Will Audiobooks Fit on iPods?

Downloadable library model relies on Windows platform, for now

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 6/1/2005

In the past year, with fanfare, both netLibrary/Recorded Books and OverDrive have introduced new lending models for downloadable audio, allowing libraries to lend copies to multiple patrons at the same time (see News, LJ 3/1/05, p. 20; "Digital Dawn," LJ 5/15/05, p. 62ff.). There is one problem: the files must be transferred to Windows Media–based MP3 players, and by far the most popular portable device is Apple's incompatible iPod.

Libraries offering audio—as well as the companies that market downloadable audio—have heard the complaints but can offer only regrets. As netLibrary/Recorded Books explains in an FAQ, Apple does not license its proprietary software: "Even if they did, it is not desirable, because it has no digital rights management [DRM] component, which would protect unauthorized duplication. Apple could if they wanted make the iPod with the ability to recognize Windows Media files [which does have DRM], but they have chosen not to do so for the time being."

Apple, for now, has been unresponsive to queries from LJ, as well as those from librarians and vendors.

Listeners, of course, can listen to audiobooks produced by Audible.com, via Audible's site or Apple's iTunes site. But those are geared to individual listeners, and interested libraries must get into the business of circulating audio players, not just content (see Front Desk, LJ 4/1/05, p. 15).

Chris Kupec, assistant director of the Chelmsford Public Library, MA, reported thathe spoke with Audible CEO Don Katz, who seemed concerned with copyright issues and the need to protect authors from the multiple-lending model. "If Audible and Apple don't get with the program, OverDrive and Recorded Books are going to fill the gap," Kupec said. "Apple has practically cornered the market. Now we need to support it." Audible did not return LJ's calls.

Will the iPod rule forever? Statistics from 2004 show that Apple had a 92 percent market share of players with hard disks, though only a 17 percent share of the global MP3 market, which includes a variety of models, especially Flash-based devices popular overseas.

"Since the digital audiobook market is so new in libraries, and many people who enjoy audiobooks have not purchased a player yet, the Windows Media format may influence their choice of a device," said Lori Bell, director, Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, East Peoria, noting that the iPod's dominance among younger patrons will hamper libraries' efforts to reach that cohort.

Conversely, downloadable audio has driven new purchases. A survey by the Denver Public Library, said OverDrive president Steve Potash, showed that the largest group of listeners were 44 and older and many wanted recommendations about buying an MP3 player.

Recorded Books' Brian Downing predicts that the iPod factor will diminish. "The future is people listening in their cars," he said, indicating that PhatNoise (www.phatnoise.com), a Windows Media platform, is the leading source of digital audio for automobiles. (There are adaptors for iPods, as well.) Also, Downing noted that Nokia has debuted a cell phone with huge storage capacity, aimed at dethroning the iPod.

Meanwhile, OverDrive plans to offer video for libraries to circulate via Windows-based devices. Still, acknowledged Potash, "We're waiting for the breakthrough: Apple and Microsoft and other forces agreeing to compatibility with their copyright protection schemes."