By Andrew Liszewski
Anyone who has been reading gadget blogs for a while now will probably remember the Atiz BookDrive and if not please feel free to read the story yours truly posted a while back.
The original model was a slick piece of technology that also came with a whopping $50,000 price tag which put it well out of reach of most people. However Atiz has now released the BookDrive DIY which starts at a mere $3,499 making the technology a bit more attainable.
The unit has a bit of a MAKE Magazine look to it as you can see in the schematic there, primarily because it relies on 2 digital SLRs mounted at the top for capturing the pages rather than a scanner. The BoodDrive DIY only supports the Canon line of digital SLRs so if you don’t already have a couple lying around you’ll actually need to buy the $5,699 package that includes 2 Digital Rebel XTs. And even though the DIY is considered the lesser of the 2 models it’s still capable of capturing and processing about 700 pages an hour.
[Atiz BookDrive DIY] VIA [I4U News]
Saw this ATIZ thing in DC over the weekend and wasn’t that impressed. The technology is nothing new, the lighting average, and it worked alot slower than its specs would indicate. Sounds like their shooting theirselves in the foot– who’d buy their other product if this one is so much better and cheaper?
I guess they’d rather sell a thousand of these than five of the expensive one. The budget process is a lot easier for 4-5k than it is for 50K. And the automatic one still needs someone to stand there and watch it.