More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
Why librarians need to care about DRM and e-book standards—and affordable hardware
June 29, 2009 | 3:24 am
|
By David Rothman
Should librarians care about DRM and e-book standards and affordable hardware?
Maybe they should read No more free e-books. PalmAddicts picked up the following complaint from Linda Pettit in beautiful Oak Hill, West Virginia, shown in the photo:
“I have been downloading e-books from the library for years…but now I can’t read the books on my Palm m500 anymore. Sure, I could sit at the computer and read them but what fun is that. The libraries now require you to download a new version of Adobe reader, and now the only mobile device you can import an e-book to is a Sony Reader! I knew it seemed too good to last. I hope the patrons complain about it so the libraries and Adobe will come up with a version that will work with Palm OS mobile devices.”
In fairness to the library: We don’t have complete facts here. Can anyone think of compatible gizmos for Linda Pettit besides a Sony Reader, now listing for around $300? Any truly cheap ones? By the way, I wonder if OverDrive is the library vendor involved here. Not sure. I’ll ask OverDrive if it cares to comment.
Thought: Oak Hill strikes me as just the kind of place where people don’t own the latest and great. Wikipedia says: “The median income for a household in the city was $24,792, and the median income for a family was $33,183."
|
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
Linda’s use of a Palm Pilot suggests a dedicated reader may not suit her as well as a PDA or smartphone, which can do multiple tasks as well as be an e-book reader. For instance, I use a PDA, the HP iPaq (another dying breed), and Adobe makes versions of its Acrobat reader for those.
An iPod Touch also provides organizer functions plus allows you to read e-books… and of course, if you get an iPhone, you can read e-books, and sign up for Amazon’s Kindle service (though I still understand you have to buy a Kindle itself, so maybe that’s not the best deal).
And finally, maybe it’s time to move up to a netbook or UMPC, many of which are very portable, start at $300 and provide multiple uses, not just reading.
The problem is that Adobe Digital Editions is not currently available on any PDA or smartphone. ADE reads Adobe PDF library ebooks, but, based on this report, these ebooks are no longer readable by Adobe’s ebook reader for the Palm. Note that Acrobat Reader isn’t necessarily sufficient because these PDF ebooks are encrypted.
MobiPocket ebooks are readable on most PDAs/smartphones (but not the iPhone). OverDrive sells MOBI lending library ebooks but a library must separately buy MOBI and Adobe versions. This is like saying a hardback book comes with a red and a blue cover and a library can only lend the red covers to surnames A-M and the blue covers to surnames N-Z. Overdrive should offer multi-DRM licences (perhaps at a price premium) so that a single ebook could either be lent as a PDF (or an ePub) or a MOBI ebook.
Try downgrading your adobe acrobat to 6.0. It should work with most devices. Before my Sony Reader, I could get them on my Dell Axim. (Still no way on the touch though.)
Two things to consider.
1) The Sony Reader can be purchased for $150. Visit this link: http://www.sonyrewards.com/en/gateway/?offerlink=snreader300 . As I read it, the way that it works is that when you buy the reader with your new Sony Visa card you get ‘card credits’.
2) Another choice is to look into the EZReader Pocket Pro from Astak. I understand it will be available in about four weeks from, say by the end of July if not sooner. It is expected to run Adobe Digital Editions and to cost between $199 to $210 from http://www.goezebook.com/ . The pocket pro is a 5″ next generation reader. Alternatively, there will be a few last generation 6″ EZReaders on sale from Fry’s next weekend (July 4th) — perhaps as low as $219.