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Ebooks/Audiobooks
3:02 PM EDT 8/29/05
Hopefully this will not end up showing twice. I posted it yesterday, but apparently something funky was going on with the forums (the text in posts was not showing up). After the problem was corrected this morning, the text reappeared, but the post was gone?!?
Some mainstream press coverage:
"Libraries offering audiobook downloads" AP
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/26/libraries.downloads.ap/index.html
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
4:43 PM EDT 8/29/05
as a reply to Ross Riker.
These E-books are great. We've been "checking" them out for a little over two months. We now have nearly 100 registered users and checked out/renewed 77 in July.
Margie
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
5:09 PM EDT 8/29/05
as a reply to Margie Borris.
I'm curious Margie-can patrons burn these to CD's? Or do they have to play the audio directly from their computers? I know that the material expires when the item is due, but it's nice to have the option of burning something to CD and taking it with you.
It seemed like the only drawback is that the audio books are not compatible with Ipods. I would love it if my local library offered this service. I check out so many audio books and can never keep track of all the due dates.
I bet this service would be very popular, particularly for those who say they don't have time to read or are too busy to get to the library. How are you marketing this service?
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
3:57 PM EDT 8/30/05
as a reply to Rose Nelson.
Rose,
I checked with the librarian taking care of this project. Her reply is below. We also check out audio books on CD. They just have to be physically returned.
Margie
No, the Recorded Books product does not allow this. And anyway, it would use as many CDs as the regular product.
Looking at her email, she may not be clear that iPods are only one brand of MP3 player, and that the books can be downloaded to portable players of many kinds.
Roberta
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
4:05 PM EDT 8/30/05
as a reply to Margie Borris.
Thanks for the response mborris. I am aware that Ipod's are just one type of MP3 player, but I'm guessing they are probably the most popular type. I think it's great that the library can offer this service, even if it's not compatible with Ipods and you can't burn them to CD. I tend to port around my books on tape from place to place that's why I asked the question about being able to burn on CD as opposed to having the item reside on only one computer.
Rose
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks -- on cell phones in the U.S.
12:15 PM EDT 10/13/05
as a reply to Ross Riker.
This article requires free registration and the free version will expire in 7 days:
"A Marriage of Bookshelf and Phone" by David Pogue
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/technology/circuits/13pogue.html
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Re: MP3 players
3:10 PM EST 12/13/05
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Just noting ... <p> We just bought 4 MP3 players of various descriptions, including 2 video models. <p> We're investigating them for various purposes, including audio downloads (why it's mentioned in this topic). We'll likely be podcasting "How to use your library" stuff within 6 months, but that's another issue. <p> Anyway, yesterday our IT guy showed me that he'd downloaded <i>Narnia</i> from a file share network ... this was only 2 or 3 days after it was released. He's deleting it -- he only wanted to show me it was out there -- but it's demonstrative of the problem all vendors face with digital products.
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
4:33 PM EST 1/3/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Sony to give Ebooks another try:
"Can Sony Make E-Books Succeed?"
http://www.technologyreview.com/Blogs/wtr_16103,292,p1.html
"Curling Up With a Good E-Book"
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051229_155542.htm
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
11:29 AM EST 1/12/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Here is the Sony Reader page:
http://products.sel.sony.com/pa/PRS/
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
11:32 AM EST 1/12/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Has anyone actually played with one of these? The people in my office have been expressing interest.
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
1:05 PM EST 1/12/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Rush passed this along:
iLiad -- http://www.irextechnologies.com/shop/products/iliad.htm and http://www.irextechnologies.com/downloads/Productleaflet-Iliad.pdf
This has a lot of connectivity options including WiFi.
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
12:07 PM EST 2/26/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Blog: "Sony's misguided e-book Reader" -- http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2619
some of the TalkBacks may be of interest, too
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
5:15 PM EST 3/15/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
We don't offer Ebooks at our library (yet) but I've been looking into it for several months. Personally, I have an account at Audible.com for my own Ebooks. I pay $15 a month and that entitles me to 1 book and 1 periodical. I use a Creative Muvo 128mb Mp3 player with a transmitter so that my book plays through my car stereo (or I can use headphones or buds). The books that I have downloaded are stored on my computer so I can go back and "read" them over & over. These can also be burned to CD but like someone said, it takes a lot of CDs. I LOVE this and can only see Ebooks as being a great addition to a library collection.
Jean
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
12:47 AM EST 3/16/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
If you are interested in ebooks, have you looked at one of my favorite sites? www.gutenburg.org These texts can be downloaded to floppy to carry around with you or your patrons.
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
11:01 AM EST 3/16/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
For more information, or to add information, check out this WJ wiki page on ebooks and audio ebooks:
http://webjunction.lishost.org/mediawiki/index.php/Ebooks_and_Audio_Ebooks
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
5:45 PM EST 3/17/06
as a reply to Ross Riker.
And who is using Text to Speech technology? Has anyone gotten the download from Microsoft that can read text aloud? Or that can translate it into Spanish?
This would be great for Macular Degeneration patients, also. It would be interesting to use this to turn classics into MP3's. One website called www.naturalreaders.com has Text to Speech.
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
4:57 PM EST 3/21/06
as a reply to Carolyn Blackwelder.
I'm asking this for someone else but has anyone ran into this problem:
--> I can listen to the books on my computer through Dell's Jukebox a music program I pay for. I can also get them onto my mp3 player - but when I play the mp3 player, I get SILENCE. Ugh, there is almost no help from netlibrary! Is it possible my Audible subscription is messing up the mp3 players as it loads some proprietary software onto the mp3 player? I have another player from rca, that came with software I've never loaded. I just uploaded the rca mp3 cd and redownloaded from netlibrary. I can get it on to my mp3 but NOT the permissions, so it won't play. AARRGGGG.... any ideas???
Thanks!
Beth
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
12:38 PM EST 3/31/06
as a reply to Carolyn Blackwelder.
We have a dedicated "ADA" computer that features several pieces of software that have Text to Speech technology:
JAWS® for Windows® -- http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp
Kurzweil 1000 -- http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k1000.asp
Kurzweil 3000 -- http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k3000win.asp
ZoomText -- http://www.aisquared.com/Products/zoomtextmrd/index.cfm
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks
10:19 AM EDT 3/14/07
as a reply to Ross Riker.
Blog post: "Future of the Book: The $100 Laptop"
"On-demand technologies and desktop publishing were supposed to revolutionize the book industry. The $100 laptop might trump everything."
By Brad King
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/17558/
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Re: Ebooks/Audiobooks -- TR's Review of Sony's PRS-500
1:27 PM EDT 7/11/07
as a reply to Ross Riker.
"Tech's Libris ; Sony's e-book reading device is the most ingenious to date. It may fail anyway." By Wade Roush -- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17993/
{Yeah, this is a little late, but I'm that far behind in reading TR -- not to mention a whole slew of other things. }
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