Gates vs. Jobs (in the library)
August 30, 2005
A mainstream story about the Apple vs. Microsoft issue with libraries’ downloadable audiobooks. Hopefully with some more large press coverage of this sort, the audiobook vendors and Apple can iron out their differences. For libraries receiving complaints about the lack of Mac-compatibility with these resources, you may want to consider pointing users to this article to show that it’s not just your library, but all libraries dealing with the issue. In my standard reply to patrons on the issue, I also include contact information for both Apple & Overdrive (our e-audiobook vendor) so they can write letters. I really feel that until a massive uprising takes place, nothing is going to change.
August 30th, 2005 at 3:09 pm
Shhh, I Can’t Listen to Your Library Audiobook
We all know you’re supposed to remain quiet in the library… (I said, shhh…) But the Librarian in Black finds some of her patrons talking loudly about their inability to listen to audiobooks they check out from the library on…
August 31st, 2005 at 4:48 pm
A non-library friend of mine posted to our mutual mailing list that he’d finally succumbed (sp?) to my & other mutual friends’ pressure and bought himself an iPod. Then he saw that his public library had some nifty audiobooks. He was psyched!
Come to find out they’re the non-iPod kind. He’s tech savvy enough to figure out how to convert Windows media files to .mp3s so he can listen to ‘em on his ‘Pod but
a) he shouldn’t have to and
b) most of his peers, and library patrons, aren’t.
Great that he got an iPod, great that he went to his public library — too bad the two don’t work together.
How can we start a massive uprising?!