and it is easy. I personally think it is a wonderful idea because the books are no longer under copyright, so why not make them accessible to the world. I find it amazing how many things we can do on the internet. There advancements every single day with technology and they never stop.
While reading some comments about the article I found that many people complained that they like writing in their books and digital does not do it for them, but this Google has gone above and beyond digital and is enabling users to print books for a cheap cost. However, there is not an easy access printer everywhere. They named only a few select locations and for people who live too far, they have to have it shipped.
After further searching I came across another article regarding the
I agree with the fact that it is wrong authors are losing possible revenue simply because their books may not have a copy write in the United States. That is a legal matter, but apparently for the time being it is allowed. I recently read an article and learned about a product offered by Amazon called the Kindle. This device is the size of a normal piece of paper, but has the ability to store online books. Customers have the option of buying over a million books online, and have them sent to their kindle. This saves money, but also cuts back on paper and other natural resources. This situation presents a good point because it shows both sides in which technology can work. Authors are being deprived of potential earnings, and people still use their work. But in a time of diminishing natural resources, as well as poor economic standing, this technology is allowing for us to conserve our resources. The true debate is when is technology too much? It is a question that we will be forced to look at many times in the future, near and far.
ReplyDeleteBittel, you're absolutely right when posing the question: "When is technology too much?" After reading and reflecting about Kelly's article, I would absolutely hope that this plan of being able to access millions of books becomes approved. As a college student, it's a very helpful plan with doing papers, etc. and from an environmental aspect, we are cutting back on paper and other resources. Unfortunately, there is a major issue concerning copy rights of authors which definitely deprives them of potential earnings. It should very interesting to see how this settles, I'll definitely look out for it online somewhere.
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