Comments on: Homebrew, $300 book-scanner http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Sat, 25 May 2013 18:38:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663300 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663300 There are scanners that turn pages, e.g. http://www.treventus.com/index_en.html (which actually <i>scans</i> the pages instead of photographing them). It's a lot more expensive though. There are scanners that turn pages, e.g. http://www.treventus.com/index_en.html (which actually scans the pages instead of photographing them). It’s a lot more expensive though.

]]> By: Piers W http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663309 Piers W Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663309 Google's scanners don't turn the pages either: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/06/google-books-adds-hand-scans/ Google’s scanners don’t turn the pages either:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/06/google-books-adds-hand-scans/

]]> By: arkizzle / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663589 arkizzle / Moderator Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663589 ^Yes! ^Yes!

]]> By: arkizzle / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663592 arkizzle / Moderator Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663592 "<i>If Dan Reetz didn’t exist, it would be necessary for Cory Doctorow to invent him.</i>" —Author Robin Sloan, The Future of the Book: Bringing Book Scanning Home, October 12, 2009 “If Dan Reetz didn’t exist, it would be necessary for Cory Doctorow to invent him.”
—Author Robin Sloan, The Future of the Book: Bringing Book Scanning Home, October 12, 2009

]]> By: aelfscine http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663351 aelfscine Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663351 That does not look like a thing that scans books. That looks like a thing you strap a man to, and come back to find a pile of blood and viscera. That does not look like a thing that scans books. That looks like a thing you strap a man to, and come back to find a pile of blood and viscera.

]]> By: Clif Marsiglio http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663354 Clif Marsiglio Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663354 "I do tend to agree that the major motivation, if not accomplishment, seems to have been to pirate textbooks, rather than to build a cheap book scanner." You know the interesting thing is I try to get eBook rips of all my texts -- but I pay for all of them. Why? Because the authors of these works deserve to get paid for them (I wrote / edited a chapter years ago in one text...sadly, it was a 'future horizons on...' chapter and my work was removed / revised from subsequent versions). Does it pay a lot? No...the publishers get the bulk of the $$$, but I knew the score going in...authors deserve to get paid for their works regardless. Honestly, I would GLADLY build one of these devices if it meant I could get text into my computer rapidly...this semester, I have about 1500 pages of graduate level psychology texts to carry around, along with almost that much undergrad chemistry. Sadly, you are right -- the vast majority of students are going to use this as just another way to screw the folks that write books like these and the publishers that strive to keep the texts current. If people would respect intellectual properties things like this would actually be more common place. I think I'm going to spend a few days over the holidays and see how hard one of these is to build...my Nook should be here and I want to get my books on it by next semester. “I do tend to agree that the major motivation, if not accomplishment, seems to have been to pirate textbooks, rather than to build a cheap book scanner.”

You know the interesting thing is I try to get eBook rips of all my texts — but I pay for all of them. Why? Because the authors of these works deserve to get paid for them (I wrote / edited a chapter years ago in one text…sadly, it was a ‘future horizons on…’ chapter and my work was removed / revised from subsequent versions). Does it pay a lot? No…the publishers get the bulk of the $$$, but I knew the score going in…authors deserve to get paid for their works regardless.

Honestly, I would GLADLY build one of these devices if it meant I could get text into my computer rapidly…this semester, I have about 1500 pages of graduate level psychology texts to carry around, along with almost that much undergrad chemistry.

Sadly, you are right — the vast majority of students are going to use this as just another way to screw the folks that write books like these and the publishers that strive to keep the texts current. If people would respect intellectual properties things like this would actually be more common place.

I think I’m going to spend a few days over the holidays and see how hard one of these is to build…my Nook should be here and I want to get my books on it by next semester.

]]> By: Robert http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663383 Robert Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663383 The <i>motivation</i> may have originally been to scan textbooks, but that's not only what it's used for. See here for uses by actual users: http://halfbakedmaker.org/2009/12/01/book-scanning/ The motivation may have originally been to scan textbooks, but that’s not only what it’s used for. See here for uses by actual users: http://halfbakedmaker.org/2009/12/01/book-scanning/

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663650 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663650 So working 24/7 I could digitize my books in about 138 days. Sweet! So working 24/7 I could digitize my books in about 138 days. Sweet!

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663141 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663141 cool, but interesting enough the technical hurdle to overcome has been the ability to turn pages without damaging or skipping pages automatically, not the mechanistic scanning of said page. cool, but interesting enough the technical hurdle to overcome has been the ability to turn pages without damaging or skipping pages automatically, not the mechanistic scanning of said page.

]]> By: zaimond http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663417 zaimond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663417 awesome. i would love to have all my college books digitized. maybe i should start working on this.. thanks cory! awesome. i would love to have all my college books digitized. maybe i should start working on this..

thanks cory!

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663211 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663211 It's a neat project, but I think we all need to ask ourselves something. If we don't build anything in the US. And we have to ship in more natural resources than we export. And most of our economy is based off of IP. Where are we going to be as a country when writing a book makes you no money? Money doesn't come out of nowhere. As a country, we have to decide where we make our money, then we need to make sure we safeguard it. (Yes, that means protecting it from the RIAA) It’s a neat project, but I think we all need to ask ourselves something.
If we don’t build anything in the US.
And we have to ship in more natural resources than we export.
And most of our economy is based off of IP.
Where are we going to be as a country when writing a book makes you no money?

Money doesn’t come out of nowhere. As a country, we have to decide where we make our money, then we need to make sure we safeguard it. (Yes, that means protecting it from the RIAA)

]]> By: hadlock http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663216 hadlock Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663216 I think the main idea here is that with a little bit of teamwork, you and your classmates can split the cost of one ridiculously overpriced college textbook 100 ways by giving each person a digital copy (PDF) of the book. Technically only one person can look at the PDF at a time of course but that's outside the scope of this article ;) Make sure to tag the file with the ISBN number in the file name... thanks in advance. I think the main idea here is that with a little bit of teamwork, you and your classmates can split the cost of one ridiculously overpriced college textbook 100 ways by giving each person a digital copy (PDF) of the book. Technically only one person can look at the PDF at a time of course but that’s outside the scope of this article ;) Make sure to tag the file with the ISBN number in the file name… thanks in advance.

]]> By: Antinous / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663483 Antinous / Moderator Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663483 <i>That does not look like a thing that scans books. That looks like a thing you strap a man to, and come back to find a pile of blood and viscera.</i> My first thought was, "Get away from her, you bitch!!!" That does not look like a thing that scans books. That looks like a thing you strap a man to, and come back to find a pile of blood and viscera.

My first thought was, “Get away from her, you bitch!!!”

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663242 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663242 The BookLiberator project is prototyping different models of scanners in this mold and developing custom software to bring open source book scanning and post processing to the masses. We're doing what Daniel did, but making it turnkey. We'll have kits available soon, as well as a design that you can build yourself with simple hand tools out of cheap parts from the hardware store. BookLiberator.com - doing for books what the cd ripper did for music The BookLiberator project is prototyping different models of scanners in this mold and developing custom software to bring open source book scanning and post processing to the masses. We’re doing what Daniel did, but making it turnkey. We’ll have kits available soon, as well as a design that you can build yourself with simple hand tools out of cheap parts from the hardware store.

BookLiberator.com – doing for books what the cd ripper did for music

]]> By: Pope Ratzo http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663249 Pope Ratzo Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663249 Wait, you mean it <i>doesn't turn the pages</i>? Pffft! Seriously, this is a nice bit of work. Wait, you mean it doesn’t turn the pages? Pffft!

Seriously, this is a nice bit of work.

]]> By: kattw http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663256 kattw Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663256 I do tend to agree that the major motivation, if not accomplishment, seems to have been to pirate textbooks, rather than to build a cheap book scanner. And while I/we may disagree with textbook prices, that in and of itself doesn't actually make it legal to copy the books. They don't even have DRM or other big evils to complain about, just standard, well worked copyright law protecting them. That being said, it'd be cooler if it spewed fire. All build at home stuff should gush fire from SOMEWHERE. I do tend to agree that the major motivation, if not accomplishment, seems to have been to pirate textbooks, rather than to build a cheap book scanner. And while I/we may disagree with textbook prices, that in and of itself doesn’t actually make it legal to copy the books. They don’t even have DRM or other big evils to complain about, just standard, well worked copyright law protecting them.

That being said, it’d be cooler if it spewed fire. All build at home stuff should gush fire from SOMEWHERE.

]]> By: pidg http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663263 pidg Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663263 Hint for students: go to your University library the moment you're told what books you need, and get them free. Worked for me (and most students are lazy enough not to bother putting holds on books that aren't there). Hint for students: go to your University library the moment you’re told what books you need, and get them free. Worked for me (and most students are lazy enough not to bother putting holds on books that aren’t there).

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663273 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663273 The bookscanner invention would be quite a help to booksellers who are often asked to scan the copyright page or a page containing "points" or errors that determine the value of a book. The bookscanner invention would be quite a help to booksellers who are often asked to scan the copyright page or a page containing “points” or errors that determine the value of a book.

]]> By: Hagarack http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663285 Hagarack Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663285 Has anyone told the guys over at Project Gutenberg? Has anyone told the guys over at Project Gutenberg?

]]> By: grikdog http://boingboing.net/2009/12/11/homebrew-300-book-sc.html#comment-663804 grikdog Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-663804 Crirninal loehavior? Crirninal loehavior?

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