5 ms·
They charge 100 yen for doing a book conversion. That's only about $1.25 US. I would kill for a service like this. I'm preparing to move in about a month, an
by allwein 16y ago
They charge 100 yen for doing a book conversion. That's only about $1.25 US. I would kill for a service like this. I'm preparing to move in about a month, and I've got some 500 books that I need to move. I would love to just digitize the majority of these and get rid of the physical volumes.
This actually sounds like a fantastic service that the publishers could offer if they were progressive enough. They would prepare a digital copy of the books they offer (if they don't have them already). Then customers could ship them their physical volumes for destruction along with a nominal fee ($1-$2) in return for the digital version.
- stcredzero 16y agoThis actually sounds like a fantastic service that the publishers could offer if they were progressive enough. How about a startup? Of all people in a position to implement the physical side of this: Half Price Books. They could scan the UPC barcodes and see what books are in a catalog, then offer to give the customer an eBook for a nominal fee. So they would be receiving money instead of paying it out. This would be a way of publishers to be able to make money off of IP with sales that have already dropped off. The publishers would still have to cooperate.
- Groxx 16y agoA startup would have to battle the legal system the publishers have helped create / abuse. Anyone know what, if anything, might stand in the way of such a setup?
- throw02082011 16y agoLots of things I'd assume. Without doing any research, here's a twist (still likely not legally wise): The startup scans your books.You pay a monthly fee for storage of your books at their facility, which is a free-to-use library. You remain the owner of the book and take the scans with you. There are probably some (many) issues here, such as first sale rights, but it's not crazy.Adding additional businesses could help (coffee-library-book scanning) offset the expense but it's probably easier to try and change the law - someone would be angry enough to make your life miserable.
- tealtan 16y agoWhy doesn't Google offer this as a service? They have all the infrastructure already.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- cosmicray 16y ago> They charge 100 yen for doing a book conversion. That's only about $1.25 US. I would kill for a service like this. Are they physically scanning every book presented, or is each scanning service building a library (by scanning each title only once) ? If they are doing the latter, I can see how they can pull it off at that price.
- froggy 16y agoAgreed, except for the destruction part. Maybe the publishers could pass the books on to nonprofits to donate to developing countries, libraries, schools, etc.