Amazon Pages

Amazon has announced a book-scanning project ... The Amazon plan will scan copyrighted books and let readers search through them. It will offer paid online access to parts or all of the book, and the payment will depend on the book, and on how much of the book someone wants available.

There's also an option to buy the physical book, and then have access to the full text of the book online as well.

This keeps everyone happy. Copyright holders are paid fairly for their works, and readers can buy only portions of books they want to use.

With Google Print mired in legal battles, this slightly modified move by Amazon has surprised everyone. More at http://www.networkingpipeline.com/blog/archives/2005/11/amazon_beats_go.html

ps: Google now scans public domain books that were never subject to copyright or whose copyright has expired. For books not in the public domain, Google shows small snippets of the work unless the publisher or copyright holder has given them permission to show more.