Google Play Books (formerly Google eBooks ) is a digital distribution service ebook operated by Google. Users can buy and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offer more than five million titles, with Google claiming it as "the world's largest collection of ebooks". Books can be read in the Custom book section of the Google Play website, through the use of mobile apps available for Android and iOS, through the use of selected e-readers that offer support for Adobe Digital Editions, through a web browser and reading through Google Home. Users can also upload up to 1,000 ebooks in PDF or EPUB file formats. Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.
Google Play Books was launched in December 2010, with a reseller program that allows independent booksellers to sell Google ebooks on their websites to cut sales. It also launched an affiliate program in June 2011, allowing website owners to earn commissions by referring sales to a named Google eBookstore. However, the reseller program expires in April 2012, with Google stating that "it does not get the traction we expected" and "does not meet the needs of many readers or booksellers". The affiliate program is closed for new registration in February 2012, with Google announcing that it will reduce the initiative, make it private and only for invitations.
The mobile Android app has seen several significant updates since its introduction, including different read mode with color contrast, support for text highlighting and logging, an enlarged view with easy page shifting in an effort to improve the reading experience for books that do not read cover-to-cover, vertical scrolling mode for comic books, the "Night Light" feature that gradually filters out blue light to reduce eye strain after sunset, uses machine-learning imaging technology to expand the comic bubble in comics, and listen to audio books.
Video Google Play Books
Histori
The history of Google Play Books can be tracked to the Google eBook service offered by Google before the Google Play brand appears. Google eBookstore was launched on December 6, 2010, with over three million titles available, making it the "world's largest collection of ebooks". At launch, the service partnered with 100 independent book sellers, while the number of publishers was 5,000. This increased to 250 independent book sellers 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. This service is named Google Editions , a name that is generally assumed that the service will be launched. Google Books Director Dan Clancy has talked about Google's vision of opening a printed book store in an interview back in July 2009. It was later named TechHive reported in October 2009 that the service will be launched in the first half in 2010, before Google employees told the media in May that the launch will take place in June or July. The actual launch, however, took place in December.
The store is led by Dan Clancy, who also directs Google Books. Clancy states that Google Editions will let publishers set prices for their books and will accept an 'agency' model, because publishers who are considered sellers with online vendors act as 'agents'. Clancy also stressed that Google's ebooks will be readable on any device, showing the open nature of the platform. It will also make ebooks available for bookstores for sale, giving "most" revenue to the store. After digitizing 12 million physical books at the time, including an untracked title, Google offered a "much larger" option than Amazon and Apple.
In June 2011, Google introduced an affiliate program for ebooks, allowing websites to earn commissions by referring sales to Google eBookstore. Google eBooks become enrolled in the Google Affiliate Network.
In March 2012, Google converted all of its digital distribution services into a single platform called Google Play, with Google eBookstore being Google Play Books.
In April 2012, Google announced that its reseller partners program will be discontinued at the end of January 2013.
In July 2013, Google made some changes to the publisher policy page for Google Play Books, removed the book package pricing, and added some ebook rental titles. Google also dropped support for various ebook file formats used to receive, including DOC, XML, HTML, MOBI and GDP, to focus primarily on EPUB format.
As early as May 2015, Google announced that a new typefaceface called Literata will be used for Google Play Books. Toward the end of the month, Google announced that they temporarily closed the Books Partner Center for new signups to "improve the content management capabilities and user experience." However, the Center continues to remain closed for new registrations in April 2016, and Nate Hoffelder's Digital Reader
In January 2018, Google began selling audio books that can be viewed through apps.
Maps Google Play Books
Reseller program
At launch, Google has established partnerships with independent book sellers, enabling them to sell Google ebooks on their websites to cut sales. Bookstore partners include Powell, Alibris and participating members of the American Booksellers Association.
In a blog post in May 2011, Google announced that it has more than 250 independent booksellers, compared to more than 100 at launch.
In April 2012, Google decided to end the reseller program, stating that the program "has not gotten the traction we expected" and that "it's clear that reseller programs have not met the needs of many readers or booksellers". The program was discontinued in late January 2013. As noted by Publisher Weekly , the service "seeks to bring independent retailers into digital retail", by providing local bookstores the cost of each title purchased by consumers. , but local shops are required to do their own marketing and promotion, something that "many stores do not have the resources to do". Seen as "a big blow to small bookstores that want to compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble", this move attracts harsh criticism from the industry. In a letter to its members, the American Booksellers Association said it was "extremely disappointing" in Google's decision while noting that the change could be "confusing and disturbing" to booksellers. "As a very large multinational company, Google has far-reaching interests outside independent bookstores, and the world of books in general, and, at times, does not have an understanding of many of our industry's basic principles," the letter said.
Affiliate Program
In June 2011, Google launched an affiliate program for Google eBooks, which allowed website owners to earn commissions by referring sales to Google eBookstore. Google has previously tested this program as a limited beta in December 2010 with Goodreads. Being an affiliate is described by Gigaom as a three-step process: first the user must sign up for an AdSense account and be approved, then join the Google Affiliate Network and approved, then sign up as an affiliate for ebooks. Website owners can earn between 6-10% of the sale price of a book, depending on the amount of book sales through affiliate referrals.
In February 2012, Google announced its decision to reduce the affiliate program, turning it into a personal initiative and removing most affiliates. Google eBooks are no longer listed as advertisers in the Google Affiliate Network. Google has previously stopped accepting new applications to become an affiliate more than two weeks before the announcement.
Those separated from the program receive a commission for sales until March 15, 2012. Google says it will continue to add affiliates, but only by invitation. In error, Google also tells independent book sellers that their affiliate status will expire, but then clarifies that it does not intend to remove the independent bookseller from the affiliate program, and says that it "works to return those who were mistakenly notified."
Platform
Purchased books can be read in the Custom books section of the Google Play website, via the mobile app available for Android and iOS devices, and through the use of the Google Chrome web browser app. Offline downloads and readouts are supported in the mobile app and through the Chrome web browser app.
Mobile app features
The introductory reading feature on launch includes selecting fonts, font size, line spacing, and day/night reading modes, and the ability to take reading positions while using multiple devices. On Android, the home screen ("Read now") shows recently opened books at the top, along with book recommendations and books rated 1 by friends. The "My Library" section shows all books grouped into three categories: "Purchases", "Samples", and "Uploads". Books can be "stored on device" to read offline. Play Books has the effect of flipping a 3D page, with the option to turn it off. It also allows the user to change the page using the device volume control. The website interface does not support different read modes or page reversal effects. Text can be read aloud using the text-to-speech engine of the device or Google Text-to-Speech, with the option to "High quality sound" in the settings, even though the feature requires a data connection to stream voice data.
As of September 2012, Google Play Books on Android is updated to show new sepia read mode, in addition to day and night modes; info cards for unknown geographic locations and dictionary definitions; translation of words or phrases; and support for highlighting texts and writing notes. Sepia reading mode, text highlighting and recording feature finally expanded to the iOS app in August 2013.
In May 2013, Play Books began allowing users to upload PDF and EPUB files for free via the Play Books website, with support for "up to 1,000" files. The Android app was updated in December 2013 with support for uploading files.
In October 2014, Play Books has been updated to allow users to tap the center of the screen to enter the "skim mode", where "the page is zoomed to allow you to easily slide between pages in the book", in an effort to improve the reading experience for books non-fiction, including "cookbooks, textbooks, or other books you do not normally read right from cover to cover."
In November 2015, Play Books has been updated with features intended for comic book fans, with updates adding new vertical scrolling experiences for comics in landscape mode, and new curation pages and recommendations for comics, with options for managing by issue and volume.
In December 2015, Play Books are updated to include the "Night Light" feature that "gradually filters out the blue light from your screen, replacing it with a warm yellow glow at sundown". Google claims that "Night Light" automatically adjusts to the amount of natural sunlight outside by time, giving you just the right temperature and brightness. "
In July 2016, Play Books has been updated with "Bubble Zoom," an engine learning imaging feature that recognizes objects in comics and "expands the speech bubble from one-tap-on-time comics, makes them very easy to read on your mobile device".
Books on Google Play
The Google Play store serves as the primary source for reading ebooks on Google Play Books. In 2013, more than five million titles are available.
Choose books, especially textbooks, available for rental. The lease period begins as soon as the payment is completed, not when the book is opened. Google Play also allows users to order pre-order ebooks to have their titles delivered automatically as soon as they are available.
File format
Initially, Google allowed publishers and authors to upload books in a number of formats, including DOC, PDF, PDB, MOBI, EPUB, and HTML. But in July 2013, support for all of these formats except for PDF and EPUB was deleted. Starting 2017, Google received EPUB versions 2.0.1 and 3.0.1. Both text and image-based PDFs are accepted when the EPUB format is not available, with preferences for PDFs with text layers.
To read in e-reader or third-party applications, ebooks can be downloaded in EPUB format ("flowing text") or PDF ("original pages"). Google stated on its support page that EPUB's advantage over PDF is allowing textbooks to adapt to different screen sizes, and offering smaller file sizes.
The publisher has the option to enable digital rights management (DRM) protection to download digital files from ebooks. The DRM system used is Adobe Content Server 4. E-readers are required to support Adobe Digital Editions, and Google notes on its support page that "Books purchased on Google Play will not work on Amazon Kindle devices."
Availability
Book purchases from Google Play are currently supported in 75 countries. The list of countries includes: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France , Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua , Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
History of expansion
Book availability was introduced in Mexico in March 2013, Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal in June 2013, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey in November 2013, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela in December 2013, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in November 2014, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine in September 2014, and Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in January 2016.
Reception
In a review December 2010, Laura Miller of Salon writes that public domain titles in Google eBookstore are "lower quality" than on competing services, writing that some titles "are clearly unproven and scanned from the original page hard to read ". Nevertheless, Miller finds it interesting that public domain titles have a function to view them both as "scanned versions - with genuine types, page numbering and even library and marginalia stamps, basically photos of printed pages" as well as "sought" flowing text, "given by optical character recognition". Miller also wrote that the eBookstore was not easy to find, "an irony given that the Google kingdom is built on search". He criticized the user interface for being "poor" and apparently "designed by people who know nothing about book trading". He hailed Google's decision to include reader reviews from Goodreads, writing that it "helps, as this is often wiser than the average Amazon reader reader", although it once again criticizes the "related book" section for bad advice. He also praised that Google has established partnerships with independent bookstores, writing that it is "a great way to support environmental bookstores and also allows Google eBookstore customers to take part of the expertise of people whose life work links readers with the right books. "
In a May 2014 review, Riley Dennis of MakeUseOf writes that "Google Play has expanded its reach into all forms of media recently, and Play Books is one of the parts that has been fixed and is now a genuine competitor to eReading competition." Dennis praises the ability to upload personal ebooks in addition to buying them, writing that it makes Play Books a "great universal eReader". In addition, he praised the Android mobile app, writing that "Play Books are fun to read, from refreshingly simple interfaces to a customizable and fluent reading experience," and that "turnover" page animations are "fun", "realistic" and "seamless". As he writes about the various forms of customization options available, he notes that "margins can not be changed", and also criticizes the website interface as it does not have some features in the mobile app. Dennis concludes his review by writing: "Play Books is a solid eReading app, but still has room for growth."
Hijacking
In May 2015, The Digital Reader reported the extensive piracy findings that prevailed in the Play Books store. Website author Nate Hoffelder notes that there are several pirate e-books that sell non-genuine copies of e-books at cheaper rates. They have lower quality, with "missing formatting, common or outdated covers, and other issues". One day later, The Digital Reader reported that Google had removed the list of pirated books in response to the article, but considered it far from enough.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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