PlaysforSure and Audio Books
Not being ones to jump too quickly on any bandwagon (which is generally a good thing because our patrons would not generally be considered early adopters), we have begun to explore the possibility of acquiring a plan for downloadable audiobooks. The choices appear to be Audible, NetLibrary, and Overdrive. Both of the latter are Microsoft partners and use PlaysforSure, Microsoft’s proprietary DRM. PlaysforSure requires Media Player 10, which lets out not only all non-Windows users, but also many Windows users as well, since it only runs on XP. Also, it is limited to a subset of MP3 players, excluding at least one model popular with both the public and Microsoft employees. The question is, will the market develop fast enough for these companies to survive, or will everyone just give up in disgust?
