The Digital Reader reports that due to concerns over ‘rampant commercial piracy,’ Google has closed the Google Play Books Partner Center to new users.
One Point on Which Jeff Bezos and Scott Turow Agree
In the film Out of Print, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and author Scott Turow are often adversaries. But they at least come close to agreement on one point.
Review: Out of Print, a Film by Vivienne Roumani
Out of Print, the film documentary by Vivienne Roumani about the state-of-affairs in the book business and the culture of reading in America circa 2013, is worth seeking out.
Is the World Digital Library Finally Coming?
Harvard’s Robert Darton writes that we are coming closer to a truly international digital public library citing Open Access movements in the UK, UK and France.
Google Play Ebooks Expands to 9 New Asian Countries
Google has expanded Play ebook sales to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and New Zealand.
Google Play Store to Rent and Sell Textbooks
Google is getting into the textbook business by selling and renting materials from the top five education publishers in the US. The new service will launch August 8.
Apple iBookstore Leads Brazil’s Ebook Market in 2013
In 2012, Brazil became the latest battleground for the big international ebooksellers. Ebook sales have since skyrocketed, with Apple in the early lead ahead of Amazon.
80,000 Titles From the National Library of the Netherlands and Google Now Online
The National Library of the Netherlands and Google, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library, have just made 80,000 publicly available.
Frommer’s Print Travel Guides A Thing of the Past? Not So Fast.
Arthur Frommer, who founded his eponymous travel guide series in 1957 and sold it to Simon & Schuster in 1977, has reacquired the rights to the brand from Google.
Google Kills Print Frommer’s Guides, Now It’s All Metadata
Google has killed off the print editions of Frommer’s guide books. And this makes sense, as Google never wanted to be a publisher and only bought Frommer’s for the metadata.