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15 novembre 2005
Rent-a-Gookle
I want to read that new book by the Management Guru everyone's talking about, say. But I'm not really interested in possessing it because such books have a short life span and a rapid use-by date. Certain editions of books of fiction, or historical research, or poetry, may warrant the purchase of a book. But why would one actually want to buy a book on marketing or sales, if the book can be accessed otherwise for less money?
Google is at it again. They want to be able to rent books for 10% of their bookstore value. Of course, you will not be unable to print nor download the book, but can only leaf through it for a week. Google has already discussed the idea with a publisher, who thought 10% wasn't enough.
L'éditeur trouve ce prix de location trop faible mais estime qu'il s'agit d'une opportunité importante de pénétrer le marché du livre numérique. [Source]
"Yeah, but it'll never replace the book." Supposedly that's what our foreparents said when the radio hit the scene. The children of those foreparents went on to say, in turn, "Yeah, but it'll never replace the radio." They were referring to the telly. And what have we heard about the Internet, Walkman and other information innovations? Now you know why I'm reluctant to pronounce Google's idea dead before its birth.
Having said that, I think Google's idea of renting as opposed to selling the books is superior to all other online book ideas I've heard so far.
A potentially successful idea or not?
I dislike e-books intensely, however, for the simple reason that an e-book's advantages are irrelevant to me (except their ability to spare the lives of trees), while a hardcopy book's advantages remain important to me. Maybe if every time an e-book was opened, an aperture somewhere near the computer screen sprayed out a paper-based perfume, with a whiff of dust and an even lesser one of moisture, perhaps I would like e-books then.
Google isn't the only company interested in this perhaps-one-day-soon-to-be-big market. Random House has recently laid out its plans, and not to be outdone, Amazon says it "will allow readers to purchase selected pages or chapters from a book in electronic format."
