or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


Potential, Realized

   December 4th, 2008 Brian Herzog

mp3 announcementThis is what it looks like when I shoot off my mouth too soon.

My last post was about how DRM downloadable audiobooks drastically limit the audiobook audience, and how an alternative for libraries is not readily available yet. Between then and now, my library's consortium's newsletter [pdf] came out, announcing that MP3 audiobooks are now available for download through our Overdrive subscription.

I know the Boston Public Library has been offering MP3 audiobooks through Overdrive for awhile, and I'm happy that we are now, too. The newsletter article [pdf] is worth reading if you're interested, but here are some highlights:

  • These MP3s work with Apple products, so iPod-people can now be like everyone else
  • There's a Mac version of the Overdrive Media Console, which is still necessary for checking the books out
  • The format is plainly indicated in the search result records, along with the type of media the file is compatible with (either MP3 or WMA): Overdrive search results
  • This paragraph also gives me hope:

    We do have 200 titles in the MP3 format. There are a broad variety of genres and subjects available, and we will continue to build the mp3 collection in each month’s OverDrive purchase. There are more "classics" than "hot titles" available in MP3 at this time; however, as the pop title publishers become more comfortable with mp3 access to more titles in the market should evolve.

Now the real test will be to see how our circulation stats change with this addition. Thanks to everyone who made this happen. If you're a library using Overdrive, I encourage you to contact them to see about offering MP3 audiobooks through your interface.

Yay for taking the boot off the car.



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