Google, Sony Now Offer 1 Million Free Books

Daily Tech ^ | July 30, 2009 3:54 AM | Michael Barkoviak

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sony's e-book store now has more than 1 million titles

Sony today announced that there are more than 1 million public domain books available through the Google Books project, as Sony continues to battle with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

"We are committed to ensuring our customers have the freedom to discover and read content from the widest possible range of sources,” Sony eBook Store Director Chris Smythe said in a statement.  “We’re proud to offer access to the broadest range of eBooks today – from hot new releases, to New York Times Best Sellers, to classics and hard to find manuscripts such as those available for free from Google.”

Sony's decision seems to be a wise one, as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other providers attempt to increase book catalogs in the increasingly competitive e-book market.  Last week, Barnes & Noble, which offers more than 700,000 titles, said it offered the largest online bookstore -- about 350,000 of the total number are Google public domain works.

Amazon, with its Kindle eBook reader, offers 300,000 titles to shoppers.  Amazon hasn't publicly disclosed if it will one day include public domain titles.

[KarlInOhio]

Amazon hasn't publicly disclosed if it will one day include public domain titles.

They do already. I downloaded on my iPod's Kindle program some of the earlier Sherlock Holmes stories that have passed into public domain.

[GeronL]

Gutenburg Project anyone?

[TomGuy]

Sony ebook store

http://ebookstore.sony.com/google-ebooks/

[iowamark]

Amazon's content can be read only on the Kindle and an iPhone or iPod Touch, but nothing else. The Barnes & Noble titles, however, can be read on RIM's BlackBerry smartphones or the iPhone and iPod Touch, but cannot be read using a Sony e-book reader or the Kindle. It's possible this closed system may drive away some interested consumers who want the freedom of reading their purchased content on any device.

We should, if at all possible, shun the closed proprietary systems in favor of public domain books. It goes without saying that all of the great literature and knowledge of Western Civilization is public domain.

[a fool in paradise]

What is the “Public Domain” that Sony speaks of? Together with Time-Warner-Turner, Disney-ABC, et al they have seen that American works will NEVER EVER AGAIN go into the public domain.

[dan1123]

*PRS-500 is not currently compatible with the books from Google.

Arrrrgh!

/prs-500 owner

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks Ernest_at_the_Beach. Sony today announced that there are more than 1 million public domain books available through the Google Books project, as Sony continues to battle with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. B&N is offering a free reader program (runs on iPods, Blackberry, etc) with seven free (old classic) titles, and of course Amazon sells its excellent Kindle product line. Oxford English Dictionary back to the Mac Kindle keyword FYI: How to Download Free Books onto the Amazon Kindle Amazon to Launch Kindle for Textbooks Amazon Kindle users surprised by 'Big Brother' move (AMZN deletes '1984' from everyone's Kindle) Pirated copies of Orwell books pulled from Kindle Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[spyone]

How long till a book/music goes into the public domain?

[KarlInOhio]

How long till a book/music goes into the public domain?

Cynical answer: Number of years since Disney produced Steamboat Willie plus a few years because it keeps on being extended to protect Mickey Mouse.

Official answer from the government: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html#duration

Other countries have different rules.

[coconutt2000]

it keeps on being extended to protect Mickey Mouse

Something like Mickey Mouse should be protected under trademark rather than copyright. It would make more sense.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not sure where this fits in,...but from HardOCP we have this item:

MPAA – RIAA: You Have No Right To Perpetual Access

******************************EXCERPT INTRO*************************************

"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."

[AFreeBird]

Seems to me that the standard was set when pen was first put to paper. I have a few books that are 100+ years of age (passed down from generation to generation), and if treated well, should still be available for the next 100 years.

[FastCoyote]

[It goes without saying that all of the great literature and knowledge of Western Civilization is public domain. ]

Except the three books I’ve written in the hope I’d get paid for them.

[Vermont Lt]

As someone who makes a living off from my photos, I am one that strongly defends my copyright and I hope it lasts long enough for my kids to make a few pennies a year from them.

[stefanbatory]

hoping for change, are you?