We know that present-day DRM is broken. It's a major hassle for consumers, and, as the repeated crackings of Microsoft Reader and the rest show, it does not even work. I'm not sure if it'll ever work without more consumer-friendly business models--in fact, especially those that acknowledge DRM will be eternally flawed. Just as importantly, the battle over DRM isn't merely about here-and-now piracy prevention. It's about control and about preservation of business models. I'm picking up some thoughts here, at least in the last two sentences, from Ernie Miller. Take a look at Why Use DRM If It Doesn't Work? and related material in Copyfight.
posted by David Rothman at 3:58 PM | permanent link

How can a robust public domain boost creativity and culture? That's among the questions discussed in a copyright-related KQED public radio segment (RealAudio) featuring law professor Larry Lessig and Jeffrey Knowles, a lawyer with a more Hollywoodish 'tude. "Sucked into a black hole of legal regulation," is how Lessig describes old works lost as a result of longer copyright terms from the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
posted by David Rothman at 11:18 AM | permanent link

"Numilogebooks.com is a new ebookstore on the American market, selling LIT-formatted ebooks, i.e. digital books that can be read with (free) Microsoft Reader (downloadable on Numilogebooks’ website)." - News release.

The TeleRead take: Numilogebooks is French-owned. Other formats, including Mobipocket (mostly French owned) and Adobe, will follow. I wish Numilogiebooks much luck, but how is this e-store different from other e-stores? A positive: The Numilogebooks site is nicely laid out, with interesting selections, even if the highlighted titles are more or less limited to mainstream publishers. And hopefully Reader alternatives will be along soon, via the the store's main U.S. distributor, the Content Reserve unit of OverDrive, which is quite keen on Mobipocket.
posted by David Rothman at 4:42 AM | permanent link

"'You can take 10 books on a Palm Pilot. That's going to be a big seller,' said Kathi Troyer, 37, an executive editor for Triskelion Publishing. Troyer said buying romance novels online is also a good way to avoid the embarrassment some people feel when purchasing them." - Arizona Republic.

The TeleRead take: Great use of e-book tech, especially since Triskelion prides itself on romances with heroines outside the hourglass-figure stereotypes and whatnot. With lower costs than p-publishers, Triskelion can take more chances.
posted by David Rothman at 4:37 AM | permanent link

iPAQ h5550s are now the Tang of PDAs--the model of handhelds used on the International Space Station. HP is ballyhooing the use of e-books among other apps.

My hunch is that Microsoft Reader could be the e-book program in use, or maybe another commercial reader with DRM. If so, I hope we can get the full scoop if the astronauts suffer the same horrors that other users do--even Vint Cerf, father of the Internet.

Details: So what are the astronauts actually reading? Inquiring minds would like to know.
posted by David Rothman at 4:04 AM | permanent link

OK. So we've given you our take on library issues. For a more establishment perspective, you can use RealAudio to hear yesterday's NPR-syndicated Diane Rehm Show. It featured ALA President Carla Hayden, ex-Public Library Association President Toni Garvey and Johns Hopkins Library Dean Winston Tabb. They discussed library funding, the Bono Act, and Patriot Act and other issues. Here is the RealAudio link for the library show, broadcast on WAMU in Washington, DC. Please note that as of 3:12 a.m. EST today, the link did not appear to be working. Also of interest--with a working link: the audio of the Rehm Show on Google.
posted by David Rothman at 3:05 AM | permanent link

So which PDA is best for reading e-books? Slashdot readers served up arguments for various machines, including the Sony SJ-22 that I use and love. It appears that Slashdot does have more e-book lovers among its readers than I previously thought. Why is it, then, that anti-ebookers seem to dominate so many Slashdot debates? Could it be that the real e-book lovers would rather enjoy e-books on their Sonys and Palms and whatnots than waste time debating close-minded imbeciles?
posted by David Rothman at 6:38 AM | permanent link

Jenny "Shifted Librarian" Levine has been preaching for years on the need for libraries to reach young Net-oriented folks on their own terms by way of PDAs, cell phones, you name it. I've been saying as much, as have others; but among librarians Jenny's blog has been the place to go to.

And so it's a little disappointing to see in Library Journal an article that talks about PDAs, the importance of blogs, and the rest, and then does not even mention Jenny. Why this omission in Born with the Chip? Because blogs don't count, even popular, well-regarded ones? A 20- or 30-something writer of the article might have felt otherwise, especially since Library Journal is intended to address the practical. While "Born" is a distillation of formal research, it really should acknowledge the existence of practitioners of the philosophy cited. See a Library Journal writeup on Jenny. It tells of her being on the Web in the early '90s. "The 'shifted librarian' concept," the Journal says, "came to her when she discovered Napster a few years ago. 'Everything clicked into place,' she says. 'PDAs, my MP3 player, portable digital music on my various PCs, and there wasn't a single library that could interact with any of them.'"

Article ignores biggest need: An end to the Palace Syndrome

Furthermore, the article, in telling how libraries can serve younger library users, omits a reference to the most essential change of all, at least as I see it. Libraries should stop squandering so much money on library palaces and put more funds into online services and easy-to-get-to neighborhood branches. Perhaps one of the coauthors, Stephen Abram, incoming president of the Canadian Library Association, can use his influence to lobby for change.

In most ways I liked the article, but I also was sorry that it in some ways came across as more reactive than pro-active. Let's see fewer statements about younger library users being more multimedia oriented and more ideas about using multimedia to nudge them in the direction of books and other text--so often the most efficient way of absorbing large masses of information, especially abstractions. Can't librarians stand for something? Don't they care about promoting sustained thought--which books do so well? Maybe some of the library palace money should go for life-extension technology to keep alive those librarians who are serious about text. With library budgets under attack, of course, we might simply dispense with the bodies and stash away their brains in jars somewhere, whence would issue a steady and much-needed stream of jeremiads. As backwards as the most older librarians are about e-books, they are right on the money about text, even if an increasing number of library budgets aren't. Is there a place for multimedia? Absolutely, but some balance, please! Far from mindlessly advocating multimedia as a text replacement, Jenny herself has been keen on text as well.

Another citation missing from LJ: Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation, by Don Tapscott. Check out some GUD excerpts.

What I loved in the LJ piece: The stats on the age gap between librarians and the people they're serving: "Given that the average librarian is a Boomer and over 50, there is a gap of one to two generations between most of the profession and a growing group of our primary users, whom we all need to understand in order to serve well. The generation in question, which some call Millennials but we'll refer to as NextGens, is made up of people born between 1982 and 2002. At 81 million they form the largest population group since the Boomers at 87 million. The expectations and behaviors of this group will have a significant impact on the nature of the services that public and academic libraries need to plan and provide." You can't go by age alone, however, despite the technophobia of many gray-haired librarians. Roy Lewis, for example, a soon-to-retire Boomer with a Texas library system, who made certain the LJ piece did not slip past me, can't imagine life without e-books.

Related: Jenny's pointer to This PDA is a real Pocket PC, from Popular Science. "So what will library services look like to someone who carries their whole life in this smart communicator?" Jenny asks. "Will our networks and peripherals be ready to interact with these devices when they enter the building?" To which I'd add: "And what about people not using the device in the library at all, but rather at home or on the beach?"
posted by David Rothman at 4:16 AM | permanent link

"More than two years into an ambitious plan to develop a new approach to secure computing, Microsoft still isn't sure how it will integrate new security features into its upcoming Windows operating system, known as Longhorn. However, the company Thursday denied published reports that it's killing off the initiative." - InformationWeek.

The TeleRead take: Interesting. Microsoft hopes hopes to get this DRM thing right via hardware and software integration. But it's no small task to work with so may app-related companies and others. Hey, Microsoft can't even work with itself when it comes to getting Microsoft Reader books DRMed in a consumer-friendly way.
posted by David Rothman at 7:51 PM | permanent link

Oh, I like this. A grassroots group called Save Our Libraries, out of San Francisco, has the quixotic idea that libraries are better off spending more money on books and less on library palaces, including party facilities for fund-raisers. A lawsuit has even been filed against Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Public Library Administration for insufficiently accounting for $316 million. Two items of interest:

--S.F.'s $104-million library headquarters building "doesn't work," according to Save Our Libraries. Perhaps it's time for S.F. to start looking ahead to the era of e-books while at the same time strengthening local branches as in-person neighborhood meeting centers--which e-books won't replace. Same for lectures, story hours and the rest. In most cases, it's better that they happen close to home. Busy parents and children just can't make the trek from the neighborhoods to downtown library palaces.

--"The Branch Improvement Bond to remodel branches in San Francisco Neighborhoods has become a de-book-ification program. The Library Planning Consultant selected by the 'Friends and Foundation' has stated that 'A library is better with fewer books.' What she did not add was that, 'Then there is more room for fund-raising activities.'" Well put. Until the era of e-books arrive for real, the p-books should remain. And even then: Cut out the frills for the fund raisers. Rent a ballroom or whatever. Don't cheat the kids of the books.

More money but smaller percentage spent on books

What's more, Save Our Libraries says that since 1995 when a $316-million fund sprang into existence, "the total San Francisco Public Library budget has increased by 51 percent, while at the same time the percentage of the budget for books and materials budget has dropped by 29 percent. In the same period, the open hours have not increased at all." Sure, libraries need to pay for plenty besides books, but the failure to increase service hours suggests that SOL is probably on the mark in its criticism. A decade ago S.F. voted for Proposition E, part of which said: "Increasing library hours throughout the system and acquiring books and materials shall receive priority in appropriating and expending fund monies."

A Connecticut outrage

Meanwhile LIS News reports that a branch library in South Norwalk, CT, will reopen with fewer books--in part because of an increase in the number of computers. Not good news. I've already noted how the electronic nirvana for booklovers isn't here yet. Furthermore, when the nirvana comes, most of the access will be from home. In fairness to the Connecticut library, ADA regs requiring enough space for wheelchair access played a role. Probably this is one case where more money for the system could have both increased the number of books and served the very real needs of the disabled.

The obvious: Here's to more library spending for useful services and offerings and less for frills! How sad that a worthwhile project like the Library of Texas--flawed but a promising investment for the future--fails to get adequate support while bureaurats botch the Dallas headquarters library and squander many tens of millions in San Francisco.

(Thanks, Alev.)
posted by David Rothman at 2:45 PM | permanent link

Are you blind or Vision Impaired, and are you finding out-of-context links on the TeleRead site that drive you crazy when you use the Jaws screen reader or similar products? No perfection promised, but we'll do what we can to address that issue, and feedback will help. Write dr@teleread.org. Meanwhile thanks to a Canadian reader, Karen McCall, an adaptive tech specialist and owner of Karlen Communications, for the heads-up. A few years ago, I notice, she offered her thoughts on accessible Web pages (PDF alert).

Related: Karen also suggests The HTML Challenge from Freedom Scientific. Also there are the more technical W3C guidelines, especially the QuickTips guide.
posted by David Rothman at 11:36 AM | permanent link

As the owner of a Sony Clie, bought for less than $100 and offering 320x320 screen res in color, I was hardly excited about the $149 palmOne Zire 31 without the same sharp screen. Mike Cane disagrees. His thoughts follow.

I must strenuously disagree! You miss the point. The new Z is the upgrade for all those people--and there are many!--who bought the original mono non-backlit Z. They've tried a PDA, liked it, and want more but not at a lot of bucks. This $149 jobbie gives them MP3, card storage, and the real possibility of finally trying e-books. I'm sure most people are like me: trying to read e-books on a mono screen (my Clie S320) is just hell on the eyes and not important enough to risk ruining our eyes. I think you'll find a whole new crop of people trying--and raving about--e-books, thanks to this cheap color Palm. In fact, they might then look down on the Sony Librie for its mono screen! "It costs that much and no color? I have a color screen for just $150!"

* * *

Related: In the near future, I suspect, the Librie or equivalents will almost surely offer color. Today's E Ink and the like are just the start (link via eBookAd). For yet another perspective, see Zires Get an Update in Writing on Your Palm, which says the 31 has "just about the worst color screen you could get on a PDA." Still, I'd love for Mike to be right in his theory that the 31 will encourage more people to try e-books. Perhaps that'll happen.
posted by David Rothman at 10:28 AM | permanent link

Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre, the day when the Ohio National Guard killed four college students, including Bill Schroeder, whose obituary I wrote up for a local paper. He was a former Eagle Scout, an ROTC cadet; and I remember visiting his parents to pick up a copy of the requisite high school photo for the obit; yes, the picture you see above.

The uninformed would not think of Kent State as having a connection with the intertwined issues of censorship and copyright on the Internet, but it does. The Massacre and many other events of that era infused millions of Baby Boomers with a powerful distrust of Washington and centralized authority, and eventually helped fuel the rise of the personal computer movement and a decided preference for a minimally regulated Net. This distrust was not the only reason for the aforementioned, but it certainly did play its role. It helps explain why so many Netfolks resisted Sen. Exon's efforts to censor the Internet, and why so many today do not want Washington playing Big Brother and intruding on Americans' lives to enforce Hollywood-bought copyright laws. This isn't even to mention the damages in other ways to our civil liberties. Kent State just might be one reason why, from the start, I envisioned TeleRead as highly decentralized with librarians in many cities rather than Washington alone, and why I would vastly prefer a national digital library system to have a mix of private and public funding, rather than just the latter.

The tragedy of Kent State, however, isn't just that it cost Washington so much trust and, just as importantly, cost Bill Schroeder and three other students their lives. It is also that people who should know better learned so little. I hope that writers like Steve Manes remember Kent State next time they defend the intrusive copyright laws that so many millions in political donations from Hollywood "progressives" have bought. I, of all people, understand why Larry Lessig warns of the need to avoid letting the mass media lock up the tangible expressions of our memories of history. It is time for there to be more clearcut distinctions between commercial and noncommercial uses of copyrighted materials. The photo of Bill Schroeder is one example. I rather doubt that Florence Schroeder, his mother, handed that picture to me for it to be locked up with a (c) symbol.
posted by David Rothman at 8:24 AM | permanent link

In the Library of Texas, the Lone Star State has the right idea. Tagline: "Picture a Texas where library users receive comprehensive electronic library services where, when, and how they want them." The Web site talks about "over 19,000" e-books and and thousands of journals.

Trouble is, Texas lately has been cutting back on databases, at least in genealogy (HeritageQuest) and medical studies (STAT!Ref).

What's next? Hopefully the netLibrary-related offerings from the state's electronic library can keep growing or at least continue.

Meanwhile Billy Barron reports from Plano that Library of Texas is apparently unknown to 99 percent of the folks in Texas and that "my library card doesn't seem to have their catalogue on it." He's also concerned that his existing library card won't work with the online library.

Let's hope that Texas can get its act together and that the electronic library--apparently the real-life version of a 1996 proposal--can ultimately flourish.
posted by David Rothman at 2:57 AM | permanent link

"In six months, educational toy maker LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. has gone from an industry leader to a Wall Street loser. A startling first-quarter sales decline has investors and analysts worrying that management has lost its handle on the company." - AP.

The TeleRead take: LeapFrog Enterprises is the company behind the LeapPad e-books for kids. I have not been following it, but let's hope we're not talking Gemstar II here.

posted by David Rothman at 2:42 AM | permanent link

We've fixed the TeleBlog page for the blind and vision impaired. Problems with the page in the future? If so, always email us.
posted by David Rothman at 12:31 AM | permanent link

That's the title of J.D. Lasica's forthcoming book--sad not to see the B word mentioned in the subtitle!--and you can suggest additions and changes via a wiki. I'll await the finished work with interest. J.D. seems to be revisiting much of the territory that Larry Lessig already has, but he does so in a compellingly vivid journalistic style. I'm sorry Darknet isn't out now, or I'd share it with the latest political candidate I'm trying to educate about Bono and the DMCA and whatnot. (More on that later.)

Details: Keep in mind that in noting the lack of "Books" in the title, I'm not criticizing J.D. but rather the diminishing importance of books in our society. Meanwhile best of luck to him with Darknet!
posted by David Rothman at 11:51 PM | permanent link

Not everyone loves nice, glossy printed pages of black text against a white background. If you suffer from Irlen Syndrome, you may have trouble concentrating. But what if you could vary the foreground and background colors--as e-books, read with the right software, will left you do? Anyone who works with the learning disabled should have lots of explaining to do if he or she does not experiment with e-books.

(Thanks, Alev.)
posted by David Rothman at 11:07 PM | permanent link

Jenny Levine of Shifted Library fame recalls she once lost a credit card number and got locked out of a Palm e-book that she needed the number to access. Meanwhile an industry research analyst tells why he's now shunning Microsoft Reader for DRM-related reasons. What's more, following up on Jenny, Copyfight has its wrap-up of those and other messes, such as the iTunes ripoffs.

The TeleRead take: Just who are the real pirates? Consumers or the DRM zealots who are stealing so much time--and maybe other things, too, in the form of unused or underused products--from the rest of the world?

(Thanks, Alev.)
posted by David Rothman at 7:46 PM | permanent link

Our page for the blind and vision impaired is down. I'm up against some deadlines but hope to restore it later this week. Apologies.
posted by David Rothman at 2:41 AM | permanent link

Microsoft is bragging--in rather euphemistic language, of course--about its latest techno-attack on fair use. (Via Slashdot discussion.)
posted by David Rothman at 2:04 AM | permanent link

Michael Gorman, a California academic just elected president of the ALA for 2005-2006, ideally can take time to find out more about e-books. So far he hasn't exactly been the biggest booster of the medium.
posted by David Rothman at 4:45 PM | permanent link

HTML "is the most popular format by a wide margin, followed by Palm pdb/doc," Steve Sakoman says in reviewing the April traffic at the GutenTalk public domain site. "Plain old text (txt) downloads were in the noise level."

Most public domain sites, alas, still play up the .txt format. Instead they should follow Steve's example and serve up HTML or at least help people cope with the Tower of eBabel, which he does in part by providing a Palm-related format.

The best answer

Of course the best answer remains a Universal Consumer Format, which could offer both good-looking typography and compatibility. I remain baffled how e-book boosters could expect the industry to thrive when customers must do the Heathkit routine--either by converting from .txt or struggling with format incompatibilities and Doberman-style DRM.
posted by David Rothman at 3:41 PM | permanent link

Histoire de la Revolution francaise, VI by Adolphe Thiers led the top downloads in April at Steve Sakoman's GutenTalk site. The next most popular were England under the Tudors and French Lyrics. Hmm. Booklovers at play or just the usual suspects with history and lit assignments?

For fun: At some point I want to catch up with Number 10, Archibald Henderson's Mark Twain. Also check out Steve's discussion area devoted to the nuts and bolts of e-books, including reading software.
posted by David Rothman at 3:00 PM | permanent link

Yawn. Z-z-z-z. With 160x160 res, the $149 Palm Zire 31 from PalmOne is most likely a boring loser for the e-book minded. Far better to shop a little more carefully and scare up a Sony Clie on sale for $100 with a 320x320 display. The good news is that as a color machine, the Zire most likely can work with subpixel font rendering technology--perhaps the kind used with Mobipocket.
posted by David Rothman at 2:38 PM | permanent link

PC World.com has an interesting piece out of the Flexible Displays & Electronics Conference 2004 in San Francisco. (Via eBookAd.)
posted by David Rothman at 2:32 PM | permanent link

"Some parents are applauding e-books for reasons that have nothing to do with education--but everything to do with backaches. The parents say that electronic books lighten the load for children afflicted with bulging backpacks." - Gary Robertson, Richmond Times Dispatch.

The TeleRead take: Clueful comments. No so clueful: Robertson's observation that "ebooks appear to be years away from replacing conventional textbooks--if ever, entirely..." That's much of what TeleRead is about. As the highly readable Librie shows, the old Luddite arguments no longer apply to the exent they did before. Now if only vendors can wise up about DRM, and librarians and educators can also catch up with reality.
posted by David Rothman at 7:00 AM | permanent link

They've cracked Apple's iTunes, Apple has responded, but the mice are playing again. Kinda like Microsoft Reader and Convert Lit, eh? The lesson is the same. Technology alone isn't enough to protect intellectual property. Time for more consumer-friendly business models to at least reduce the incentive for piracy?
posted by David Rothman at 6:49 AM | permanent link

Borrowed Leonard Da Vinci's notebook lately? No, not the real thing. But you can flip the pages of a virtual reproduction, via the British Library's Turning the Pages project, which also includes nine other historical books. The Christian Science Monitor has the details. (Found via Dr. James Meyer of St. Gregory's University.)
posted by David Rothman at 6:32 AM | permanent link

Yes, PDF sucks as a way of displaying e-books on small handheld devices. But if you're masochistic enough to want to read it on an iPOD, you can with the PocketMac iPOD edition. I suspect that won't let you read user-hostile DRMed PDF, the kind unfortunately favored by so many publishers. But it could be handy for reading open PDF books from places such as eBookAd. Plus, the program also works the RTF and Microsoft Word formats and allows your iPOD to do other PDA-style chores--pretty handy, given all storage available. Remember, iPods now come with anywhere from a gig to 40G of space.

(Via Mary Tyler's post to the eBook Community list.)
posted by David Rothman at 6:00 AM | permanent link

The Brass Check, Upton Sinclair's classic and ever timely expose of the media, is now available in Mobipocket format for free, in addition to HTML, PDF, a Word version and one in Microsoft Reader. A version with further proofing will eventually appear in ASCII, RTF, Rocket and other formats beyond the present ones--the present reproduction is not of scholarly quality. Meanwhile thanks to all who have helped, including Ed Howdershelt, who kindly served up the HTML and provided the version in Mobipocket, my favorite proprietary format. Check out the HTML on the free yBook reader, which I really like.

Update, 4:30 a.m.: Just posted a preliminary version in a straight ASCII flavor readable on the Tiny eBook Reader program, another favorite of mine, and probably a bunch of other readers. You'll see some atrocities such as lines breaking in the wrong places, but this kludge is better than no ASCII at all.
posted by David Rothman at 3:21 AM | permanent link