New Downloadable Video Plan at Libraries Makes Soft Debut

-- Library Journal, 2/12/2007

Recorded Books has signed up some 30 libraries in a launch of library downloadable video plan, called MyLibraryDV. (See test, for example, at Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.) "We've been in the video business for a few years now," Recorded Books publisher Brian Downing told LJ. "We were in the digital audio business, so we decided it was a natural evolution." He said that the company now has the equivalent of 410 DVDs available, including 50 feature films, half of them classics, half of them new independent films that Recorded Books distributes monthly via the Film Movement series. Also available are certain TV series such as Antiques Roadshow, America's Test Kitchen, and the Rick Steves travel series. More libraries, he said, have signed up for the company's offer, available until early April: one year for the price of a half year.

There's no general web site yet, but according to the FAQ, MyLibraryDV requires users to first log on to their library's homepage and install the download manager. (It works on Macintosh computers only if they have Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10 installed.) While Downing said that a 30-minute program typically takes 30 minutes to download, the configuration is such that the program can be viewed after a minute or two.Users can have up to ten downloaded programs at any given time, but each program automatically expires after a seven-day check-out period. There's no limit on the number of users; pricing, as with Recorded Books' downloadable audiobooks, is based on expected usage. There's no capacity yet to download to mobile devices, but those downloading to PCs can easily connect the PC to a television, Downing said. Libraries can contribute content as well, such as video versions of library events.