What Are EPUB Books at Google Books?

Google Books Goes EPUB—What it Means and Why it's Good

Sep 29, 2009 Francine Morrissette

Google Books now has over a million books for readers to download in PDF and EPUB format. What does that mean, and how can you get them?

Books published in, or converted into, digital format are called electronic books, or “ebooks” for short. Google Books just announced that it is using “EPUB,” an electronic publishing format, to give readers access to over a million ebooks for free! Here's how Google Books makes EPUB work for you:

Quick History of Google eBooks

It started with a question posed to the Google eBooks team: “What if every book in the entire world could be digitally scanned and made accessible to everyone on the planet through the internet?”

Books previously inaccessible to the general public, including: rare editions, fragile ancient texts, and single preserved volumes which never see the light of day could be available to everyone. Books could be safeguarded against natural disasters and immune to theft and arson. “What if...” was asked, and Google eBooks answered: “Let's do it.”

In the Beginning... Google eBooks are PDF eBooks

Google eBooks began the project by scanning and converting physical books into digital PDF (Portable Document Format) files. These ebooks could then be viewed and read online. Readers could also download ebooks to their computer to be printed or read offline. Turning books into ebooks by way of PDF was a great development because it made thousands of books instantly accessible to readers all over the globe. Happily, the Google Print Library Project team partnered up with libraries from all over and began the massive undertaking of creating a universal world library.

Let There Be EPUB!

In the most recent stage of its ebooks library project, Google Books has added EPUB to its ebook format. This means Google is currently able to offer download versions of over a million ebooks in both PDF and EPUB format.

What exactly is EPUB?

EPUB is similar to PDF format in that it is an “open standard” ebook reader, as PDF is an open standard document reader. Because EPUB is open standard, it is not associated with specific brands of ebook reader.

For example, Amazon's Kindle ebook reader cannot read EPUB texts unless it uses some intermediary software to convert EPUB books into Kindle language, so the Kindle reader can't read just any ebook available.

EPUB is a free standardized ebook format which almost every ebook reader or desktop computer understands, no matter what brand it is. Because of it's universality, EPUB has become the standard for ebooks.

Why did Google Books add EPUB, especially when things are going so well with PDF?

PDF ebooks are image-based pictures of actual books. Like a photograph that's taken and then uploaded it to a computer for later viewing, PDF books are a “picture” of the actual text. Although PDF is not a format that can be easily read on ebook readers, it's an ideal format for readers who want to read ebooks from their computers or print their ebooks.

The major disadvantage to PDF format for ebooks is that PDF books fonts can't be adjusted to fit the small screen sizes of ebook readers. EPUB allows ebooks to be read on ebook readers in a universal format that both computers and ebook readers understand. EPUB is not locked into a particular device: it works on any ebook reader and with any up-to-date computer.

If EPUB is so great, why does Google Books still have PDF format ebooks?

EPUB has its advantages, but it also has it's issues. EPUB files are run through an optical character recognition system (OCR) which converts what it “sees” into digital format. When Google eBooks are converted by OCR, they are not edited afterward allowing uncaught mistakes to sneak into the epub version of books. Google Books explains the conversion process in detail on its website (LINK).

Can EPUB Books be Read Without an Ebooks Reader?

Yes. To read ebooks in EPUB format without an ebooks reader just install Stanza or a similar desktop reader which works with EPUB format books. Stanza reads ebooks for: PC, Mac, iphone, ipod touch, and Kindle. Sony eBook library software works for PC and Mac, or download an ebook reader for Microsoft windows-based devices at microsoft.com.

There are many advantages to digitizing books. Students can access valuable books on their PC or cell phones, crafters can unearth forgotten arts and techniques, scholars can access once-inaccessible texts, and genealogists can reveal the colorful histories long forgotten. Google eBooks has brought the world a little closer through the printed (and digitized) word of EPUB books.

The copyright of the article What Are EPUB Books at Google Books? in Audiobooks/Ebooks is owned by Francine Morrissette. Permission to republish What Are EPUB Books at Google Books? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.