Book 'em, bloggers

Squabbles over online maps are already old hat. The hot Internet battleground is words.

The same day that Google finally went live with its controversial Print Library initiative, Amazon unveiled a program that would let users purchase online access to books--anywhere from a few pages to an entire work. The "Amazon Pages" program will also allow customers to access books they already own online, for a fee.

Google's program involves scanning in text from books from a group of libraries and posting them online in searchable form. The project has elicited howls of protest from publishers and authors who complained that the search giant hasn't asked permission to use their copyright-protected works.

While some critics charged that Google's free model would win out, Amazon's plan did get grudging respect from readers. After all, the reasoning goes, if Apple is able to convince people to pay 99 cents for music that's readily available for free, why shouldn't Amazon do the same with words?

Blog community response:

"Suddenly the reason why publishers and authors are so pissed off at Google becomes a little bit clearer. They think that they're going to be able to slice and dice their books, selling little pieces of the book as people want them. They're taking a page from the entertainment industry -- and, like that industry, they're going to discover this plan won't work very well. They've just added friction in the form of additional transaction costs, both mental and monetary to finding information."
--Techdirt

"Ultimately, it's a very Long Tail idea, isn't it? Allow people to buy stuff the way they want to, so that you can wring every last cent out of your content, by earning $1 from someone who isn't willing to spend $10 for the entire book."
--Yellow Handman

"It's figured out a way to please authors and publishers, spread around the money for everyone, and do the right thing for readers. Google should sit up and take notice."
--Konnecke.com

"It sounds intriguing - especially to folks who conduct research or who cite information. For example, I might want to cite a book in a blog post or an article or something, but not wait for the entire book (or even buy it). But to pay a nominal amount for access to a few pages - well, that might well be worth the cost."
--Walloworld