Video: Espresso Book Machine now serving 3.6 million books, thanks Google
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 24th 2009 7:10AM
posted Sep 24th 2009 7:10AM
[Thanks, Raphael C.]
Read [Warning: PDF]
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Hey ! This is great !
This should be called "The Expresso tree killer" or "The Amazon Express Slap Chop".
Everybody is going e-book and thy plan to print books at light speed ?
Ah technology ! It never stops stupidity !
I'm not really a fan of eBooks. With a book, I can read in any light condition and don't need to worry about batteries. I can also lend them to friends. I really like this product. It has the potential to become massive and encourage reading, which is great. Paper is pretty easy to recycle, and if this lowers the cost of books significantly, I'm sure more people will do just that.
Of course, to really take off, this would have to be expanded to copyrighted works. I'd like a system where I can buy a license to a book, and then only need to pay for printing afterwards. So if I don't think I'll need the book, I can recycle it, but if I want to reprint it later, I have the option to do that. The issue would be to prevent people selling their prints and reprinting them, so maybe the company could co-ordinate the recycling system to credit people for a reprint when they deposit their book in to be recycled. If you lose a book, perhaps you can request a reprint, but you'd be limited to X number of reprints per year. That should make piracy impractical and give readers more flexibility than current systems.
you realize that if this enters into wide use it will actually save trees right? the way things are publishers print thousands of books which may or may not sell. when they don't sell at the book store they get returned to the publisher who pulps them. This way you only print what you sell. it's a perfect companion to ebooks. If you like the book enough to want a physical object for your bookshelf, this is a great option. I would like to see a hardcover option for that use though.
So Google makes books available electronic, then makes them available in book form again? They feel, they smell, they touch.
Don't worry Alain, no one reads books anyways... Then again, there are a few college textbooks in google books that would be nice to have for a penny a page vs $200.
Looks like something really nice for a university book store or a public school library. Imagine a high school teacher assigning a book report on a piece of classic literature to a class of thirty kids and being able to give them their own copies of the book to keep. There is no way that a small public school library could afford to keep that many copies on hand in the school library the traditional book purchasing way.
I'm sure we'll see this catch on in the future either with this company or some larger company copying and improving on the idea and getting it qualified for government educational subsidies to get it into the hands of rural America.
When I was in college, the math department wrote and printed their own textbooks and the english department would produce a spiral-bound collection of reading materials. It sucked if you lost or damaged you copy since they only printed out a handful of extras -- a quick and automatic system like this would have been awesome for getting on-demand replacements!
Would be great at the airport when you can't find anything to read in the bookshops for your flight.
How can I buy one of these machines, looks like it actually prints money!
Boy are we going to rub our eyes when the day comes on which the social and intellectual utopia that is google books turns out to be nothing more than an ingenious move to spin intellectual property a bit differently.
Wonder how much a book costs compared to one that is already distributed
I have heard as far as cost goes that for every book, Google will get $1 and the Espresso folks get another $1. The gentlemen on the video mentioned that it is ~$0.01 per printed page, and the cover / biding is probably $0.50 (not mentioned, just a guess). So before the markup of the supplier you are already at $5.00 for a 250 page book. So, it would probably be sold for ~$7.00.
Yes, but do they TASTE the same as a normal book? This is important, but don't ask me why.
Yes, they TASTE the same as a normal book, they taste like chicken.
All it is is a duplex laser printer and an injet. You could probably make a manual version quite easily for schools etc and it wouldnt cost much. What sort of glue do they use to bind?
Book-binding glue
So it doesn't make Coffee then?
Good point. To get the full bookstore/cafe experience, this needs to be combined with a coffee machine (preferrably one capable of making fancy coffees) and a vending machine with sandwiches and pastries.
Then again, I'd be happy with just the pastries.
Ahhh I stay with my nice hard covers. Plus I like alot of the cover art on my books.
Only thing I didn't like about this video that it prints the paper then it goes and cuts 3 sides to it? Why not just design it to use the correct paper size to begin with?! Seriously reduce paper waste, Thought google were the good guys?
This is how all books are made. The edges are just trimmed to make sure they all line up exactly with each other.
Does it use acid free paper and durable glue?
Will these books deteriorate in a few years?
What is the cost per book?
nice question and i too wish to known about price and quality.
It probably uses whatever paper you want to buy. The glue is probably very specific and most likely a low temperature for safety, efficiency and to accommodate the open air design. So, don't leave a book in a hot car.
The real durability issue here is the cover. While I don't see anything that would prevent laminated covers, first you'd have to make them. A single sided laminator is #1 expensive, #2 dangerous, #3 tricky to operate, #4 a bigger machine than the entire printer/binder they are showing. Also, to laminate you have to batch jobs. Can't can't just start and stop a laminator. It will take half an hour to heat and then you'll need to run hundreds of covers for it to make sense. How'd you like to be told "Come back in a few hours when we have enough orders to run a batch"?
Books don't even look nice immediately after manufacturing without lamination. The trimmer will start to tear rather than cut the cover as soon as it gets dull, and you'll end up with a ragged, ugly edge.
Right, don't get me wrong I'm down with the whole e-book thaaang. But seriously if we stop reading books what am I going to put on my shelves so that people know I'm a well-read intelligent and erudite guy?
The book shelve is a beautifully passive way to say, "I'm clever, I've read these."
How am I meant to do that with e-books? Print off the amazon receipt and frame them on the walls? No thanks.
This is clearly a bit of a silly idea - it looks like a an expensive rig, but I think a trimmed, smaller version might have some potential.
I'm all for using e-readers to consume newspapers and magazines, but novels? Nahh. They deserve paper.
"...I'm a well-read intelligent and erudite guy? The book shelve [sic] is..."
Maybe they should make a kindle vending machine. Maybe put them in shops around the UK
The only way to truly increase reading is to make stupidity illegal and to ban cable TV.
If schools made the chess team more significant than the football team, if alumni of American colleges donated money because they were proud of their alma maters' scientific publications and research instead of college football or basketball, more Americans would read.
and then america would turn into an utterly boring place...or you can keep it how it is and have the best of both worlds. if you hated america so much then why did you bother coming over, eh doc?
money?
Woah there Ei8ht, the guy was simply stating an opinion about the priorities of people when it comes to valuing various school activities. Maybe you should calm down a bit on the xenophobic behavior?
In fact, I'm willing to guess that on a technology oriented site like engadget, there are more than a few people who share the sentiment that, in general, priorities are a bit shifted towards athletic accomplishment at schools when they are first and foremost institutes of learning.
@Ei8ht
I was born in the USA, as was my father and my grandfather. When did your first ancestor arrive here?
If you really think that increasing the level of education in this country would make it a boring place, then you are one of the reasons why this country has lost its edge in the world. If universities focused more on research and science and less on sports, then there would be an American back on the Moon and an American on Mars. If we had less anti-intellectual hate mongers, like you in this once great country, we would be producing a terrific alternative energy car and selling it to the rest of the world. I am all for more funding to DARPA and NASA and less money to professional sports teams and to college sports teams. You, on the other hand, seem to think cable TV makes this country interesting. Oh! Well! Someone has to think that MTV's Jackass is clever. Ei8ht, please move to another country. The national average IQ would rise.
And if pigs could fly, well, damn, we'd have a lot more than birdshit to clean off our windshields!
Also if we could find just a way to convert excrement into edible food no starving orphans in starving Africa would have to starve and die. While starving. All we need to do to do start burning down TV studios. With stupid people in them.
Also, we should establish a Secret Book Gestapo to kidnap people and force them to read books in Borders. At gunpoint. And none of that trashy Dan Brown Stephenie Meyer crap, either. Well, maybe they won't get shot for Dan Brown, but you know, the Book Gestapo should also be armed with castration knives!
For someone throwing around terms like anti-intellectual hate monger you are spewing an awful lot of vitriol yourself.
I just wanted to add: yes, I also think (or whatever vague approximation us dumb stupid neanderthal philistine TV-watching stupid dumb-dumbs have for 'thought') cable TV is awesome and absolutely agree that countries would be shitty and boring without it. During commercial breaks and those boring news programmes where everyone insists on using big made-up words I don't understand, I like to burn down tropical rainforests and force-feed homeless people my trash so it can't be recycled. I make a mean Whale/Bluefin Tuna/Baby Seal (substitute with human babies from nearest hospital if unable to obtain seals) sashimi platter. ALSO I ALWAYS FLUSH TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe if it was supported by Bing I'd use it, Google annoys me nowdays
Google is a company and Bing is a product so your comment makes no sense.
And how does Google annoy you? Is it the search engine that annoys you or the company? How does this relate to this machine? Or were you just viral marketing for Microsoft?
Google annoys me in how it's not incorporated everywhere. A google cell phone? c'mon...
Google was fine back when it was a search engine and google maps. Now it's just becomming this annoying little creature that seems to find it's place everywhere. It's just starting to get annoying
Looks interesting. Maybe for small book stores, so they don't have to store hundreds of books. Instead they have this thing, and when a customer wants a book... Sounds like a better solution than printing thousands of books and then destroying them because they couldn't be sold.
They have an Apple keyboard and mouse on the desk.
Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Miller, Miller...
Xerox printer + inkjet printer + glue + paper-cutter. Voila, the future. So what is the operator doing while this is happening, that is so much more efficient than him just gluing and cutting the pages in the same amount of time? And how much more does the maintenance cost? Given how often our duplex printer jams, I'd imagine this will take considerable care to maintain. All to avoid having some human stack, glue, and cut the pages.
Much of the size is simply deu to that huge Xerox printer. No need to shrink the accessories when the core is huge.
The copier was obviously chosen for speed and reliability - an HP LaserJet P2055dn would work, but it would be a lot slower and would be more likely to experience issues like jams than the commercial heavy-duty unit.
$7 for a decent-size paperback book is quite competitive. Libraries could sell them for $5 (non-profit) and reduce overhead. Or they coiuld incorporate their existing subsidies into the printing, and sell them for maybe $2. They might be single-user books, but the libraries are currently buying books anyway, and having to store them between checkouts.
Ahhh - can't edit posts!
"do"
If you use a smaller printer, you'll double your per page cost. Also, I think your real cost is a little higher than your estimate: 200pg*$.01 + $1.50 inkjet cover +$1 espresso charge +$1 google charge = $5.50.
Now what about your operator? 3.5min/book binding + 1.5min printing for 200pgs = 5min/book. 12 Book / hour. At $12/hr wage that's another $1 a book.
Now add on insurance, power usage for the machine, power to cool the building from machine generated heat, lease costs, costs for bad books, maintenance, real world downtime, underutilization. True "non-profit" costs is maybe $8~12 depending on how busy your location is, and how well everything works.
@ Josh --
I think your reasoning is a little wonky. Most institutions are not going to notice a change in their electricity bills or AC costs because they have a machine that amounts to an extra laser printer. They are also not going to purchase extra insurance just because they put a new machine in a building, or hire an operator -- they'll have their IT department and library take care of the thing.
Anyway, it doesn't matter what it actually costs to print a book on this thing because it will certainly be cheaper than trying to get a new copy of an out of print book.
Whether they notice or not is beside the point I'm afraid. Cost is going up regardless. And, at the very least you need to pay for worker's comp insurance. I think you'd need little kid stuck his finger in the trimmer insurance too unless you're very reckless.
It certainly would /not/ be more expensive to purchase an out of print book. Print on Demand is becoming more and more powerful and common. A library could order a 200pg book to be delivered for $3 + $5shipping. Much less on shipping if they get more than one book in a day. Sure, someone has to wait a day, but which would you prefer: "Pay us now and maybe we'll be able to make you a crummy book today" or "Pay us less and we'll get you a nice book tomorrow"?
Ummm, you wouldn't have any more worker's comp for adding this than for adding a laser printer - printers aren't inherently dangerous to worker's health. Besides, remember, this is intended as an ATM-style unit where workers don't even fiddle with it, only maybe add paper. The $1/book that the company gets covers maintenance. Though the power bill will go up slightly, that should be included in the penny/page cost.
Same for kids getting fingers in the trimmer. The unit isn't normally open where kids can get to the trimmer, duh.
You say "Print on Demand is becoming more and more powerful and common." What do you think this is? With this, you pay that $3 and no shipping. The quality is the same either way, at least, assuming the Print on Demand provider is including a color cover like this is. That being unknown, this may actually offer better quality.
And if pigs could fly, well, damn, we'd have a lot more than birdshit to clean off our windshields!
Also if we could find just a way to convert excrement into edible food no starving orphans in starving Africa would have to starve and die. While starving. All we need to do to do start burning down TV studios. With stupid people in them.
Also, we should establish a Secret Book Gestapo to kidnap people and force them to read books in Borders. At gunpoint. And none of that trashy Dan Brown Stephenie Meyer crap, either. Well, maybe they won't get shot for Dan Brown, but you know, the Book Gestapo should also be armed with castration knives!
For someone throwing around terms like anti-intellectual hate monger you are spewing an awful lot of vitriol yourself.