Note: This is
an edited text chat transcript from Session Three of the Day of the Digital
Audio Book, an online conference held on February 16, 2006.
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tech Support] People have asked for the slides for
today's session. All will be available, plus additional content through LibraryU - http://learning.libraryu.org. These full modules will be published in the
next couple of weeks and will be even better and more interactive. A link to
the slides will also be posted in the OPAL archives. For today's material, you can access all slides
at: http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/LULive_20060216.html
[Ben Watson] All I know is that holds 160 hours of info.
I'm assuming it's around 5 gig, maybe 5.5 but the web
site doesn't say.
[Stephanie Gerding] Wow, $25!
[Lisa from LibraryU] Just a
reminder - we will be sending a message to all registrants with a link to the
archived recordings for these sessions. The email that you provided at
registration will be used, so if you do not hear from us by tomorrow evening,
please contact me at barnhart@gridcom.net
[Ben Watson] That's in lots and I don't know what the lot
is. It's not designed for music but only for voice.
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Lisa from LibraryU] You can
also type your questions into the chat box and I'll gather them and give them
to Tom and Lori. We have an additional Q & A session scheduled with Lori
and Tom on Feb. 28 from
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=collection_digibooks
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters]
http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/customize/ie/defaults/su/sbcydsl/*http://www.yahoo.com
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters]
http://ebpl.org/Library_Services/Digital_Audio_Books.asp
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[vicky]
would it work to download the overdrive books onto a
[Lori Bell] Vicky, that is a
good question. I do not know the answer. Anyone else?
[vicky]
the reason I asked is a
[Ben Watson] Technically, if you can burn it to a cd, you could burn it to a dvd. But that's only technically. I have never
accessed Overdriveand had never heardof
it until today.
[Arlene] with regard to the kiosks, would patrons need to
bring their drivers each time?
[Lori Bell] Arlene, with the kiosks, they would not need
to
[Lori Bell] That is what the kiosk will do - sense the
player, etc.
[vicky]
also, a
[Sarah Heuertz] are these MARC
records from OCLC?
[Debbie Baaske] Yes, they are
OCLC records
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Eric L] How can a kiosk sense the player without needing
the individual manufactuer's drivers for the hardware
devices?
[Ben Watson] 2000and I thought it was
even in the late 90's but I won'tget dogmatic about
that.
[Tech Support] the players send identification
information, much like browsers, that can be interpreted
[Eric L] I've found so far that players that do not
require specific drivers to function often do not support protected WMA files
of Netlibrary
[Eric L] so where are these drivers downloaded from?
[Charlee Glinka]
So Audible can't provide stats?
[Tech Support] the kiosks appear to transfer the files by
connecting the player to the kiosk using a
[Tom Peters]
http://www.overdrive.com/news/pr/20051214.asp
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tech Support]
http://www.apple.com/lae/itunes/audiobooks.html - The Apple/Audible partnership
[Eric L] (btw, the low quality
file format of netlibrary is rather poor quality - we
don't recommend it to our patrons to use)
[sally] I don't think not
allowing the burning of CDs is a disadvantage--this would encourage the user to
"borrow" it again.
[Eric L] This is true, but limits the use of it in cars because
the patrons would need FM modulator/transmitter equipment to play through the
radios
[cathy
stepanek] I've heard that there are audiobook book clubs and one person buys a digital copy and
burns CDs for others.
[Charlee Glinka]
Does any library allow patrons to download at the library?
[julie
lombardo] Yes, probably desirable but wouldn't this
cause a huge headache for copyright?
[sally] You can buy a device to
plug in from your car radio to the unit which negates the need to burn a CD for
the car radio
[Eric L] Charlee -- we are
attempting to setup download station for library use (IE my kiosk questions
from earlier)... and it starts to become a headache
[julie
lombardo] Yes, Charlee, we
allow patrons to download at the library
[LindaS] Eric - I would like to
learn more about your library's experience with a download station.
[Arlene] We've committed to a two year contract w/ NetLibrary. Our goal
now is to keep the interest up and promote it in our 73 libraries. Marketing is
always a challenge. We're creating
"canned" monthly press releases for our libraries for their local
newspapers among other things.
[Charlee Glinka]
Julie, what's your experience with library techie support and bandwidth issues?
[connie]
We are just coming online with NetLibrary. We will allow downloading at our Internet
stations. They have DeepFreeze and will clear files
at reboot.
[Victoria Tafoya] Eric L. -
what kind of problems are you having?
[Luca] Connie. How
will you handle the need for drivers?
[julie
lombardo] yes, connie, DeepFreeze for us too.
Works quite well.
[Luca] You'll constantly have to reinstall the drivers
for each device, right?
[julie
lombardo] Luca, what drivers?
[Eric L] Well, driver issues as one -- each brand of mp3
player has its own driver disc... add to that some players require Windows XP,
some are usable with Win2k or XP...
[connie]
With netlibrary the
[Ben Watson] There's one thing that hasn't been mentioned
here and that is giving the user one of the free library services, if that's
what you want to call them. Go to www.audiobooksforfree.com. Thisis an English company that has thousands of free books
for download, mostly classics at varrying rates of
speed. The free versions are low quality and the better ones you pay something
like $2.00, though it's been a while since I looked at the site. That site
again is www.audiobooksforfree.com
[julie
lombardo] Patrons need to download to their device w/
usb cable and no software is needed.
[Eric L] then driver conflicts would require us to
reinstall the machines more often than desired.
[Luca] The drivers that allow the files
to transfer to the portable players.
[Eric L] but deep freeze does will wipe
out the driver on restart, and several drivers that we have tested require a
reboot before using.
[Charlotte Johnson] Article on Apple's free "iTunes U" software for colleges is at
http://chronicle.com/free/2006/01/2006012501t.htm
[julie
lombardo] Luca, Windows Media Player takes care of
file transfers.
[connie]
We have Windows Media Player 10 installed..it
burns to the player
[Luca] Julie, some players require specific drivers and
won't work simply with Windows Media.
[ryn]
Have you heard of http://librivox.org/?
[julie
lombardo] Luca, we've noticed that to be true with
Win98 and even Win2000 but this is not the case so far with XP.
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Eric L] well Windows XP will not notice certain players
until the drivers are installed for them
[Lori Bell] If you want to try Tumblebooks
in different types, go to http://www.mitbc.org/dtbs.shtml
[julie
lombardo] Eric, we've not encountered this problem -
have been allowing patrons to download and transfer to their players since
April - perhaps we're missing something and we don't even know it?
[Lori Bell] no, sorry
[Tom Peters] http://www.mitbc.org/dtbs.shtml
[Eric L] very interesting -- we'll have to look into that,
thanks Julie
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[sally] Playaway
seems more as a consumer oriented product to me
[Eric L] I wouldn't say that persay
-- only one device per book would start taking a lot of space for the consumer
[Charlee Glinka]
Eric L, Julie-- have you noticed bandwidth degradation on your network when
patrons download the large files?
[Gene Harrison] I was skeptical at first, but I can
actually see these becoming popular...
[Gene Harrison] It seems like a good concept
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Sharon Zuiderveld] I think Playaway would be great for Seniors
and homebound folks.
[Gene Harrison] How long is the battery life?
[Tech Support] 10-12 hours
[Eric L] Charlee - we haven't
officially "released" downloading stations yet. But I've been preparing for potential
bandwidth problems. We increased the
bandwidth for each library by about 25% and I'm working on setting up traffic
shaping for the "one" download station to prevent it from gobbling up
bandwidth from staff circulation.
[ryn]
I've talked with low vision patrons who have tried Playaway
and they have had a positive experience.
[Joanne Cox] I think you are right, Tom. It's a transition for those of us that aren't
familiar with the downloading concept.
Way to build familiarity
[Gene Harrison] That's pretty good
[Gene Harrison]
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[julie
lombardo] Charlee, we've
separated our internet traffic through our Sonic Wall so patrons can only use a
certain amount. This way they don't
hinder staff use of Internet, etc.
[Kim Bunner] Any DRM (DIgital Rights Management) software that is spyware of reader's downloads for books or other items?
[Charlee Glinka]
Thanks, Eric L and Julie
[Arlene] In addition to our 2 year contract w/ NetLibrary, we also offer
[Lori Bell] Kim, I am not aware of any
[Tom Peters] http://www.librivox.org/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[LindaS] With streaming,
however, can you stop in the middle to take a break and bookmark??? how does that work?
[Lori Bell] http://www.textaloud.com
[Lori Bell] there you can hear some of the different
types and qualities of voices
[Lori Bell] They even have voices with different accents
from
[Eric L] In all, there are a lot of considerations with
regard to hardware/bandwidth/software when it comes to download stations in the
libraries - above all you have to maintain a high level of availability for
circulation and normal library usage.
[Gene Harrison] Someone needs to be in the library itself
to take advantage of streaming, or are they able to access from home also?
[Eric L] From home with their library
card, Gene...
[Gene Harrison] ah
[Ben Watson] I can tell the difference, but it's getting
harder. But if text to speech is done right, it still must be edited and right
now most of the sites that are using this don't edit their material, thereby
making it sound computerized.
[Lisa from LibraryU] OK, I'll
check
[Tom Peters] http://learning.libraryu.org/LULive/
[Sharon Zuiderveld] This has
been a tremendous day. What a lot to absorb! Thanks.
[Gene Harrison] It has been a very informative day,
thanks everyone for all the information.
[julie
lombardo] yes, one more question - does anyone have
an opinion on the best player? In terms of bookmarking, and ease of use?
[Margie Eaton] Thank you for the great information. I learned alot. It is alot to think
about.
[Kim Bunner] Thanks, Lori and
Tom. You are both wonderful at bringing
the latest trends to all of us in a succinct way. Very enjoyable. I also like the "blended"
technology format.
[Tom Peters] Thanks, Everyone, for attending
[Gene Harrison] Does anyone currently offer a digital
version of a Dial-a-story? Maybe like a podcast format? Just
thought I would throw that one out there, we've been talking about looking into
it.
[Lori Bell] Gene, there is a click a story
[Lori Bell] Thomas Ford Memorial Library
[Lori Bell] in
[Lori Bell] have you seen that site?
[Gene Harrison] I've seen the Ford Memorial one..
[Lori Bell] I am not aware of any others
[Lori Bell] Let us know if you develop one :)
[Ben Watson] Hey, guys, This was a smashing success. Thanks for putting it together. Forme it was informative.