Flash! I test Google eBooks
Google has just launched their new e-book store:
http://books.google.com/ebooks
I wanted to test it out, so I got a free public domain book.
Getting it was very easy…I searched for it, I found it. I logged into my Google account, and it was in my “library”.
I started to read it online (this is being done from a computer, not my Kindle).
The controls were in a muted color, so I wasn’t sure they were enabled at first, but they were.
My choices included:
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Back to My Google eBooks
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Contents
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Settings
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Search
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Information
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Help
It opened as a scanned copy. You could see where it had University of California punched into the rights page.
Even in that format, I could change the zoom level and search the document.
Settings also let me change it to flowing text. When I did that, I could do a number of settings…
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Typeface (Ariel, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, or Verdana)
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Text size (there appeared to be 14…the smaller seven were a two page layout, like a book, and the next seven were somewhat larger. It did not get as large as my Kindle 3 does…the largest size was about #6 on the Kindle, which has 8)
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Line Height
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Justification (left or justified)
Search worked reasonably well…you could sort by page number or by relevance. It was an active search result, so you could jump to where you want.
Info let me read reviews, write reviews, and find it other places (like a library).
It did use page numbers, and they appeared to always map to the paper edition. The only weird thing was that, if I increased the text size, I had to scroll down to read an entire page. I couldn’t use the pg dn button, because it took me to the top of the next page. So, the virtual page increases as you increase the text size…quite possibly, too large to fit your screen.
You can navigate with the pg up and pg down buttons on your keyboard, or by clicking indicators on the screen. There is also a slider at the bottom of the screen…that’s kind of nice, so you can quickly get to a part you want.
No copy and paste, no right-clicking at all within the book.
I tried using Microsoft’s Narrator on it…no go. That’s a built-in “read aloud” in Windows, and that’s what I figured would happen…no text-to-speech through the Windows interface, in other words.
When I went back to my library and chose “read on your device”, I had the choice to get an Android app or an iPhone/iPad app.
On the laptops/computers option, it suggested I use the browser. I was able to download it as a PDF, though, without having to enter any Adobe account information (this is a public domain title, remember).
eReaders directed me to detailed
Help Center instructions
where there was specific information for the NOOK and Sony.
There was also a more generic EBR (E-Book Reader) section. That wanted you to get Adobe software and such, and included this:
Note: The encrypted file is known as an .acsm file. This file can only be opened with Adobe Digital Editions or compatible client software.
I’ll test sending the PDF to my Kindle a bit later…it’s possible it’s okay with public domain titles.
I tried one more thing. I went to the Google site on my Kindle, using the browser…it didn’t show me my book. I’ll have to investigate that more.
That’s a start. 🙂
I can see some value to it, definitely. There were some negatives: I didn’t see a way to markup or make notes; I didn’t see a dictionary function; no copy and paste; no text-to-speech (it might work on the iPad, with their Voiceover functionality, but I doubt it); and you couldn’t change the background color like you can on Kindle for PC.
The Terms of Service say this about device licenses:
“You acknowledge and agree that Google may place limits on the number of Devices and/or software applications you may use to access Digital Content and that such limits may be set by Google at any time at Google’s discretion. You acknowledge and agree that Google may record and store the unique device identifier numbers of your Devices in order to enforce such limits.”
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/tos.html
Overall, it’s an interesting development. Let me know if you try it out and what your experience with it is. Oh, and I’ve had some readers comment that it is not available outside the US.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
I Love My Kindle 