The Paris Book Fair has left us many novelties in the form of books, but also a printer, dubbed the Expresso Book Machine and which has raised great expectations for what it may entail in the very near future. And it is that this device devised by the North American company Xerox, and exploited in France by the Ireneo program, promoted by the national association of printers will allow anyone to acquire a book and print it in a matter of minutes.
Specifically, the wait, although it will depend on the number of pages in the book, will be 5 minutes. After that time the user can take home their newly printed and fully bound book.
A total of two printers of this type have been presented by the publishing houses PUF (French University Presses) and La Martinière. The two are very similar collections, although that of the second publisher is somewhat smaller than that of PUF. The result is identical and is in the form of a book perfectly bound and ready for the buyer to take home.
Frédéric Mériot, CEO of PUF told the press that “this is a great opportunity for everyone. With this machine, many of the problems that publishers, booksellers and customers are experiencing today are solved ”.
“We have thousands of titles whose demand is too low to be profitable. Now we have the possibility to give them a second life with small runs. There is no risk because a printed book is a sold book "
This is undoubtedly one of the most positive points of this type of device, is that may have thousands of books stored inside, among which the user can choose. For a small fee, you can print your book and take it home. This type of printer can be the perfect companion for small bookstores that can have practically any book available with it.
As it has been released these peculiar bookstores would have a market price of approximately $ 86.000, although they can also be rented by different bookstores, for a price that is estimated to be around $ 250.
In my opinion, I think it can be a very interesting device for readers, that we will not have to leave a bookstore without taking the book we are looking for. However, I think that it may not be too interesting for bookstores and that they will need to print many books each month to make their purchase or rental profitable.
What do you think of this book printer that can offer us any title in a matter of minutes?.
Awesome!
I thought I saw that they invented it in 2007? and at that time it seemed to me to see 150 thousand dollars. They will have lowered the price and adjusted options to encourage having it.
Isn't there a project to edit color magazines in a similar environment? If anyone knows anything about it, welcome the information!
The "By paying a small amount you can print your book and take it home." I suppose it will depend on the book in question, since it will be necessary to have the copyright, with what the publisher and the bookstore must earn, in addition to the cost of printing, paper, binding, and amortization of the machine, which is not cheap. Is it designed so that scientific books can be reproduced with high quality images, such as X-rays, MRI, CT, Color Doppler, etc., or rather for literature and other subjects that are basically text?
Good afternoon
It is clear that copyright will influence the costs, without a doubt, but even so the product will be possibly cheaper than the traditional edition due to other variables such as what is explained in the article: it is not necessary to have it in stock. However, we still do not know its operating and marketing costs in Spain.
Regarding medical imaging, Xerox already offers printing solutions for this field, in collaboration with some specialized partners. The images are of very high quality but not suitable for diagnosis. They are simply attached with the radiologist's medical report, replacing the traditional plate, generating significant cost savings and a "wide breather" to the environment.
We wanted to do a similar experience for the edition of Newspapers with several languages, that is, to put a device in a Hotel (Reception) and to be able to print the Newspaper that you wanted.
Sounds like a cool solution to me. We will see if they will apply it in Spain.