Days of Reading Books for Free Via Google Print are Gone
Posted by Mike Bijon December 28, 2005
Steve Rubel suggests you can Read Most of O’Reilly’s Hacks Books for Free Using Google via the Google Print book-search system. His method only works well on books that have been “opened up” by Google, presumably with the publisher’s permission. Books that have not been opened up are much more restricted, and even books with publisher permission have some restricted passages (examples below).
Google Print has implemented protection for copyright holders (and to protect themselves from copyright holders) so Steve’s technique doesn’t work well in most books. Not long after the idea of reading entire books by searching Google Print with terms like “and | but | of | a | on | or | the | from | I | you | it” came out - Google shows about two pages of results before informing you that “Your search is too general. Please try again with a more specific query.“. Google Print also requires users to be signed in to a Google account before viewing whole pages of books at all. Once someone is signed in Google tracks page-views on a per-book basis and restricts viewing to just 10-20 total pages in most books. Books with more pages available for viewing are typically presented with the permission of the copyright holder, as the notice “Provided by O’Reilly through the Google Books Partner Program” on pages of both Podcasting Hacks and Google Hacks indicates, or are copyright-free.
Example of restrictions in an un/semi-restricted book, Podcasting Hacks
The book Podcasting Hacks, which Steve Rubel uses as an example, is unrestricted enough that O’Reilly has probably granted permission for it to be almost entirely available. Nevertheless, some content can not be accessed regardless of the search terms or method of viewing: try to access page #173 in Podcasting Hacks and let me know if you’re successful. I wasn’t able to view page #173 with Steve’s method, the list-of-all-pages method, or by any other search of page-specific terms.
Example of a restricted book with more typical restrictions, Google Hacks
Using my own and two other Google accounts, I found that I can’t read more than 12 pages from Google Hacks before I see the message:
You have reached your viewing limit for this book (why?). You may continue browsing to view unrestricted or already viewed pages, or visit the About this Book page.
Additionally, page #7 is restricted altogether from viewing - and if I had more accounts to test with I’m sure I would find other restricted pages.
It’s likely that smart publishers, a group I think includes Tim O’Reilly, are finding a balance of promotion and sales by releasing slower/older content via Google Print. and, judging from the layers of page-count restrictions and even page-specific limitations, I suspect that Google Print is really becoming a tool for promoting publications, rather than a tool for reading printed content for free.
Mike Bijon: I work as senior technology manager and technologist for 
