A company called On Demand Books (appr. name) has developed a machine they call the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) which is a fully integrated patented book making machine which can automatically print, bind and trim on demand at point of sale perfect bound library quality books with 4-color covers (indistinguishable from the factory made original) in minutes for a penny a page.

One of the co-founders of Books On Demand, Jason Epstein, recently wrote a compelling argument in MIT’s Technology Review magazine title “What’s Wrong with the Kindle”. In this article, while describing the concept of the Kindle he states;

“The designers of handheld readers aim to approximate as nearly as possible the characteristics of a physical book -including, I am told, pages that actually fell like paper; but why bother when the physical book already embodies these characteristics to perfection?”

Jason goes on to say that the most rational form of digital transmission is not an electronic reader but quite the reverse, an actual book made from a digital file … instantly.

According to their website they currently have the EBM installed in less than 10 locations, most of which are on college campuses.