The Espresso Book Machine, coming soon to a library near you? In 5-7 minutes, the Espresso will deliver a printed-and-bound copy of any book you like (as long as it’s out of copyright and available in digital form through a collection the machine can access).
The Espresso’s manufacturer, On Demand Books*, has big dreams for it, imagining a global network of machines in libraries and bookstores. “What Gutenberg’s press did for Europe in the 15th century, digitization and the Espresso Book Machine will do for the world tomorrow.”
Okay then! Still, a cool idea. More love for the Espresso here and here.
*On Demand Books was co-founded by Jason Epstein, formerly editorial director of Random House, and a founder of the New York Review of Books. (I worked for his ex-wife, Barbara Epstein, at the NYRB long ago, but that’s a story for another time.) The On Demand site links to a letter he wrote to the WSJ in May. In it, he predicts a print-rich POD future in which “a multilingual, deep backlist will reside on Web sites of related interest, as well as with aggregators–and be transmitted on demand as swiftly as email…”
