On Demand Books Coming in 2007

In the very near future you'll be standing in line at an Espresso machine, only to be surprised that the machine isn't spewing out caffeine, but rather, is instantly printing out books on demand. Developed over several years by the company On Demand Books, the Espresso, as they call it, is a book vending machine that "can print, align, mill, glue and bind two books simultaneously in less than seven minutes, including full-color laminated covers."

This $50,000 machine will debut at several libraries and bookstores starting in early 2007. It can also print in any language and accommodate for right-to-left texts by putting the spine on the right. However, the upper page limit for now is 550 pages. Some 2.5 million books are now available and no longer under copyright protection.

An ATM for books [Via: CNN]