Google Slowly Killing Books
Google seems to pose the greatest threat to the future of books than anything I can recall from history.
Are they slowly killing books off ?
The amount of information available via The Big G has obviously dented the non-fiction market.
How many would consider buying a set of encyclopaedias today for example ?
All this has been going on for a while but now there is something new.
Google are in talks with the biggest publishers in the world about offering a download service for entire books.
These will range from the latest bestseller to out of print titles.
Whilst this technology is nothing new, the possibility of it being pushed by such a huge machine makes success much more likely.
I always felt there was a barrier to ‘electronic books’ but it seems people are warming to them. In Japan, millions now read entire novels on mobile devices !
Whenever I look in the music shops for DVDs etc the CD section is completely dead - killed by downloading music. Whilst people still buy CDs you can see the selection available getting ever narrower - how much longer will some places continue to stock them ?
The same fate could await books and bookshops !
