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Xerox to sell on-demand Espresso Book Machines to retailers who sell books to people (video)
When we got our first glimpse of the Espresso Book Machine from On Demand Books we were of course thoroughly charmed by the Rube Goldberg nature of the thing, but were left feeling unconvinced of the practicality of it -- would people really pay money for custom-printed physical copies of classic books they can download for free? Is it really a viable choice for self-publishing? We may be skeptics, but Xerox is a believer, putting its reseller weight behind the machine (which uses not one but two of the company's printers internally), selling, leasing, and servicing the things through its retail connections. This means Espressos could start showing up more frequently at bookstores and perhaps even coffee shops early next year. Until then, watch the magic happen after the break.
Video: Espresso Book Machine now serving 3.6 million books, thanks Google
Not sure how, but a deal with Google that gives On Demand Books access to an additional 2 million public-domain books slipped by us last week. On Demand Books, you'll recall, is the company behind the Espresso Book Machine -- an ATM, of sorts, for printing digital books. The machine prints, binds, and trims a single paperback-quality book with full-color cover in just a few minutes. So fast, in fact, that it's been captured in the 2 minute and 31 second video after the break. Mmm, candy.[Thanks, Raphael C.] Read [Warning: PDF]
New York Public Library gets first Espresso Book Machine
While it looks like it's still a ways from setting up shop next to more traditional vending machines, those in New York CIty can now get their instant-book fix from the very first (non-beta) Espresso Book Machine, which has found a home in the New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. For the time being, most of the books on offer appear to be ones in the public domain, including over 200,000 titles from the Open Content Alliance database, which visitors to the library can print off books free of charge, the end result of which is supposedly "indistinguishable from the factory-made title." From the looks of it, Espresso manufacturer On Demand Books doesn't seem to be having any trouble getting takers for the machine, with the New Orleans Public Library, the University of Alberta, the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont, and the Open Content Alliance in San Francisco each already in line to get one this fall.
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]
