Google Play Books (formerly Google eBooks) is an ebook digital distribution service operated. To curb piracy, text of new books would now compared with that of other books. In a May 2014 review, Riley Dennis of MakeUseOf wrote that 'Google Play has. Oyster shuts down, founders to lead Google Books New York.
Weisberg, an Office of Strategic Services officer during World War II, U.S. Senate staff member and investigative reporter, devoted 40 years of his life to researching and writing about the Kennedy and King assassinations. His first book, Whitewash: The Report on the Warren Report (1965), was the first critical study of the government's official version of what happened in Dallas on Nov. Seven of the eight books Weisberg published after Whitewash were about the Kennedy assassination. Over time, Weisberg became recognized, both nationally and internationally, as the dean of writers critical of the official version of the JFK assassination known as the Warren Commission Report.
Harold Weisberg donated the world's largest accessible private collection of government documents and public records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to Hood College and the Beneficial-Hodson Library at Hood College, which donated a copy to the National Security Internet Archive.
Google Play Books onInitial releaseDecember 6, 2010; 8 years ago ( 2010-12-06) (as Google eBooks)Android5.1.9RC88 / May 30, 2019; 28 days ago ( 2019-05-30)iOS5.1.2 / January 4, 2019; 5 months ago ( 2019-01-04),WebsiteGoogle Play Books (formerly Google eBooks) is an service operated. Users can purchase and download ebooks and from, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the 'largest ebooks collection in the world'. Books can be read on a dedicated Books section on the Google Play website, through the use of a available for and, through the use of select that offer support for, through a web browser and reading via. Users may also upload up to 1,000 ebooks in the or file formats. Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.Google Play Books was launched in December 2010, with a reseller program letting independent booksellers sell Google ebooks on their websites for a cut of sales. It also launched an in June 2011, allowing website owners to earn a commission by referring sales to the then-named Google eBookstore. However, the reseller program ended in April 2012, with Google stating that it had 'not gained the traction that we hoped it would' and 'not met the needs of many readers or booksellers'.
Contents.History The history of Google Play Books can be traced to the Google eBooks service offered by Google before the Google Play brand came into existence. The Google eBookstore was launched on December 6, 2010, with more than three million titles available, making it the 'largest ebooks collection in the world'.
At the time of launch, the service was partnered with 100 independent booksellers, while the number of publishers was 5,000. This increased to 250 independent booksellers and 7,000 publishers in May 2011, along with three million free Google eBooks available in the United States, up from two million at launch. The service was Google Editions, the name under which it was widely assumed that the service would be launched. Google Books director had talked about Google's vision to open an ebookstore for in-print books in an interview back in July 2009. Then-named TechHive reported in October 2009 that the service would be launched in the first half of 2010, before a Google employee told the media in May that the launch would be in June or July. The actual launch, however, took place in December.The store was headed by Dan Clancy, who also directed. Clancy stated that Google Editions would let publishers set the prices for their books and would accept the 'agency' model, as that of the publisher being considered the seller with the online vendor acting as an 'agent'.
Clancy also stressed that Google's ebooks would be readable on any device, indicating the open nature of the platform. It would also make ebooks available for bookstores to sell, giving 'the vast majority' of revenues to the store.
Having already digitized 12 million physical books at the time, including out-of-print titles, Google offered a 'far greater' selection than and did.In June 2011, Google introduced an for ebooks, allowing websites to earn commissions by referring sales to the Google eBookstore. Google eBooks became listed on the.In March 2012, Google revamped all of its digital distribution services into a single platform called, with the Google eBookstore becoming Google Play Books.In April 2012, Google announced that its reseller partner program would be discontinued by the end of January 2013.In July 2013, Google made some changes to the publisher policy page for Google Play Books, removing mentions of book bundle pricing, and adding several mentions of ebook rentals. Google also dropped support for a wide variety of ebook it used to accept, including, and, to focus primarily on the format.In early May 2015, Google announced that a new custom-made called would be used for Google Play Books.Towards the end of the month, Google announced that it was temporarily closing its Books Partner Center for new signups, stating that it was to 'improve our content management capabilities and our user experience.' This was presumably in response to the observations of extensive piracy on the ebookstore reported by The Digital Reader. However, it continued to remain closed for a long time, leading The Digital Reader to speculate that the closure would be permanent, commenting that 'Google has only a minimal interest in ebooks.' During this time, the only way author and publishers could get their content on to the store was through aggregators, such as PublishDrive, ebookpartnership and StreetLib.In September 2015, Google acquired, a subscription-based ebook service. As a part of the acquisition, Oyster shut down its existing service in early 2016, and its founders joined Google Play Books in New York.In January 2018, Google began selling that can be listened via the app.In June 2018, Google reopened its publisher program to new sign-ups.
To curb piracy, text of new books would now compared with that of other books in the store. Reseller program At launch, Google had formed partnerships with independent booksellers, enabling them to sell Google ebooks on their websites for a cut of sales. Bookstore partners included, and participating members of the.In a blog post in May 2011, Google announced that it had over 250 independent bookseller partners, compared to just over 100 at the time of launch.In April 2012, Google decided to end the reseller program, stating that the program 'has not gained the traction that we hoped it would' and that 'it's clear that the reseller program has not met the needs of many readers or booksellers'. The program was discontinued at the end of January 2013.
As noted by, the service 'sought to bring independent retailers into the digital retailing', by giving local bookstores a fee from each title purchased by consumers, but local stores were required to do their own marketing and promotion, something that 'many stores simply did not have the resources to do'. Seen as a 'big blow for small bookstores seeking to compete against and ', the move attracted severe criticism from the industry. In a letter to its members, the American Booksellers Association said that it was 'very disappointed' in Google's decision while noting that the change could be 'disconcerting and disruptive' for booksellers.
'As an enormous, multinational corporation, Google has interests far beyond independent bookstores, and the book world at large, and, at times, it has lacked understanding of many basic principles of our industry', the letter said. Affiliate program In June 2011, Google launched an for Google eBooks, allowing website owners to earn a commission by referring sales to the Google eBookstore.
Google had previously tested the program as a limited in December 2010 with. Becoming an affiliate was described by as a three-step process: users first had to sign up for an account and be approved, then join the and be approved, and then sign up as an affiliate for ebooks. Website owners could earn between 6-10% of a book's selling price, depending on the number of book sales through affiliate referrals.In February 2012, Google announced its decision to scale down the affiliate program, turning it into a private initiative and removing most of the affiliates. Google eBooks would no longer be listed as an advertiser on the Google Affiliate Network. Google had previously stopped accepting new applications for becoming an affiliate more than two weeks prior to the announcement.Those who were delinked from the program received commissions for sales up to March 15, 2012. Google said that it would continue to add affiliates, but only on an invitation-basis. In a mistake, Google also notified independent booksellers that their affiliate status would expire, but later clarified that it did not intend to remove independent booksellers from the affiliate program, and said that it was 'working to reinstate those who were mistakenly notified.'
Piracy In May 2015, The Digital Reader reported its findings of extensive prevailing on the Play Books store. Website writer Nate Hoffelder noted that there were several e-book pirates selling non-authentic copies of e-books at reduced prices. They were of inferior quality, with 'missing formatting, generic or outdated covers, and other problems'. One day later, The Digital Reader reported that Google had removed the pirated book listings in response to the article, but deemed it far from enough. Platforms Books purchased can be read on a dedicated Books section of the website, through the available for and devices, and through the use of a web browser app.
Offline download and reading is supported on the mobile apps and through the Chrome web browser app. Mobile app features. Sample of typeface used for Google Play BooksAt launch, introductory features included customizations such as selecting font, font size, line spacing, and day/night reading modes, and the ability to pick up reading positions while using multiple devices. On Android, the app's home screen shows recently opened books, as well as book recommendations and books 'd by friends.
The 'My Library' section shows all the books grouped into three categories: 'Purchases', 'Samples' and 'Uploads'. Books can be 'kept on device' for offline reading. Play Books features a page turning effect, with an option to turn it off. It also allows users to turn pages using the device's volume controls. The website interface does not support different reading modes or any page turning effect. Text can be read out loud using the device's text-to-speech engine or, with an option for 'High-quality voice' in settings, although the feature requires a data connection to stream the voice data.In September 2012, Google Play Books on Android was updated to feature a new reading mode, in addition to day and night modes; info cards for unknown written geographical locations and dictionary definitions; word or phrase translation; and support for highlighting text and writing notes.
The sepia reading mode, text highlighting and note-taking features were eventually extended to the iOS app in August 2013.In May 2013, Play Books started allowing users to upload and files for free through the Play Books website, with support for up to 1,000 files. Global availability of Google Play BooksPurchase of books from Google Play is currently supported in 75 countries. Android Police. Retrieved February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019. ^ Murray, Abraham (December 6, 2010). Official Google Blog.
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