Google books offers library of downloads

Almost every media format has now been converted to the web: Want music? Get on the web. Want a movie? Get on the web. Want a game? Get on the web! Now, thanks to a new service from Google, you can go on the web, search for your favourite classic novel, print it off and then get off the net to go read it.

Google has teamed up with a number of universities from across the world to increase the availability of books in a searchable format. Rather than simply writing the books into a text file, similar to the Gutenburg project, the Google project is aiming to make the out of copyright books 'print friendly'.

We had a quick search on the service and found some old literary classics such as ' Robinson Crusoe' and the Ancient Greek version of 'The Iliad'. Wow!

Unfortunately, the service does not cover books still under copyright, however the popularity of the service may serve as an indicator to book publishers on the benfits of interacting with the web. Who knows, this time next year we could be talking about an iTunes for books. In the mean time check out Google's book search.

Do you like the idea of an internet library for books? Would you ever use it? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.