And once again non-Americans are left out sigh
I can't help laughing when they even write about how incredibly open they are.
And what, even the video is private ? I'm guessing it's just location blocked. .. but why??
I can't help laughing when they even write about how incredibly open they are.
And what, even the video is private ? I'm guessing it's just location blocked. .. but why??
I think it is still too hard to turn a book into an ebook. Google did a fine job of digitizing a bunch of library title, but that wont do it.
They have to share a spread that technology (make it cheap). I want to put my books into a backpack, go to a store nearby and pick my books up the next day together with the ebooks. In germany that would not be against the law, because it's a private copy. Maybe for 10 bucks per book (1Cent/page?).
That would jumpstart the whole ebook thing in europe ... finally.
This is my naive consumer perspective, not a publisher perspective.
No need to think hard about it: Google simply doesn't give a shit. Really. Let me remind you that, almost two years in, Google Voice is still completely and utterly useless outside of North America.
> You may find enlightenment this way.
Enlightenment as to why the video of their ebooks demo would be region-locked?
This is a big call. There are many, many factors that prevent a global release of something like Books.
What did you visualize?
You may not like it, but it's surely just pragmatism on their part. It requires a considering investment in lawyers and time for each country they launch in, so it makes sense to start with their home (and likely largest) market.
Most US companies will launch something in English only with the domestic market in mind to test the waters, then when it becomes economically viable to do so expand licensing and other issues out to other countries.
I'm sure the companies that innovate in your country do the same.
You can get technical literature from PragProg or OReilly from anywhere. There are plenty of good small ebook publishers out there.
It should come as no surprise that Google searches for ebooks rate piracy-related sites higher than ebook shops. It is currently way harder to buy an ebook than to pirate it.
But book publishers suck in the same way record companies suck. And they will go the same way record companies went.