This is the new thing in Japan — you pay a few bucks per title to have your book collection scanned and emailed to you before it is…cremated, essentially. My question: What does Ray Bradbury think of this?
The Japanese are all about conserving space. Lots of people, little island. Makes sense. When the Kindle and iPad exploded there, companies popped up to convert physical books to PDFs.
This video about it is in Japanese, but you’ll get the idea. The cheery music makes the notion of mass book death seem much less solemn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXR9qZFOsmk&feature=player_embedded
And now the idea has come to the U.S.
A company called 1DollarScan.com charges $1 for every hundred book pages and the customer pays shipping. There’s a surcharge if you want the books returned (which I’m not sure why you would if you go to the trouble of digitizing them). 1DollarScan doesn’t just burn up the books, Fahrenheit 451 style; they recycle the paper, so you get to feel like you’re doing a good deed.
Still, good deed or not, I’m not sure I’m ready to part with my books. I’ve even considered embracing the Kindle–just for nonfiction, I tell myself. But I’ll always want some books on my shelves.