You may recall those bulky tablet computers designed to download print books, one of many concepts that quickly died during the previous Internet-boom-gone-bust era. But a print-to-digital concept based on Apple's iTunes business model could conceivably do quite a bit better.

But I rarely listen to music. More than 95 percent of the audios I listen to are lecture content programs where I am learning something.

I don't like the system that Apple uses to categorize the digital files as it just doesn't work well for the non-music content that I listen to. The Windows file folder system with folder and sub folders works far better to categorize content.

Nevertheless, I can appreciate the beauty and simplicity of iTunes in providing you with the freedom to purchase and download individual songs without buying the whole album. Both Google and Amazon are hoping to accomplish the same goal by offering you the ability to download a page or chapter from a book.

Obviously, there are plenty of details to be worked out to make this a truly worthwhile venture for consumers and the print world. There is a danger they will go down the same flawed path Apple chose. For example, under the Random House model mentioned above, you'd be unable to print or copy digital pages you purchased, a huge roadblock indeed.

I have enormous respect for Google, though, and they employ some of the brightest tech people and engineers in the world. I am confident that they will come up with a solution that will please most of us.

Google recently released Google Analytics, which allows those of us with Web sites to keep tabs of our traffic. I currently pay $2,000 per month for a service that Google is now giving away for free. Google is all about providing value and service and it became obvious to me that they will eventually be the largest corporation on the planet, far bypassing Microsoft and Wal-Mart.