DRM-free Audiobooks on the Rise
Raya Kuzyk -- Library Journal, 6/10/2008
•Panelists at APAC debate merits of piracy countermeasure
•Countdown continues for DRM-free audiobooks at libraries
•CDs predicted to die out as choice for audiobook user format
•Michael Connelly video at the Audiobook & Author Tea
With DRM-free audiobooks continuing to make inroads into the retail market and scheduled shortly to trickle into the library arena, several panels at BookExpo America (BEA) and the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) (both in late May) centered on the issue of digital rights management (DRM).
DRM has been the talk of the audiobook industry since late 2007, when eMusic launched the first-ever audiobook catalog (now offering some 2500 titles) in the universally compatible MP3 format.
After months of testing DRM-free audiobook downloads on eMusic, Random House Audio determined through a digital watermark experiment that all instances of piracy came not from the DRM-free editions but from DRM-protected editions that had been hacked and ripped from CDs. And so it, too, announced that it would, through eMusic, be selling mostly DRM-free downloadable audiobooks (some ten percent of the publisher’s authors, Christopher Paolini among them, continue to hold out).
What about libraries?
However, eMusic and Random House have so far been focusing their DRM-free efforts strictly on the consumer market, leaving the library market to Playaway and OverDrive. (For fuller coverage of audiobooks in libraries, see LJ, May 15, “Audio Fixation.”)
Playaway, a preloaded, credit card–sized, all-in-one audiobook and audiobook player, requires no MP3 player, coming only with an AAA battery and a set of earbuds. Through Playaway’s partnership with 67 publishers and counting, its list now includes 1800 titles across 27 genres. In April, Playaway began offering MARC records and an extended warranty program to its library customers. And at LJ's Day of Dialog, Playaway co-founder Blake Squires announced a RePlay program, so libraries can send back the devices to be reloaded with new titles.
Today, Playaway circulates in more than 1100 libraries including the Schaumburg Township District Library, IL, which has in the past year added to its collection more than 100 Playaway titles, circulated some 500 times.
Then there’s OverDrive, which recently partnered with LibreDigital to deliver DRM-protected audiobooks through its distribution channel of 7500-plus libraries and retailers, for its DRM-free audiobooks. As LJ reported in March and OverDrive CEO Steve Potash reiterated at LJ’s May 29 Day of Dialog at the Los Angeles Public Library, OverDrive’s catalog of 20,000 DRM-protected digital audiobooks has expanded to include 3000 DRM-free titles, available to libraries this month. Potash assured attendees that, in the meantime, Overdrive was encouraging publishers to offer the MP3 format to public libraries.
DRM: dead or alive?
In concurrent APAC and BEA panels on DRM, speakers questioned whether DRM protection was an effective piracy-hindering measure at all, describing it in turns as “a sort of speed bump” and “the equivalent of [the ‘hackable’ auto security gadget] The Club®.”
Ana Maria Allessi, VP and publisher, HarperMedia (pictured), took it one step further during Day of Dialog, expressing doubt that anyone would even want to steal a digital audiobook, “considering the demographic, the size of the files.” (Watch for complete Day of Dialog coverage in LJ’s August issue.)
Whether or not DRM is “dead,” as eMusic CEO David Pakman said at BEA is unclear, though eMusic recently welcomed nine new publishers, including Simon & Schuster Audio and BBC Audiobooks UK, to its MP3 audiobooks roster for the retail market.
How much longer for CDs?
It is clear, however, that many expect the CD to reach extinction. A 2007 APA survey showed audiobook sales to libraries steadily rising, with CDs still the format of choice among library patrons and the sale of cassette sets declining overall. Despite the current health of CD sales, OverDrive’s Potash predicted a remaining lifespan for the format of just ten years, and the panelists all seemed to agree that the future of the industry lies in digital and downloadable audio.
Strengthening their point, and in an Audies' first, a novel created exclusively for audio and only available as a download, The Chopin Manuscript (Audible), won Audiobook of the Year. More proof of confidence in the digital audio sector came with Ingram Digital’s recent acquisition of the iofy digital audiobook platform from the Audiofy Corporation.
Spreading the word
Expect to hear more about the audiobook market. Next month, the APA will launch the nationwide public service campaign Get Caught Listening, a brand extension of the Get Caught Reading campaign that will espouse the virtues of audiobook listening in all formats. In late June, OverDrive, too, will be launching a community outreach campaign via a Digital Bookmobile national tour stopping at all its partner libraries.
