Comments on: Google Book Downloader

Google Book Downloader

manny_calavera — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:22:14 -0800

Convert "Full View" books in Google Books to PDF . Download. Instructions (via )

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:32:40 -0800

This project does not promote any illegal conduct of any kind. I had that on a sign on my meth lab's door. The cops didn't buy it, either.

By: artemisia

artemisia — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:34:21 -0800

I'm a wee bit confused. This summer, there was a download link available for every full-view/out-of-copyright book on there. Now I see it's no longer there. Moreover, books in my library that used to be full view (from the 1880s and the like) are now displaying as snippet view (although perhaps that's because I'm no longer in the USA? But why would that be?) Can you fill us in on what changed?

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:43:45 -0800

Google is pretending that they haven't just p0wned US copyright laws and created their own private feifdom.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:47:05 -0800

I still shake my fist that I never bothered to copy the scans of of the Original Dungeons and Dragons books off of Scribd. That is about the closest I've come to being an IP pirate since Napster.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:04:10 -0800

I may be wrong, but as far as I can tell the only books that allow full book view are in the public domain, and others are just previews.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:06:24 -0800

Hmm, looks like I was wrong, in that the advanced search allows for separate options for Full View and Public Domain.

By: one_bean

one_bean — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:11:31 -0800

Seeing this earlier today inspired me to re-check out Google Books. In particular, I tried to find the 1927 monograph Animal Ecology by Charles Elton, the foundational work in my field. Then I remembered that, duh, of course this thing won't be fully available to download from Google books because the copyright term isn't 70 years after publication but 70 years after the author's death. Stupid me. So I guess I'll still have to buy the "updated" version from Princeton University Press for 26 bucks, or wait until 2061 to get it from Google Books. 2061. I'll be long-tenured at that point. Who gives a shit? Copyright law is the stupidest thing in a long history of stupid government ideas. Can't we have a science exception? I don't care if people are allowed to make Mickey Mouse peeing on Ford logo bumper stickers. Outlaw that with penalty of death. Who cares? But if I can't freely access a text that was published over 80 years ago by somebody dead for almost 20 years that has, unbelievably, stood the test of time and that would improve my understanding of the world, then the internet really must be about pornography and evil cats. Oh, but -- redeemers of redeemers -- at least when I search Aldo Leopold I can access the 1913 "Biographical record of the graduates and former students of the Yale Forest School" that tells me that Leopold is now forest supervisor of Carson National Forest, and that his former classmate Joseph Kircher is "a member of the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo," whatever the hell that means. This thing is broken.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:17:47 -0800

Um, how is this different from clicking on the PDF download link on the web page?

By: exogenous

exogenous — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:27:17 -0800

Some books don't have the download link but do have all their pages available. This makes them downloadable as well.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:01:25 -0800

thanks

By: mistersquid

mistersquid — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:03:08 -0800

Building on the idea that a "tipping point" has been reached in text-to-speech software discussed in this NYTimes bits article, I think another important part of the paper-to-electronic conversion (and alongside paper-to-digital text) is paper-to-electronic audio, itself a subset of digital text-to-digital audio. After reading the article which generated the reader queries that led to the bits article mentioned above, I wrote up my own adventures (self-link) in paper-to-digital audio. I'm curious about the transformation of public-domain digital text into public-domain digital audio. I wonder if Google will go for it on their own or whether another entity will take up this challenge, maybe a group of amateurs. My sense is that the widespread availability of digital audio versions of public domain books will accelerate the acceptance of digital print and audio texts over and against paper print text.

By: Muddler

Muddler — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:29:03 -0800

one_bean, actually, copyright term is more complicated. The work you are discussing may or may not be public domain.

By: one_bean

one_bean — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:38:28 -0800

The work you are discussing may or may not be public domain. You're right, my bad. So (assuming its copyright was renewed, since the 1st edition is not available, but the re-published edition has preview only) that means I can see it online in full in 2022.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:39:06 -0800

Internet Archive houses copies Google Book PDF's pre-1923 (800k+), many of which are no longer available on Google. It's one reason I do all my PD book shopping at IA - GB is just one resource, and not even the biggest, despite common perception to the contrary.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:20:40 -0800

The GBD util is very clever. It's most useful for Limited Preview books. LP books are limited in how many pages can be previewed before an error message comes up "you have reached your viewing limit for this book." Thus even though there may be more pages available, Google will prevent you from seeing them. This utility gets around that and lets you see all the Limited Preview pages that are available, which is often a large part of a book.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:56:16 -0800

robocop is bleeding I still shake my fist that I never bothered to copy the scans of of the Original Dungeons and Dragons books off of Scribd. Most RPGs are available as torrents, if you want them.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:30:15 -0800

I just finished downloading a Limited Preview book and captured about 90% of it. Since it's a non-fiction and the missing pages were grouped into a few chapters, it's almost as good as pirating the book. I don't know if this 90% will hold true for all Limited Preview books, but I'm sure Google will patch this hole, so get the books you want while you can. Very nice piece of software.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:36:18 -0800

*warning* - Google will block you if you run this app. I'm getting a 403 forbidden error when going to books.google.com - looks like Google has already caught on, probably even reading this thread.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:43:26 -0800

Ah.. to avoid being blocked, disable direct channel in the options.

By: weston

weston — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:06:50 -0800

Copyright law is the stupidest thing in a long history of stupid government ideas. The current length of copyright law, the erosion of certain fair use rights, the size of some of the civil penalties, and most of all, the introduction of criminal penalties.... these are all problems. The original copyright bargain still seems like a good idea to me. Somewhere along the line we let another more dubious idea -- the idea that what's good for a small handful of businesses is good for everyone -- upset the balance that was struck.

By: yoHighness

yoHighness — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:06:31 -0800

Copyright was invented to keep publishers from cutting each other's throats and ensuring the widest possible dissemination of works of art to the public. (Frith et al, Copyright, 2001) It's a travesty of the original intention now.