More than a year on from the original announcement, Microsoft this week introduced Live Search Books - its rival to Google Book Search.

Both services are beta and with their own pros and cons. Perhaps because Live Search Books is beta, it's arrived with little fanfair.

However, even spending a few minutes with it shows that it is, potentially, a massively useful and enjoyable tool and one where the emphasis seems to be on providing direct online access to books - and PDF versions for download - rather than moving you along to sites that sells them.

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