1DollarScan turns a physical book into an electronic copy, supposedly for a dollar, as long
as the customer agrees to allow the book to be destroyed and recycled. The
company, based in San Jose, CA, markets itself as a service that archives
documents and photographs, while also clearing space used to store old books.
The service has grown from scanning thousands of books
in its first year to several hundred thousand books in its second year,
according to CEO Hiroshi Nakano in a report in Publishers Weekly. The company claims its process
produces a high-quality PDF file that can be read on a variety of devices.
The Authors Guild isn’t thrilled with the business
model, claiming that turning copyrighted print content into an e-book without
an author’s permission is copyright infringement.
1DollarScan counters that it only digitizes books
purchased by a customer, who then uses the service to create more space in an
eco-friendly way. The company requires a signed agreement prohibiting the
online sharing of the PDF, while offering a way for publishers and authors to
either approve or disapprove of scans.
But copyright infringement could be just part of the
issue with 1DollarScan. One person commenting on the Publishers Weekly article who
uses the service wrote, “The result is nothing I would want to share anyway
since it’s usually got formatting and readability errors, but it’s good enough
for me.”
He also goes on to report that the actual cost is $1
per 100 pages, so the service would cost $5 for a 500-page book.
