Google Opens Up Digital Library

After a bit of toing and froing, Google has agreed to open up it digital library to resellers

As mentioned in a Cybershack article recently Google has been trying to appease a variety of people with its digitisation of books that are out of print. Both writers and publishers were not happy with the current arrangement, but were soon happy with a deal struck last year that gave Google 37 percent of the revenue and publishers/writers getting 63 percent. Now, it looks like retailers might be looked after.

Late last week Google said it would allow competitors to get access to the ebooks and sell them on the internet. This addresses another concern of critics about Google having a monopoly. Some are not happy because Google will still control how the books are digitised and distributed, but Google is unapologetic but is claiming that it really does enjoy competition.

“We believe strongly in an open and competitive market for digital books,” Google said in a statement. “As part of that commitment, today we announced that for the out-of-print books being made available through the Google Books settlement, we will let any book retailer sell access to those books.”

It has certainly become a sticky issue, and one that is not going to go away, with the likes of the ebook reader Kindle, selling by the truck load.