The Espresso from On Demand Books brews you up a copy right fresh

As an idea, on demand book printing is nothing new, and we even spotted that Bookmachine monstrosity doing the whole ATM-for-books thing back in 2004, but it looks like the concept is about to take a big step with the new "Espresso" machine from On Demand Books. The $50,000 vending machine is about to debut in somewhere between 10 and 25 libraries and bookstores in 2007, including the New York Public Library in February. The machine can produce two books simultaneously in seven minutes, a time which includes all the printing, binding and cutting involved. The machine even slaps a snazzy laminated full-color cover on its creations. Books top out at around 550 pages, and right-to-left texts are possible. Production cost is about five cents per page, which should be quite a bargain for the roughly one million public domain English works currently floating around the Internets, but we're not sure what the exact costs will be levied by bookstores and copyright holders for the other titles -- there are currently 2.5 million books available for printing by the Espresso.

[Via SCI FI Tech]

[GioNYC @ Dec 21st 2006 10:32AM]

$50,000? Its just a cpu machine with a laser printer in it, connected to the internet.

[teodoro @ Dec 21st 2006 10:41AM]

uh no. You missed the "binding, cutting and laminating" feature. You can't get your HP Laser to do that.
It's a neat concept, but probably will flop in stores. The distribution model set up between publisher-dist-bookstore is too strong.

[Blair Robinson @ Dec 21st 2006 10:35AM]

The article mentions a price of a penny per page, which is a bargain, but you mention 5 cents a page which isn't. Even at a 100% markup, that could make for a great deal on public domain books.

[exDARPA_worker @ Dec 21st 2006 10:56AM]

I smell another cheesy scam in the airport... Now which one would you go for in the airport lounge: DVD movie&machine rental or print a book to read? Ya, that's what I thought

[Wonderboy @ Dec 21st 2006 11:42AM]

This is genius. Instead of huge overheads, crazy lease costs, seasonal store designs, and limited stock, suddenly a book store can sell practically any book at all, and with only a few dollars production cost per book, they can pocket several dollars per sale and have minimal upkeep.

While this wouldn't totally destroy the current book-store business style since a lot of people are all about the experience as well as the end result, it will still revolutionize how it works.

And taking it another step further, production companies will be revolutionized. Instead of having to be being very selective about authors and gambling a huge sum of money on printing a hundred thousand books, just hoping that they'll sell, instead they can just upload an electronic version (hmmm, practically free since they produce e versions anyway) and it'll only get printed when people are ready to buy it.

Bookstores win, publishers win, customers win (at least with selection, and hopefully with price)... This is innovation.

[Pinkerton @ Dec 21st 2006 2:10PM]

Note: this is for public domain books. Most public domain books got that way by having their 75 year copyright expire.

Personally, I wouldn't pay a nickel a page for this unless it was the only way I could get a book that I needed right away. It's much more economical and environmentally friendly to visit a library, or buy used off of Amazon.

[I, Robot @ Dec 21st 2006 11:52AM]

Um… Does anybody else want to discuss the freaking elephant in the room? Come on? Did they really invent a machine that prints, binds, and laminates a 500-page book, when the bleeding obvious is standing right in front of them?

“E-BOOKS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Duh.

The one thing EVERYBODY carry’s with them is a cell phone. The second; is an iPod. Dam it, do we gotta’ draw you a picture on the nature progression of the situation to get people in the 21st Century to read?

[PDubNYC @ Dec 21st 2006 12:11PM]

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to say about nature and all that, but one thing I do know is that I hate reading long content on a screen. I'm all for saving trees and ink and whatnot, but there still really isn't a valid replacement for a paper book, in my opinion.

[I, Robot @ Dec 21st 2006 12:51PM]

@PDubNYC

That’s fair, you’re not the first person to say that about reading on a screen (I don’t mine, but I don’t read for that long). There’s got to be a better way of doing this? There has to be a way to making reading on a screen easier on the eyes, (They invented this stupid machine).

Anyway, my over all point is, for every book I have to carry on my person, or store in my apartment – I can have 20 or more books in my cellphone. Which is so much better then having to lug the “Photoshop Bible”, the “The Animator’s handbook”, any “Harry Potter book”, and the “Basics of C #” to and from work. (All of them, heavy as hell.)

Wouldn’t it have been great to have all of your grade school, high school, and college textbooks in one location? That was easy to access and update. So everyday; instead of having a broken back, and a f*cked-up rotator cuff, all you had to carry was your lunch.

[Oblomov @ Dec 21st 2006 1:22PM]

Reading books on the cell phone? Maybe on an imaginary cell phone with direct retina interface, or a non-existant high-res lightweight glasses. however, there is no way in hell most people will be able to read books on cell phones for a long time.

Ebooks are great, but they still require rather large readers (pda, notebook, umpc, etc).

[NOAH @ Dec 24th 2006 1:26PM]

That is very fair and valid, but sometimes...you just want to wrap up in a blanket by the fire, have a hot cocoa, and feel a real book in your hand to read.

On the other hand, an e-book (with e-ink) is much better for on the go applications and SCHOOL.

But, paper has its place (sorry trees!), and this machine is great for when your local bookstore doesn't have a book in stock and you needed it yesterday.

[I, Robot @ Dec 21st 2006 1:57PM]

@Oblomov
Quote -- “Maybe on an imaginary cell phone with direct retina interface, or a non-existant high-res lightweight glasses. however, there is no way in hell most people will be able to read books on cell phones for a long time.”


What?!? Is that suppose to be some clever little comment, that only you think is funny? Because it’s not. You’re on a tech-site and don’t know that you CAN read on a cellphone -- stupid!

It’s a little something that we like to call a .PDF file – maybe you’ve heard of it? Everytime you look access the Internet news/bus times/etc on google using a cellphone – that’s call READING.

- Mobipocket
- Wattpad.com
- Word Doc
- LIT
- TXT
(These are all file formats that are used to create words – in order for people to read them.)

My cellphone can do this, maybe you should upgrade. Or simply do some research BEFORE you post a comment, and look alike an ass.

[Wonderboy @ Dec 21st 2006 2:24PM]

Ebooks are all well and good, but as an avid reader I can attest to the joy of turning pages... might be something that's ingrained from childhood, but either way, nothing - not even the new e-ink gadgets - can compare to a real book.

I do have a small collection of Ebooks for when I want portability, especially for reference like you said, but my personal library of printed books (mostly novels for enjoyment rather than utility) is ever growing... so the above machine would be a great asset to have available.

[Jeff Myers @ Dec 21st 2006 1:44PM]

If there was such a machine (or program?) that could quickly produce books in a format readable on that Sony e-book reader, I'd get one!

Jeff Myers

[Amnesia @ Dec 21st 2006 2:10PM]

The issue isn't whether or not it's possible to read something on a cell phone---it's whether or not it's practical due to the small size of the screen.

[matt @ Dec 21st 2006 2:23PM]

"My cellphone can do this, maybe you should upgrade. Or simply do some research BEFORE you post a comment, and look alike an ass."

You sir, should consider what you look like after making a post like that.

As for your cell phone, have fun reading a 500 page book on it. Of course we all realize that you can *store* information on cell phones (and flash drives, and iPods, and ...), the point is being able to *read* that information comfortably. The point that you seemed to think was remarkably unreasonable was that reading a book on a cell phone is far from ideal, and downright uncomfortable for most.

[Wonderboy @ Dec 21st 2006 2:28PM]

True, I think the initial main usage would be works of public domain, but once (if) the idea catches on I can picture publishers jumping on board. They can hypothetically charge less because of the lower investment needed and copyright issues aren't a problem because in the end the user is still getting the same product, they're just cutting out the warehouse fees and the shipping fees, etc.

But either way, sometimes the hardest books to find are public domain, this would make life much easier. (Now all they need is a similar machine that can spit out a leather-bound version and I would be even happier).

[Gnagus @ Dec 21st 2006 3:09PM]

@I, Robot :

Come on, no need to be insulting! Especially considering you didn't understand what Oblomov wrote... Yes, the current technology ALLOWS you to read an E-Book on your cell phone. But the screen is TOO SMALL and the reading experience will not be a pleasing one!

Heck, I could probably rig my good old pager so that it scrolls an entire E-book on it's tiny 1 line - 20 characters LCD screen. Or maybe the display on those old crappy LED watches? the technology CAN display it - but would you wanna read the "Lord of the rings" trilogy on that?

[olly olsonfree @ Dec 21st 2006 8:12PM]

Print on demand (which has been around a few years) has NEVER (as yet) reflected its earlier promise, and I doubt this smaller machine will make too much difference. The earlier promise was truly print on demand of small run or single copies of books that could not survive the overhead of print runs in the thousands. Public Domain on demand ( I mean truly on demand), out of print on demand with payment to rights holders. Guess what. It just hasn't happened.

Instead, it has become a vanity press, and more often than not, the books so produced simply get NO distrribution, because they are never ordered in runs that distributors (even when the distributors OWN the Print On Demand business) will handle.

Outside of the vanity press market (which sometimes, might break through) you see some publishers put out POD copies of public domain titles, but often, yes, at a minimum of 20 dollars, more often over 30, for very few pages, often under 100 pages. And they are non returnable product that unscrupulous publishers pretending to be customers, will order into bookstores yet never pick up. Guess what, they are therefore sold, but not read. And the bookstore eats the cost inferred.

(You could download those same public domain titles from Gutenberg.org for free)

Perhaps things might get closer to the intended promise when the machine is not the size of a small truck, but I somehow doubt it. There is still a price issue at the very least (it could be competitive for textbooks), considering the costs of distribution, and the many hands, hands receiving wages, that a typical book must pass through.

[Tom T. @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:04AM]

are they nuts? at 5 cents a page - that means a 500 page book would be 25.00?!

$25 for a free, public domain book? and available at a library, a place where you go to check out books for FREE?

that's a waste of paper (when we have ebooks and you can borrow the books from the library for free) and a rip-off, imho.

[Christopher P. TOdd @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:15AM]

I wold be all for this given the fact that there are MANY books that I would like to get but that are either out of print and can not be had or out of print and are very expensive to buy via a site like www.bookfinder.com. I am currently looking for a copy of Richard Sheridan's "Sugar and Slavery: an Economic History of the British West Indies" and the only copy I can find (barring the amazon.co.uk site which I am sure they really don't have) costs $123.00 or something like that. Furthermore, some of us like and need to write in our book which makes e-books not very useful. I don't even like reading PDFed documetns to tell the truth. I always print them out so that I can read them.

[Dan @ Dec 22nd 2006 11:38AM]

I have shelves of books (to make me look smart) and I'd love to leave them on the shelves in favor of the perfect e-reader that hasn't been made yet. Until then, I'll stick with Penguin Classics or the Borders discount brand.

I'd like to see this machine handle academic journals and other publications that most libraries can't or don't want to carry.

[ILJG @ Dec 26th 2006 11:44PM]

Cool concept, indeed!

I wonder if there are different text file transfers for longer books. For example, a lot of the Harry Potter books go well past 550 pages, but the formatting is with a larger font and spacing. If there were a print image or file with smaller fonts and spacing, then they may fit within that limit. Are they working on this as well?

[mart @ Jan 17th 2007 4:33AM]

I'm impressed. Of course, for the time being it's mostly used for public domain books, but think of e.g. a university that simply gets content from publishers and provides this services to students (as extra service to the electronic learning files).
Does anybody know what the input of this Espresso is? XML? PDF?

[Swu @ Jun 21st 2007 11:16PM]

JG,

I feel for you and can definitely see your point. But perhaps at the same time it might do for the book industry what digital distribution did for music. Basically making a huge reservoir of older music available to people who couldn't find it on the shelf before. Another plus is that I live in China –OK, Hong Kong… and getting books here is a real pain. The cost is almost 200% of MSRP because space is at a premium and basically you’re paying rent for the shop and where else are you going to go?

If Amazon were smart, they’d be on this like white on rice. They’re already having the distributors ship the books anyway so why not cut out the middle man. Make a deal with the handful of publishing companies out there for printing rights. Hookup these machines to the net and have some sort of secure connection to a database of books and send the book that’s needed on demand. Then offer customers a one time use printable bar code directly from their web page. The customer pays the same price including the shipping and handling, but goes to the mall and gets the book the same day. Because the connection is (should be) secure / encrypted / fingerprinted it should be easy to track and pay off the publishers on a per book basis especially books that are out of print or out of stock that they still hold the rights to, but don’t have enough orders to necessitate another printing.

This model would also be wonderful for bookstores. They just print one copy for customers and then print out the rest on demand.

[docsharp01 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:39PM]

This is an excellent article: The Espresso from On Demand Books brews you up a copy right fresh.
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