Comments on: New York e-mobile visit: Kudos to OverDrive for pushing E—but what those pesky tech and biz-model issues? http://www.teleread.org/2008/08/12/new-york-e-mobile-visit-kudos-to-overdrive-for-pushing-e-but-what-those-pesky-tech-and-biz-model-issues/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:40:27 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jeff http://www.teleread.org/2008/08/12/new-york-e-mobile-visit-kudos-to-overdrive-for-pushing-e-but-what-those-pesky-tech-and-biz-model-issues/comment-page-1/#comment-874882 Jeff Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:48:39 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/08/12/new-york-e-mobile-visit-kudos-to-overdrive-for-pushing-e-but-what-those-pesky-tech-and-biz-model-issues/#comment-874882 1. My guess is that this is always a cost issue. Overdrive doesn’t own the content, they provide the content. It is very similar to a public library providing the content. If publishers are not happy with what you do with their content, they don’t continue to do business with you. I bet we could do a study on the levels of DRM dependant upon the title and the publishing company. All the really good stuff is locked down tight. The response would be, at least we can offer you good stuff. The ok stuff can be meddled with, and the stuff you really wouldn’t want to own is available permanently. It’s a global push that would require more compensation to bigger publishing houses. The more Overdrive makes, the more they pay the publishers, the more the publishers realize they can make a lot of money giving letting people read their books for free. Too bad they don’t realize library’s do that now and this would just be an electronic version of the same system. Bookstores make money off of libraries. A patron gets interested in a book from a free public library, they buy the next one as soon as it comes out. People like to own their favorite books. 2. Other companies do that mostly on the academic side. Netlibrary is one, Ingram MyILibrary is another. It is a question as to whether recreational reading would be enjoyed looking at a computer. I would bet the market isn’t ready for that, at least not yet. 3. That one’s over my head. 4. Well they could do it. It is more a risk if they ask libraries to pay up ahead of time. Libraries can make this push. If they want this and say we will pay more for this, everyone would benefit long term. Overdrive doesn’t take many risks. Public Libraries could push this, but I doubt many could up their payments in this economy. I know I would be able to pay more to make this happen. Again, it is a tiered system, the good stuff is locked down, the ok stuff is unlimited. That’s fine, but I want the good stuff and I want to make it easier for patrons to get it. That would put a lot of money in people’s pockets and provide a good public service. Libraries are only in the game to provide great service and that great service makes publishers a lot of money. 5. Don’t know 6. Answered first one to much excitement. I don’t know if that is going to phase out since PDF is so embedded in the day to day beyond reading. (that’s me being cynical) 7. I know that Ovedrive has developed a mobile Overdrive system. This is for audiobooks, music, and movies. This is the only software interface they own. It would probably take something from a e-reader vendor, like a “Adobe Digital Editions Mobile” for your PDA or e-reader, to make that work. I know Overdrive doesn’t have any control over that and the Adobe Digital Editions working with Sony Reader was a pleasant development. They didn’t really have control over that development either from what I could tell. 8. Audiobooks are the big game. I know most libraries are reducing their check-out time on audiobooks from three weeks to two for several reasons. One, the audiobook demand is outstripping current resources. A week reduction would make more titles available more quickly. Second, with a little know how, most audiobooks are permanent check-outs. Audioboks that can be burned to a cd have the drm stripped so it is a permanent check-out. Those that don’t allow the burn can be transferred to a low-end mp3 player and will also strip the drm. I have had audiobooks longer than three weeks on a Sansa 1gb mp3 player. It stays there forever and doesn’t corrupt. Essentially, you don’t need the third week. Will e-books catch up to audio? Only when e-books gain great traction. Right now, it is easier to acquire a mp3 player (cheaper too) than an e-reader device. I can get something for less than $20 that will do the job. A cheap pda is $50 and then you need to learn how to use it. It is going to be slower based on my perceptions. In the end I can’t speak for Overdrive, but I definitely can see how the market develops from what I know. I know libraries can make changes to this, but it would require demand from them and more money. The second part is tough to come by right now. However, if Overdrive could take more of a risk and get more titles or allocate more funds to get more popular titles even available, that would help long term with getting titles that have less drm. Technically, there is no drm on any audio file, it can be stripped fairly easily. The e-book are locked down very, very, tightly. You would think it is a top secret document, For the President’s Eyes Only. What’s the deal with that? Hope that helps. 1. My guess is that this is always a cost issue. Overdrive doesn’t own the content, they provide the content. It is very similar to a public library providing the content. If publishers are not happy with what you do with their content, they don’t continue to do business with you. I bet we could do a study on the levels of DRM dependant upon the title and the publishing company. All the really good stuff is locked down tight. The response would be, at least we can offer you good stuff. The ok stuff can be meddled with, and the stuff you really wouldn’t want to own is available permanently. It’s a global push that would require more compensation to bigger publishing houses. The more Overdrive makes, the more they pay the publishers, the more the publishers realize they can make a lot of money giving letting people read their books for free. Too bad they don’t realize library’s do that now and this would just be an electronic version of the same system. Bookstores make money off of libraries. A patron gets interested in a book from a free public library, they buy the next one as soon as it comes out. People like to own their favorite books.

2. Other companies do that mostly on the academic side. Netlibrary is one, Ingram MyILibrary is another. It is a question as to whether recreational reading would be enjoyed looking at a computer. I would bet the market isn’t ready for that, at least not yet.

3. That one’s over my head.

4. Well they could do it. It is more a risk if they ask libraries to pay up ahead of time. Libraries can make this push. If they want this and say we will pay more for this, everyone would benefit long term. Overdrive doesn’t take many risks. Public Libraries could push this, but I doubt many could up their payments in this economy. I know I would be able to pay more to make this happen. Again, it is a tiered system, the good stuff is locked down, the ok stuff is unlimited. That’s fine, but I want the good stuff and I want to make it easier for patrons to get it. That would put a lot of money in people’s pockets and provide a good public service. Libraries are only in the game to provide great service and that great service makes publishers a lot of money.

5. Don’t know

6. Answered first one to much excitement. I don’t know if that is going to phase out since PDF is so embedded in the day to day beyond reading. (that’s me being cynical)

7. I know that Ovedrive has developed a mobile Overdrive system. This is for audiobooks, music, and movies. This is the only software interface they own. It would probably take something from a e-reader vendor, like a “Adobe Digital Editions Mobile” for your PDA or e-reader, to make that work. I know Overdrive doesn’t have any control over that and the Adobe Digital Editions working with Sony Reader was a pleasant development. They didn’t really have control over that development either from what I could tell.

8. Audiobooks are the big game. I know most libraries are reducing their check-out time on audiobooks from three weeks to two for several reasons. One, the audiobook demand is outstripping current resources. A week reduction would make more titles available more quickly. Second, with a little know how, most audiobooks are permanent check-outs. Audioboks that can be burned to a cd have the drm stripped so it is a permanent check-out. Those that don’t allow the burn can be transferred to a low-end mp3 player and will also strip the drm. I have had audiobooks longer than three weeks on a Sansa 1gb mp3 player. It stays there forever and doesn’t corrupt. Essentially, you don’t need the third week. Will e-books catch up to audio? Only when e-books gain great traction. Right now, it is easier to acquire a mp3 player (cheaper too) than an e-reader device. I can get something for less than $20 that will do the job. A cheap pda is $50 and then you need to learn how to use it. It is going to be slower based on my perceptions.

In the end I can’t speak for Overdrive, but I definitely can see how the market develops from what I know. I know libraries can make changes to this, but it would require demand from them and more money. The second part is tough to come by right now. However, if Overdrive could take more of a risk and get more titles or allocate more funds to get more popular titles even available, that would help long term with getting titles that have less drm. Technically, there is no drm on any audio file, it can be stripped fairly easily. The e-book are locked down very, very, tightly. You would think it is a top secret document, For the President’s Eyes Only. What’s the deal with that? Hope that helps.

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