Comments for Google Opens Up Its EPUB Archive: Download 1 Million Books for Free

Google Opens Up Its EPUB Archive: Download 1 Million Books for Free

2009-08-26T19:01:29Z

Google just announced that it will now allow users to download over 1 million public domain books in the EPUB format. Google had already made this archive available to some of its partners, including Sony and Barnes and Noble, but until today users weren't able to download these free EPUB texts from Google directly. Google will continue to make PDF versions of these books available for download as well, but users with eReader's will find the new EPUB files far more useful.

]]> If you don't have an actual hardware eReader but still want to read these EPUB versions, you can install Stanza or a similar desktop reader to read these books.

EPUB: The One eBook Standard to Rule them All

EPUB is a free, standardized format that almost every hardware eReader or desktop software understands. Amazon's Kindle, however, cannot read EPUB texts without using some intermediary software that converts these books into a format the Kindle can understand. While there are a few competing formats, EPUB has turned into the de facto standard for eBooks. Some vendors, like Sony, wrap a digital rights management (DRM) solution around these books, but others just publish completely open, non-DRMed versions of their books. The EPUB files from Google Books will not be locked down by a DRM solution.

It is important to note, however, that these EPUB files were run through an optical character recognition (OCR) system and weren't edited afterwards. While this software has greatly improved over the last few years, there are still quite a few mistakes in most books. This post on the Google Books blog explains the conversion process in more detail. The PDF versions of these books don't suffer from this problem, as they are just copies of the actual pages. This also means, however, that these PDF files are far larger and that users can't, for example, adjust the size of the books' fonts according to the size of their screens.

Comment from steven605 on 2011-04-25

2011-04-26T04:23:05Z

Convert Word to ePUB:
http://hdvideoconverter-mac.co... is indeed a multifunctional software which can convert between nine popular office file format like PDF, DOC, DOCX, Image, HTML, ODT, RTF, TXT, ePub.

Comment from Tom Dryden on 2011-03-24

2011-03-24T14:46:53Z

How, exactly, can you find the epub books on google??

Comment from viperbob25 on 2011-01-16

2011-01-17T02:08:15Z

Thanks Riss for your thoughts. I've downloaded Cailbre and now have to figure it out. The three books I have on Kindle PC, I can't move them no matter what I try to do. So until I can figure that out, those stay there. But I think if I download a book to Cailbre itself, then I can change the format and send it to my Kindle. Is this correct? Now can I figure this Cailbre out.......
Once again I do appreciate any help.
bob - new jersey

Comment from Riss Pittman on 2011-01-16

2011-01-17T01:09:54Z

If you would like to read ePub books on Kindle, you should give Calibre a try. It is an eBook management software and allows you to convert ePub (and other file types) to a format the kindle can display (such as mobi) and then send it to your device. It's very useful! I use this to convert ePub and my school notes to read on the ride to school. Calibre is a free program.

Comment from iskyluo on 2011-01-04

2011-01-05T02:58:11Z

uthor-user-110544813" href="http://www.tod-converter-mac.c.../" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">tod

Comment from viperbob25 on 2010-12-19

2010-12-19T21:42:49Z

Hello Jason, and thanks for the reply. If I download the software from

BN.com an install it here on my computer, then I can download the books from

google ebooks (epub) and read them either on my Kindle or my desktop?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm waiting for the Kindle and its expected

tomorrow, hopefully, so I can use any tech help you can give.

once again sir,

thanks

bob - New Jersey

Comment from Jason M Palmer on 2010-12-19

2010-12-19T20:48:23Z

Unfortunately the Kindle does not accept the .epub files. the main file extensions are - Kindle (.azw), text (.txt), Mobi (.mobi, .prc). However if you would like to read the epub books, BN.com has a free program you can download that reads the epub books... they also have a program for the Ipad, Iphone, etc.

I hope this helps some.

Comment from viperbob25 on 2010-12-18

2010-12-18T18:01:17Z

Will we be able to use the google free books thingee and be able to download them to the Kindle?
How about downloading this to my computer and still be able to download them to my Kindle?
Geez all these questions I have. Any replys will be appreciated.
viperbob

Comment from Nivas on 2010-11-04

2010-11-04T08:35:29Z

Interesting

Comment from Neal on 2010-10-24

2010-10-24T14:46:35Z

@JoyBell....and if we're talking about public domain books being the ones that are available for free, and not JUST though Google, WHO exactly is being ripped off?? Anyone is free to publish this material in printed or digital means. Certainly there are plenty of pirates out there freely spreading copyrighted material, but I don't think you are hitting the right target on this one.

Comment from JoyBell on 2010-10-15

2010-10-15T09:24:48Z

Wow! More free stuff for all the freeby lovers proudly provided by the biggest pirate of them all, Google!

Nothing is safe, especially intellectual property, while that plagiarizing band of monkey-brains is still around.

Comment from zzmir on 2010-10-02

2010-10-02T10:17:58Z

Some of my friend on www.RentAFriend.com
told me about this.

I think this is best

Comment from PChan on 2010-08-21

2010-08-21T11:19:03Z

I bought a Sony eReader and would like to download books written in Chinese. Does anyone have an idea of how I could do this? Thanks..........

Comment from ayushraj47@gmail.com on 2010-07-08

2010-07-09T04:01:01Z

world best

Comment from deepaksah on 2010-07-08

2010-07-09T02:45:45Z

I like it

Comment from Bernard Segonnes on 2010-04-02

2010-04-02T10:13:44Z

I want to introduce MultiReader an Android speech application.

MultiReader speaks Word, Power Point, EPUB, PDF, RTF, text documents in several languages.

There is also a direct access (search & download) to Gutenberg online library.

Currently availables voices are : English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Finnish, Dog, ...

Many more file formats & languages will come soon !

This application can be usefull in public transportation, to listen documents while driving, while doing sports, for people having difficulties with fine characters on mobile phones, for eLearning, etc ...

Available on Android Market and http://www.handango.com/catalog/ProductDetails.jsp?storeId=2218&deviceId=2073&platformId=80&productId=242990

Official web site :
http://bsegonnes.free.fr/multireader/en_multireader.html

Comment from seo on 2010-01-01

2010-01-01T13:00:39Z

This is great for readers, read more books.

Comment from Alicia on 2009-09-08

2009-09-08T08:26:09Z

Thank you for this great service, It comes at the right moment when so many are strapped for cash to invest in books. What an incredible opportunity to access books that are out of print, and those that you may find may cost a fortune. One more of those extraordinary conveniences offered by Google.

Comment from Paramendra Bhagat on 2009-09-03

2009-09-03T22:48:22Z

A welcome step nevertheless.

Comment from ahmed_akl on 2009-09-02

2009-09-02T15:41:04Z

thank you very much

Comment from Vipul on 2009-09-01

2009-09-02T06:55:07Z

This is great artical.

Comment from Hemant on 2009-09-01

2009-09-02T03:04:26Z

This is great for readers, read more books.

Comment from tod on 2009-08-28

2009-08-28T07:16:33Z

I have download and installed stanza, it's really a good book reader.

Comment from Water meters on 2009-08-27

2009-08-28T02:26:53Z

The EPUB archive of Google are more user friendly and cheaper.

Comment from Jeff Karlsen on 2009-08-27

2009-08-27T19:09:29Z

The Barnes & Noble Reader also accesses these versions. But the texts I sampled had so many OCR glitches as to be unreadable. If the goal is to actually read the book, the page image PDF is a much better option.

Comment from Finn Jack on 2009-08-27

2009-08-27T11:34:43Z

The handshake of Google and Sony in the open books field now makes Amazon's Kindle flicker. The EPUB archive of Google and Sony are more user friendly and cheaper when compared to Kindle.

Comment from Chris on 2009-08-27

2009-08-27T10:23:16Z

Sabyasachi, if you go to Google Books use advanced search option and set the date published before 1923, that is the cut-off date for public domain books.

http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

As long you see the download link, they are public domain books.

Comment from Sabyasachi on 2009-08-27

2009-08-27T09:10:00Z

how do I search a book only in public domain books? So, if it is not in public domain, it should not list.
Remember "Full preview" is not same as "Public domain".

Comment from Tahouar on 2009-08-27

2009-08-27T07:12:03Z

"Some vendors, like Sony, wrap a digital rights management (DRM) solution around these book" - Sony sucks!

Comment from Chris on 2009-08-26

2009-08-26T22:23:43Z

I use Sony Reader to read Google Books, they are much better than other readers. If Sony also provides an iPhone App then it will be awesome. http://ebookstore.sony.com/google-ebooks/?in_merch=Homepage_Google_1%20Million_Rt_1