A landmark settlement between internet search group Google and publishers announced this week paves the way for a digital future for the book industry. Or does it?

Casual readers, students and researchers now will have unprecedented means to search for and buy online access to books at public libraries and universities in the US. But even as some authors salivate over the possibility that Google has laid the groundwork for an iTunes for publishing, big hurdles remain – starting with the system itself. The complex agreement – reached between Google and authors and book publishers, which had sued the internet search group in 2005 – does not cover the latest bestsellers.