Google: Last Library
August 31, 2009
Cade Metz’s write up “Google Book Search. Is It the Last Library? Uh, Yes.” will cause some excitement among the anti Google Book contingent. Mr. Metz, like most Google watchers, is a bit like a Kentucky Derby horse when the gate opens. The stallions charge forward. The race is exciting, but it is tough to pick the winner until the first horse crosses the finish line. So, the race is on.
My thought is that Google and its book program is old news. I think that books are going to lose traction in the years ahead. I like books, but the costs and environmental impact suggests that books may become less a mass medium and more of a collectors’ sport.
I do not think Google is the “last library”, however. I think that Google’s focus is on the past. The future is in new types of content. I know the arguments for books. I have written eight or nine myself. Google’s vision for books is likely to distract some folks from watching other and, in my opinion, more important initiatives at the company.
Let me cite a couple of examples and then remind you, gentle reader, that this information appears in my Google studies which are for sale as PDFs from Infonortics.com. Here you go:
- Google’s push into education. This is a big deal and books are a contributory stream, not the Mississippi River that is being carved by the Google glacier.
- Google finances or what I call Google Global Bank. Check out Google’s array of money-related services. Big doings in that sector.
- Google and the motion picture sector. The teaming with Sony is one leaf on a fast growing evergreen.
Google Books is a hot topic, but like many Google tactics, the excitement makes it difficult to see other disruptions the Google is setting off. If Google quit scanning books tomorrows, how many authors would assign Google copyright so that Google could sell their books to Google search users? I know I would toss my four publishers overboard in a heartbeat. Google can sell. Getting rights directly from me eliminates a problem and snags the higher value current information to boot.
Stephen Arnold, August 31, 2009
Comments
One Response to “Google: Last Library”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
[…] See the rest here: Google: Last Library : Beyond Search […]