This is big. It changes the playing field for book retailers and libraries.
Print On Demand: Major Announcement Could Change How You Buy Books
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/print-on-demand-books-espresso_n_1882616.html?ref=topbar
“Print-on-demand (POD) books could soon be everywhere, according to a major announcement made today.
On Demand, the makers of the POD Espresso Book Machine currently installed in fewer than a hundred bookstores nationwide, have announced new partnerships with Eastman Kodak and ReaderLink Distribution Services.
Under the arrangement, the company’s POD technology will be made available to retailers who have Kodak Picture Kiosks, currently installed in 105,000 locations according to Publishers Weekly, including drugstores and supermarkets.
ReaderLink, a major book distributor, will also bring book machines to more than 24,000 additional new outlets, as well as supplying commercially published titles to be printed on demand from the machines.”
“Until now, instore print-on-demand technology has been restricted due to the costs of On Demand’s Espresso Book machines, estimated by The Atlantic earlier this year as being “as much as $150,000.” Otherwise, people have relied on internet-based companies to print copies of books to order.”
I was looking at the EBM Espresso Book Machine in the esteemed Powell’s Bookstore in Portland OR last week and wondered what barriers besides cost (and copyright) that stood between e-books and hard copies . . .
Of course, these machines can print articles, coursepacks, and out of copyright books from databases too. So retro! 😉
Stephen
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