Google Ebooks E-reader Offers Free Titles to Download

After much hoopla leading up to the opening of the search engine giant, Google, eBookstore became a reality on December 6, 2010. For now, the purchase of titles through this new online service is available only in the United States.

Having spent the previous six years digitizing over 15 million print publications, the company is tooting its own horn about being the largest online e-book provider on the Internet. On opening day, approximately 3 million titles are available for purchase and download through eBookstore. There is no word yet when more titles will be available.

Google placed its eBookstore in the Cloud service, meaning that no special tech device is needed to access the book store or its offerings. People can access their online books directly from a computer, through an iPad, iPhone, or iPod with touch and even through Barnes & Noble's Nook or Sony's eReader. Just don't try it with Amazon's Kindle--it isn't available there.

Visiting the first page of the eBookstore, accessed at http://books.google.com/ebooks, you can pick up three free titles: "Great Expectations," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Pride and Prejudice." Not a bad start to an online reading collection.

Many other classic books are also available free of charge to the site visitor.
In addition to the many digitized books, Google also has deals with a number of book publishers that will be making new titles available to eBookstore.
In truth, I prefer my book reading the old-fashioned way, but if I decide to try e-books, it will be through the Google eBookstore because I don't have to purchase any additional equipment or applications to enjoy my selections.

It's difficult to give a straightforward answer to this question without qualifying it by saying there will doubtless always be paper books and the people who love them. For many others, e-readers are already very popular technology.

On June 1, 2011, Google announced that more than 2.5 million downloads of e-books have occurred since December 2010. There's no way to know that if e-readers were not available, would the public have bought or borrowed paper books to the same extent that they have downloaded e-books?

My guess is no, not to the same extent. We've become a technology-savvy culture, and many people would not be without their iPhones, notebooks, laptops or e-readers these days.