The Googlization of Libraries
There are lots of library issues I concern myself with every day. I just spent a few minutes this morning walking through the newly branch closest to my home. As a long-time member of the community (since I was born there some years ago), I am truly excited about this development. This wraps up the last expansion that was begun six years ago. And there are already preliminary discussions of where the first true expansion library will be going.
One thing I don’t worry about is the Internet Godzilla Myth. I have little doubt that, by 2151, we will all be accessing our podcasts and text and everything else on voice-activated touch-sensitive Personal Access Display Devices. And I also think that it is likely that Apple or Sony will have such a device out long well before that. But that is going to be an evolutionary, not a revolutionary process. Print and libraries are going to be working together for a very long time.
And Google is going to do anything about library expansion except help us find articles.
Print Thinking
I have had enough experience with library studies to know that librarians are prone to only think in print terms. – Kenneth Hambrick
And I have had enough experience with self-styled library prognosticators to know that anyone who advocates libraries without print doesn’t know as much about libraries as they think they do.
[via The Internet has made traditional libraries obsolete]
Enhanced Podcasts
Phillip Torrone of Make Magazine has outlined a method for constructing Enhanced Podcasts. The good thing is these look like a wonderful educational application. The bad thing is that they are extremely platform-limited at the moment.
This is just a guess but I would be willing to bet if manufacturers were able to spend more time on enhancing the experience of the consumer and less time trying to think of new methods of DRM, we would all be better off in ways we haven’t even thought of yet.
DRM, Audible and Dave Winer
First he ceased to be a customer.
I cancelled my Audible subscription this morning. I hadn’t used it in a few months yet was still paying the monthly fee. I stopped using it because both the computer I used to download books and the iPod I used to listen to them developed difficulties. I’ve replaced both the computer and the iPod but the Audible service doesn’t transfer because of the DRM limits. I think they assume that I’m “stealing” the books. – Dave Winer
Then things got ever worse.
And yesterday I got yelled at in public by the CEO of Audible, Don Katz. One of the things he was angry about was that, when I decided to unsub, instead of trying to work things out with them, I wrote about it on my weblog. I was incredulous. I tried to ask if he was saying that his customers shouldn’t have blogs, but he had a smart answer for everything. “You’re not a customer,” he said. Damn straight. And I never will as long as he’s the CEO. – Dave Winer
It says a lot to me about Audible when they can’t deal with the fact that their customers are going to write things they don’t like about them on their weblogs. That is one of the prices of doing business. And it is interesting that DRM is the cause of all this.
DRM works perfectly fine. For the first five minutes or so. I have been through 5 desktops at home in the last 13 years, countless windows installations and multiple music devices. The thought of transferring licenses and authorizing devices always either strikes me with fear or gives me a headache. And I consider myself technically adept.
I wonder how much business DRM has caused companies to lose up until this point. And I wonder how much more they lose when people realize the inherent problems.
netLibrary and your PDA
These instructions for Downloading netLibrary titles to your PDA look really interesting. As well as the rest of their PDA Zone.
