LAT: Amazon to Let Readers Buy Just the Good Parts

[DeepModem Mom]

Amazon to Let Readers Buy Just the Good Parts
By Chris Gaither and Julie Tamaki, Times Staff Writers


Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday previewed a service to sell just a few pages or chapters of a book — allowing one of the world's oldest media to be chopped up and customized like an album on iTunes.

Although he offered few details, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Amazon customers soon would be able to buy digital snippets of books for as little as a few cents a page. That might come in handy for tourists planning a trip, chefs seeking recipes or students assigned one chapter in an expensive textbook.

The service could help the Internet retailer emerge as a more publisher-friendly digital library than Google Inc., which Thursday launched a free database of online books. Unlike Google, Amazon plans to offer books only with the blessings of their publishers.

Analysts said Amazon's approach, which builds on a current feature that offers a peek into some books, expanded the online experience and prepared for a day when people were more accustomed to reading long passages of text on the computer.

"It makes it more like browsing in a bookstore," said Think Equity Partners analyst Edward Weller, "and you don't even have to put your clothes on."...


http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-amazon4nov04,0,387483.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Nickster]

1. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Can't wait to see it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. How do the writers get compensated?

[fshrink]

3. Where is the good part of a sexual intercourse?

[realFedUp]

4. I'm sure Scooter will be happy with this....nt