Re:Nice to have alternatives (Score 1)

Actually, the Million Book Library seems brilliantly conceived but (so far) rather poorly executed. The "million books" claim -- while technically accurate, I suppose -- is less than it seems. A search on "Jane Eyre" pulls up about 20 listings, mostly one and the same edition of the book. Many books are only "partially accessible" -- something to do with copyright restrictions, I guess.

I've only had about a 50% success rate in actually viewing books once I have their listing; the system just doesn't work smoothly, or in a user-friendly fashion. The books housed on their China server, in particular, seem to have to go through 45-minutes of firewalls before deciding whether to grant access or not.

And why, Oh wny is there no inside-the-book searching? This is such a valuable tool, and so expected in the digital age, that I'd much rather have access to a library of 10,000 well-chosen books that are searchable, than a million volumes that are not.

I don't mean to disparage their efforts...this is really a momentous and important undertaking. Still, one wishes they had partnered with the likes of Google, or someone else who could design an efficient system and a friendlier interface.

I've gone on at greater length over at Web-Owls, if anyone wants to hear more whining.