Ian E. Wilson is the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada. (Found via LISNews.)

posted by David Rothman at 6:56 PM | permanent link

Check out this Techdirt item and a BBC report.
posted by David Rothman at 6:48 PM | permanent link

Isn't it a little silly to force libraries to buy "copies" of e-books for each borrower allowed to access them at once? That's often the case in today's e-book business. Imagine the mess that results when there is a sudden spike in the demand for best-sellers.

An interesting alternative is one that TeleRead has advocated for years--the concept of public lending rights, with fees paid per access. The Wikipedia has a nifty little article on the concept, with a mentions of countries where libraries pay for lending rights to paper books.

posted by David Rothman at 10:02 AM | permanent link

Musician David Byrne "compared online file-sharing services to free public libraries, and pointed out that those institutions once were a new concept, too. He said: 'If you were a publisher, you didn't say, "Oh no, Mr. Carnegie, don't go build those libraries--it's going to destroy our business."'" - This Compilation CD Is Meant To Be Copied and Shared, in the Wall Street Journal.

The TeleRead take: Andrew Carnegie did not invent the concept of public libraries. But whoever did must have encountered opposition--which is unfortunate. Libraries and bookstores can indeed complement each other, the former helping to build demand for the latter, both the printed and electronic varieties.

Libraries cannot afford to carry every book and make it available to borrowers instantly; for that, you need a network of bookstores serving buyers. Meanwhile the libraries are helping to promote both individual titles and the book business as a whole.

File-sharing and the bottom line

Now, separately, let's consider the commercial virtues of file sharing within the music world--a trend that Creative Commons is laudably encouraging with the forthcoming release of a meant-to-be-shared CD. It offers the works of 16 well-known artists.

While this is a healthy step in the promotion of for-fee music through the free variety, the real glories of file-sharing arise through P2P and other network-related technologies that provide listeners many thousands of choices.

More choices--and revenue

Via file-sharing networks, receptive listeners can easily browse and enjoy samples with the precise music categories that they like.

That, in turn, can lead to purchase of other content from the same musicians.

I know. Music tycoons say that with enough lawsuits, people will be forced to pay for everything worthwhile. But that is an awesomely moronic mindset. Most recordings are just like books and are not best-sellers. People will be more likely to give unknown musicians a chance if they can sample their wares for free.

Stars vs. obscurities?

Does this more open system mean that the percentage of income earned by the top stars will drop? Maybe. But overall the profits of the music industry will grow because listeners can more easily connect with the music closest to their tastes, as opposed to the cold-blooded business judgments of marketers.

While the percentage of sales by the most popular musicians could well drop, their actual incomes will rise because of the greater efficiencies of this natural kind of marketing. Record companies can spend less on expensive promotion and costly distribution networks and cut the artists in more of the gross.

No more hoodlums threatening 12 years olds

Instead of shelling out millions on lawyers and siccing thugs on a 12-year-old honor student in a pubic housing project--or entirely innocent bystanders, via automated harrassment--the big music conglomerates and others in entertainment should instead focus on trimming fat. Then encourage file sharing to let consumers decide for themselves which performers will be the biggest sellers, as opposed to the forced-feeding approach.

Contrary to ex-RIAA boss Hilary Rosen's depiction of file-sharing as a niche application, it should be a centerpiece of music industry's strategy for growing revenues.

The book business

Needless to say, in modified ways, the above lessons also apply to the book business. Liberal sharing of parts of books could encourage demand for entire works for pay. In certain cases--I'm not recommending this as the norm, given the time it takes to write a whole book--a writer may even want to release entire works to the public for free as a career-builder. That has hardly ruined Cory Doctorow. Is there a place for sold books and library books (actually overlapping categories)? Of course. But let's be open-minded toward file sharing as well.

(Thanks to Andy Oram at O'Reilly for bringing the WSJ piece to my attention.)
posted by David Rothman at 7:56 AM | permanent link

Looks as if PowerByHand/eReader could well be gouging some Kansas Schools for e-book versions of classics. See Public domain classics priced to make Jack Valenti smile. (Press release found via eBookAd.)
posted by David Rothman at 5:08 AM | permanent link

It's great to see interest building in e-paper technologies, including some new efforts by BASF. E-book display tech has improved in recent years, but it will get still better when color displays become the norm. Among other things, this will make e-paper more attractive for educational apps to replace conventional textbooks. (Found via eBookAd.)

Related: Taking stock of e-paper, in Computerworld.
posted by David Rothman at 4:50 AM | permanent link

If you missed this week's chatcast on My Antonia, you can enjoy a recording in WMA format. Thanks to the Cather Project, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and moderator Tom Peters for an enlightening session, which, yes, included some discussion of the parallels between Antonia and the Great Gatsby. I'm delighted that Tom postponed the chatcast to allow participation by the Cather Project, so that readers everywhere could ask questions of academics who've devoted their lives to the study of Cather and her works. Oh, and if you want, you can even catch up with Tom's reading notes--this week's brave little experiment.
posted by David Rothman at 3:01 AM | permanent link

Two good developments. First Creative Commons has come up with a special licensing option to allow interestd content creators give special consideration to people in developing countries. Second, Brazil and some other developing countries are on the warpath against WIPO being nothing more than a tool of Hollywood and other content-related interests. They want more attention paid to the development needs of the Third World. Meanwhile you can read a related Financial Times article.
posted by David Rothman at 2:47 AM | permanent link

Turns out that Ralph Nader has spoken out against the "ever-escalated march of corporate lobbying for expanding intellectual property rights." Happened during the last presidential election. Why isn't he speaking out this time? And I'm still looking for documented specifics of Naderspeak on the DMCA and Bono and the rest. The information on Nader's past position came out in a Slashdot interview--see Question 5. (Found via comments in the Lessig blog.)

Related: Nader: Al Isn't Net's Best Friend, from Wired News. Yo, Ralph? Doesn't the same headline apply to Kerry? I thought you were going to defy the Coke-vs.-Pepsi tradition of the Republicans and Democrats and educate voters on multibillion-dollar issues ignored by the major parties and the media. Just why are you less courageous on IP matters than in the last campaign? This problem is easy to fix. Just speak up; and I and zillions of other bloggers will happily quote you.
posted by David Rothman at 2:21 AM | permanent link

"Now Josh Wattles (right), former acting general counsel of Paramount Pictures, a key architect of the MPAA's (Motion Picture Association of America) anti-piracy programs in the transition to videocassette distribution, and the former senior executive in charge of Viacom's music subsidiaries, The Famous Music Publishing Companies, has again written to senators Orrin Hatch and Patric Leahy expressing serious concerns over S.2560." - P2Pnet.net.

The TeleRead take: One wonders what hidden agendas the DC pols might have--in being so gung ho on INDUCE-style legislation. Is it more than pandering to campaign contibutors? With such an eagerness for centralized control despite rhetoric to the contrary, do people in Congress fear P2P philosophically? If so--well, they actually could be harming national security. Some of the most ardent fans of P2P and other pesky technologies threatened by INDUCE are in the military.

Detail: The P2Pnet article includes the full text of the Wattles letter.
posted by David Rothman at 1:39 AM | permanent link

"Some exceptions to the conventional wisdom that no one wants to read novels online exists in the realm of fiction. Cory Doctorow, author of the science fiction book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom said the novel has been downloaded more than 400,000 times since he began offering it for free online in January, 2003." - Free Content Still Sells, in Wired News.

The TeleRead take: I applaud Cory's experiments with free books online as a way to spur the sales of paper copies of D&O, as well as of a second novel, Eastern Standard Tribe. That isn't even to consider the societal benefits.

But in strictly bottom-line terms, might it make sense for him instead to get serious about directly selling his next novel in electronic form? Maybe. Maybe not. I'd go more with "Not" right now, but the tipping point could come in the near future as display technology improves and e-books in general gain in popularity.

Heresy among white hats

I know. Even to think about Cory's selling works online sounds like heresy among us foes of content gouges. But let's say that we could relive history and the Magic Kingdom drew 20,000 downloads with a price tag of $2.95 each. That would be almost $60,000, excluding his royalties from hardback sales, which, even without the present PR from free downloads, would probably exceed $25,000. Total revenue: more than $85K.

What rains on the parade is that Cory's publisher most likely would want him to split the download revenue, not just the revenue from paper books. But in the future, with better technology and perhaps new business models, sales of reasonably priced downloads might make sense for Cory. They already do for countless other authors without his contacts and contracts.

Details: I'm just offering some guestimates of revenue; I don't know what the actual stats are, or would be. Also, yes, I'm aware of a $9.95 digital version of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. But in the DRMed Microsoft Reader format, it really doesn't count--especially since you can buy a used hardback version for less than $4 and confidently own it forever. Adding to the absurdity of it all, Microsoft might be collecting as much as 10 percent of the cover price, directly, or indirectly--just a guess. Oh, well, software conglomerates ahead of writers and publishers, right?
posted by David Rothman at 9:09 AM | permanent link

...can Dan Rather admit that CBS and the other big media have neglected the story of the multibillion-dollar copyright giveaway? Why aren't Bono and the DMCA issues for the press--and the candidates as well?

So far big media are letting Bush and Kerry be silent on these expensive Hollywod-bought laws despite the great harm they will do to schools, libraries, consumers and business.

Even Nader is wimping out. At least Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik has expressed personal opposition to the DMCA and INDUCE, in a Slashdot session. Good for him! (He's also against a menace of another kind, the Patriot Act.)

But not a word from Nader and the Dems. And the media are no small reason for this. How can the DMCA and the rest be issues when the voters have never heard of them, thanks to spineless news organizations?
posted by David Rothman at 2:00 AM | permanent link

Amazon teems with readers' separate comments on individual books--in the book review format. But what if the results were combined into one master set of reading notes geared to page numbers or places within e-books, via wikis?

Should public librarians themselves be starting wikis and helping public schools do the same? Could ordinary library patrons participate in wikis? Could wikis be the new reading clubs--especially if combined at times with audio chats under which the editor-writers reached an consensus? And might there even be advantages to pubic librarians teaming up with academic librarians on wikis?

In LISNews and in the context of tonight's forthcoming discussion of My Antonia, I offer a few musings. Not so coincidentally, Tom Peters, the moderator of the discussion, is himself a big advocate of reader annotations.
posted by David Rothman at 9:19 PM | permanent link

Mark it down--7 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Tuesday: a Meting of the Minds discussion of My Antonia, the classic Willa Cather novel. Cosponsors are the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center in Nebraska and the Willa Cather Project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Thanks meanwhile to the Hastings Tribune in Nebraska (for the article below), as well as to the Hastings Public Library and the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial amd Educational Foundation.

Students and fans of Nebraska author Willa Cather will gather via the Internet Tuesday for an e-discussion of the novel “My Ántonia.”

The global “chatcast,” sponsored by the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Cather Project, begins at 7 p.m. The discussion will feature several panelists, including doctoral students from UNL.

Residents of Webster and Adams counties are especially encouraged to log onto the chatcast. “My Antonia” is set in Red Cloud and the surrounding area.

To join in from home, all chatcast participants need is a 56K dial-up connection, a sound card and speakers or a headset. A microphone is optional since typed questions may be submitted

Necessary software for the chat downloads automatically to the computers of participants and does not include ads or spy programs, said Tom Peters, book-talk moderator for the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center.

Peters recommends that those wanting to participate log on a few minutes early to make sure the software is working. The Web address is http://tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1.

Those wanting to participate but not having the necessary computer setup may contact Pam Bohmfalk, assistant director of the Hastings Public Library, who will try to make arrangements for a hookup at the library. She may be reached at (402) 461-2346.

Copies of “My Antonia” are available from area libraries and booksellers, including the Willa Cather Bookstore in Red Cloud. UNL also has posted an annotated scholarly version of the novel online.

Tuesday’s chatcast is part of the “Meeting of the Minds” series from the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center.

* * *

Update, 7:46 p.n.: Here are Tom Peters' Antonia reading notes done with the panel in mind. He didn't do this for formal publication. These are just notes.
posted by David Rothman at 1:36 PM | permanent link

"E Ink cofounder Barret Comiskey, who shares the patent with his former professor and colleagues at the MIT Media Lab, says that an electronic ink book may be on the market within five years. The arrival of such a book may revolutionize the way people read. With libraries ready on demand in a centralized database available online, readers may plug in and download whatever text they choose, from newspapers to novels, right into a portable little book that is in effect any book they want it to be." - CBS story from Sept. 20, 1999--five years ago today.

The TeleRead take: What a botch society has made of E Ink so far, as least if you go by the hobbled Sony Librie. Imagine where we'd be without the format wars and Draconian DRM--and a wealth of content available through a TeleRead-style approach.
posted by David Rothman at 11:24 AM | permanent link

"A growing number of students are skirting the high cost of textbooks by illegally downloading pirated copies from the web, according to publishers who want stiffer copyright laws to curb a practice some say is pilfering revenues." - Ottawa Citizen.

The TeleRead take: As noted by Techdirt, "the reporter had trouble finding a single student who was actually doing this--and most students seemed to think it would be something of a pain to read a textbook that way. Instead, many believe that this is just the textbook publishing industry's way of explaining away the fact that they keep raising prices every year for no clear reason."

Needless to say, a TeleRead-style approach could help further reduce the incentive for piracy by allowing countless textbooks to go online for free, with provisions for compensation for content-owners.
posted by David Rothman at 10:03 AM | permanent link

In Saving the Artistic Orphans, Wired News tells how stricter copyright laws are harming culture and education in the era of longer copyright terms. Groups like the Internet Archive and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are fighting back in the Kahle vs. Ashcroft lawsuit.

One big problem is that it's hard to locate copyright owners for permission to reproduce old workers because under current laws they no longer must register or renew. The result? Both commercial and noncommercial uses of the "artistic orphans" are suffering. Ironically, by being harder to find, even the copyright owners are losing out in some cases.

posted by David Rothman at 9:39 AM | permanent link