http://www.metafilter.com/tags/EBM Posts tagged with 'EBM' at MetaFilter. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:11 -0800 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:11 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/70495/The%2DStandard%2DOil%2Dof%2DBooks <a href="http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/03/amazon-ups-the-ante-on-platform-lock-in.html">Amazon.com dropped a bombshell on the publishing industry</a> with the announcement on Friday that they will no longer allow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_on_demand">print on demand</a> books printed by vendors other than Amazon, to be sold directly by Amazon. In other words, use our print services or lose your listing on our site. This decision effects over half a million books listed on their site and could be a defining moment for both publishing and the future of online retailing. The company with the most at stake is <a href="https://www.lightningsource.com/">Lightning Source</a>, the largest print on demand company in the world. If Amazon makes good on its threat, Lightning Source's 4,300 client publishers and their almost half a million titles on Amazon's site will go from "ships in 24 hours" to unavailable unless those publishers switch to using Amazon's company, <a href="http://www.booksurge.com/">BookSurge</a>, as their printer. Hubris or exceptionally bold gamble? There is nothing on <a href="http://www.booksurge.com/content/Press_Room.htm">Amazon's site</a> about the move. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.ondemandbooks.com/home.htm">On Demand</a>, the company developing the Espresso Book Machine (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/69699/Hot-off-the-presses-books-printed-while-you-wait">previously</a>), <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6547006.html">announced today</a> that they have finalized an agreement with Lightning Source that would allow publishers currently using Lightning Source to license that content to On Demand so those books could be printed at Espresso sites. If the EBM catches on and Amazon's catalog is compromised, could brick and mortar bookstores and libraries find themselves with an unexpected windfall? tag:metafilter.com,2008:site.70495 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:11 -0800 Amazon Book EBM Espresso POD printondemand Publishing Toekneesan http://www.metafilter.com/69699/Hot%2Doff%2Dthe%2Dpresses%2Dbooks%2Dprinted%2Dwhile%2Dyou%2Dwait <em>Would you like a latte while I print that up for you? </em> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso_Book_Machine">Espresso Book Machine</a> (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/55190/The-Espresso-Book-Machine">previously</a>) that was in the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/21/new-york-public-library-gets-first-espresso-book-machine/">New York Public Library</a> has just moved to the <a href="http://www.northshire.com/printondemand.php">Northshire Bookstore</a> in Vermont. The beta versions of this portable book-making machine are pumping out paperbacks around a book a minute at the Open Content Alliance, The Library of Alexandria, The New Orleans Public Library, and the University of Alberta. The mass produced commercial version of the machine is scheduled to roll off the assembly line within the year and will be priced between $50,000 and $20,000. Combined with <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/109580">one of these</a>, publishing as we know it may never be the same. <a href="http://"><a href="http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2007/11/23/segments/89236">NPR's On the Media about the machine</a></a> <a href="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article2744779.ece"> The Sunday Times on the EBM</a> <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1677980_1677970,00.html">One of Time's Inventions of the Year</a> tag:metafilter.com,2008:site.69699 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:16:17 -0800 Book bookstore EBM Espresso instant POD print publish Toekneesan