> Why would an scanning service even get into the notebook business?

Because they are producing special notebooks that work with their business model, that have the proper bindings so they can easily get the pages out of them. For example, They probably even have a machine that does it for them, or special tools. Furthermore, it allows the cost to be consistent, otherwise they would have to charge per page and the user might not be aware of how many pages are in their notebook, so they might not know the cost ahead of time. I have a notebook at home and I can't even fathom a guess as to how many pages it is, I am sure that the sticker or whatever was on it when I bought it told me, but that is long gone. It also allows them to only process orders that are cost effective for them - minimum page requirements, consistent cost, pages that are optimal for their scanners, they know exactly what is going to come in, known cost of shipping so they can know exactly the amount of postage they have to pay, etc.