Hands-on with Book Saver, iON's Book-to-eBook scanner

At the end of December, I looked at some of the book scanning options for small collections looking to archive their unique printed matter and make it accessible on digital platforms. Now, thanks to the availability of low-cost cameras and optical character recognition software, that sort of scanning is about to break into the mainstream.

iON, maker of every type of entry-level analog-to-digital conversion appliance, announced it will begin selling its own paper-to-eBook scanning solution this year called the Book Saver.

Built something like a Wii remote, the device's plastic shield holds printed media open, while the dual flash cameras take shots of the left and right pages. The images can be saved as .Jpg or .pdf and stored directly onto SD cards.

The solutions I looked at in December from Atiz could capture about 700 pages an hour with dual DSLR cameras, and similar DIY solutions could do about 400 pages an hour for literally 3000% less money. iON says the Book Saver, while not capable of anywhere near the quality of the DSLR-based solutions, can capture about 800 pages per hour. iON has not yet announced a price or availability for the device.

The Book Saver felt considerably flimsy, as one would perhaps expect from iON, which is Numark Industries' consumer-grade line of products. It didn't seem like it would stand up to even a single book worth of scanning. However, it appears to be well-suited for college students looking to create digital copies of their textbooks, or Web content creators who want to scan old 'Zines, flyers, catalogs, and other ephemera.

While it certainly won't provide archival-grade shots like the kind of scanners Google Books is using, sometimes that's not what's needed.