SF Signal: Expresso - not just a drink anymore...

Expresso - not just a drink anymore...

Books on Demand is one of those things that is often discussed around these parts due to our general love of brick and mortar book sellers. In most cases, the ability to publish this way has not done well in the retail environment, and in many cases it was a way for authors to sell books without actually having to publish copies up front, but that may all be changing in the coming year. The Expresso POD machine is slated to show up in select libraries (including the New York Public Library) and stores starting next year. The claim is that it can produce two books simultaneously in seven minutes including printing, cutting, and binding. This is all done at a production cost of 5 cents a page, but the final cost of the book is dependent upon the copyright holder and store the service is offered at. Anyways, this may actually usher in the concept of stores enabling you to purchase the book you want when you want it, and this will save those hunters the trouble of dealing with some store staff.

From those guys and gals at Engadget.

Just got this mental
picture of someone
plunking down their
money and the machine
flashes a message:
"Out of materials"and
nobody around to
service the machine.

Friggin vending machine
at work is always eating
up my money to.

Posted by Jim Shannon on Friday December 22, 2006 at 3:25 PM