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New York e-mobile visit: Kudos to OverDrive for pushing E—but what those pesky tech and biz-model issues?
August 12, 2008 | 11:16 am
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By David Rothman
"…inside New York City’s Central Park, a crowd gathered outside an 18-wheel tractor-trailer tricked out with broadband Internet-connected PCs, high-definition flat-screen monitors, and all manner of MP3 devices." – Library Journal.
The TeleRead take: Kudos to OverDrive for promoting e-books in a bold, imaginative way, even if LJ seemed to play up the MP3 gizmos more! Now I hope OverDrive will respond to questions sent last month on issues such as permanent checkouts, DRM and the long-overdue creation of an official ePub logo. Significantly, OverDrive CEO Steve Potash is president of the International Digital Publishing Forum, the main standards group within e-bookdom.
Unanswered questions: Can OverDrive address social needs in new ways?
Ahead read the questions that we e-mailed OverDrive on July 14, apparently without a reply so far. Any librarians care to volunteer to follow up if OverDrive doesn’t respond? Remember, OverDrive ultimately must meet be responsive to its customers or go out of business. I’d hope that OverDrive would also consider social needs. For example, Net-hip children are more likely to use the library if they can download at least a limited number of copyrighted books for keeps—one way to encourage them to build personal libraries. Used PDAs sell for as little as $50. What’s more, the e-book friendly iPod Touch that I got used for around $210 will probably go for the $50 new in the next five-years. Can’t someone connect the dots and encourage the kids to build book collections, not just music collections?
Already in permanent checkout territory with audio books
Meanwhile, unwittingly, OverDrive has already ventured into permanent checkout territory with audiobooks. It’s laudably making some audiobooks available for permanent burning on CD for private use. I’m just asking that permanent checkouts be possible with the e-books of consenting publishers. Yes, there could be limits per patron to avoid massive competition with bookstores, which actually might come out ahead if children got into the habit of building private collections (with social DRM in place to help deal with the P2P issue).
Related: Earlier TeleRead item on the bookmobile, plus an OverDrive news release and its bookmobile page. Among the other visited cities will be Boston, Cleveland, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
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Sent on July 14 to Loree Potash (holder of a library science graduate degree and exec VP of OverDrive) and her husband…
Hi, Loree and Steve. I’m delighted to see OverDrive experimenting with DRMless library audiobooks, and I’d like to follow up with a few questions, for one or both of you to answer by e-mail for quotation in the TeleBlog.
No need for an instant reply. Just let me know if/when answers will be coming, which I very much hope they will.
1. How open would OverDrive’s library side be to the concept of "permanent checkouts," an option through which libraries could offer limited numbers of books? Maybe a book or so a year per patron, with fair compensation to publishers? Perhaps the PC books could use social DRM, a concept that Adobe’s Bill McCoy has personally talked up in the past. Needless to say, I’d be interested in the "Why?" or "Why not?" One thing to keep in mind is that paper books cost a certain amount of money to process and keep track of, and traditional DRM comes with costs of its own, not to mention the added complexity for users, especially as increasing numbers of library patrons rely on more than one device. So I truly wonder if permanent checkouts aren’t worth experimenting with, as one business model for libraries to use simultaneously with others. The other factor is that people want to build personal libraries, and this would help.
2. Might OverDrive’s library side experiment with Web-browsable books, with expiration dates and passwords—as one other alternative to conventional DRM?
3. What about social DRM for nonlibrary books—on the retail side? Couldn’t this happen on a publisher by publisher basis? Many small publishers actually dislike traditional DRM. Also see a BookSquare post about the iPhone but also mentioning DRM as a sales-killer.
4. If OverDrive can make more money without being so DRM focused, will you? I can’t tell you how much grief DRM has caused me as a library patron. I’m really rooting for the industry to wake up. How much are you doing DRM just becuase certain publishers insist on it right now?
5. When will the IDPF do a logo for ePub—first one for nonencrypted books (where interopability is already possible) and then, if members want it and encryption standards exist, one that also covers DRMed books. Many people still tend to associate the core format with plans for DRM and no other choices. A logo, as I see it, would instantly end such doubts about ePub and also allow shopper to buy with more confidence. How do you feel?
6. How soon until Sony Reader PRS-505 owners like me can read OverDrive books with their Sonys and Digital Editions? And will OverDrive phase out PDFs in favor of ePub? Why or why not? Just what will be happening on the format front? [At least we now know the answer to the first question, following a Sony firmware update!]
7. Will you adapt to the iPhone and Touch and change the way your client libraries deliver books to patrons using those machines? How? Anything going on in this respect with Mobipocket? Can OverDrive library books be Kindle-simple to check out with the iPhone?
8. How is your business doing? Any rev figures or percentages you can use to compare with past years? Are e-books coming closer to catching up with audiobooks as a revenue source?
Thanks,
David
drNOSPAMeleread.org | 703-370-6540
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Comments:
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.