Yesterday I asked IPcentral readers to run some tests, as I had done, on Google Print and explain to me how this works, as it appears the service allows you to read an entire work. Numerous readers took me up on this, and responded via trackback or e-mail. Thank you for your feedback, even if some of you failed to grasp the fact that I was seeking information here, not making declarative, final statements about the service.

What I heard was that the book I chose to test was part of the Google Print Publisher program, where the copyright owner gives permission to have full pages accessed. Apparently all 10 books I chose to test are part of that Publisher program, an amazing ratio. Here at IPcentral I celebrate the empowerment of copyright holders, and if that holder thinks it's useful to have his or her entire book accessible online then more power to them. I could not find a book that wasn't part of this program -- at least I couldn't find a book that restricted my access to its entire contents -- but perhaps that's because Google isn't posting them right now given everything that's going on legally.

One commenter wondered why someone would go through this effort to read the book rather than buying it. Well, I retrieved an entire book in less than a minute, and could easily read it on my computer screen, like an eBook. I agree it would be easier to buy the book, and I would have done that. But I know people who go through amazing feats of electronic gymnastics in order to set themselves up to use bitTorrent, thus obtaining movies for free rather than buying the DVD. We've learned that people will tolerate electronic inconveniences to get stuff free that shouldn't be free.

One other point -- I noticed that several of my mother's bestsellers are included in this Google Print Publisher program. This is a touchy point with me -- I celebrate the rights of the creator, but sometimes the creator, to get distribution and marketing, needs a middleman, in this case a publisher, and must forfeit some copy rights. I can assure you my mother never would have authorized participation in this service, but apparently Pocket Books did. It was easy for me to get all the pages of the first of my mom's books that I tested, because I just did searches for character names (those names could be learned through more general searches that pulled up full pages). Of course, my mom's books are best read while tanning on the beach, lounging on the couch, soaking in the tub or relaxing in bed, so I'm hopeful people will still keep buying the real thing despite Pocket's willingness to give the book away. And I hope Google Print helps more people discover my mom's books, which clearly is what Pocket is banking on.

I also thank the folks who gave me feedback on the post, and appreciate that -- for the most part -- they kept their sarcasm and distaste at dealing with a champion of copyright in check.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 9:45 AM | Books

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