I wonder what the process is to get it on the machine. If it could just print and bind any pdf, that'd be fantastic. Even more so if you could print your own files.

Ya I can imagine that supporting the e-book doctypes would be a huge asset for them.

Interesting idea. The last refuge of the anti-kindle crowd.

That was my first thought -- "won't this be obviated by the Kindle (and other e-book readers)?" Perhaps not immediately, but it seems that the markets this serves especially well -- those looking for rare or out of print books, academics, etc... -- are also served by electronic books. I don't own an e-book reader and can understand buying hard copies -- at used book stores, in particular -- but if I did own one, I can't think of many reasons why I would prefer this to an e-book. Perhaps purely aesthetic ones, as in, coffee table books, but how well does this replicate glossy photos?

Doesn't say how much it costs to print a book.

The company website says that cost-per-page is $0.01USD (http://www.ondemandbooks.com/hardware.htm). This thing is really cool!

a laser printer with a built in binder? Is that new? Our office photocopier/printer can do that. I can sent it a pdf print job and it produces bound 'books'.

The novelty is not the device, but the business.

This new style of manufacturing is great, but I wish I were more excited for it. While some books certainly require no presentation, I really like a solid book with a good, unique design and typography.

That being said, I'm very excited to see how it will improve education in the developing world. I see it being used mainly for highly specialized texts (like that one $7,000 book on Amazon), whereas projects like OLPC and devices like the Kindle will provice access to mainstream works and current events. You can't help but feel that paper's going to be gone soon though...

I don't see why the machine couldn't/wouldn't store print-ready pages and it looks like it is capable of printing a 4-color cover. You may lose some quality in the actual materials and the book will likely be limited to one size but the fonts, kerning, page margins, etc. can all be controlled by the publisher.

Profit margins would be slim, and good design would be over the budget often, I think.

Great idea, perhaps too late.

Like adding jets to a zepellin or a turbine to a steam boat.

I haven't touched a book in years, and won't in the foreseeable future.

I can understand the feeling, but I'm just the opposite. For me, no place is really home unless it's got lots of books on shelves.

Don't forget the joys of collecting copies signed by the author!