Bindworx creates books like mix tapes

Infinitely personal. That's the phrase that Bindworx, a new eBook creation platform, uses to describe what they do. I found out about them through Jeremy Greenfield's article on Digital Book World this morning, and I'm fascinated.

Here's how they describe themselves:

Bindworx.com, which operates under its guiding principle of “infinitely personal”, is a multi-platform solution that satisfies consumer desire to buy only the content they want, in the format they want it. Content including eBooks, music, images and video will be available to purchase in portions and re-compile into an infinite range of new publications that match the personal requirements of each consumer, institution or user group.

It's like a mix tape. And even more than that, it's like how we all collect and store content in our computers already through online bookmarking and hard drive folders. The biggest difference, of course, is that the result isn't a pile of data, but a book.

I requested an invitation to try it out, so if I get in and am able to try it, I'll have more in a later report.

For now, though, it's exciting enough to just think about the possibilities.

On one hand, it's thrilling to think about stitching together content I like into a book form. That's the kind of freedom DJ's take with music that could be really interesting in creating the new generation of reading experiences.

On the other hand, writing a compelling narrative for a book is hard. Will books created through Bindworx be able to have compelling narratives in the same sense as a traditional book? Can that happen without having consistent characters? Or will it be a new generation of textbook that allows teachers to create up to the minute textbooks for classes that are like refresh versions for each semester.

What do you all think- exciting or scary?

Image courtesy of Jenn and Tony bot via flickr