Just Press Play

Fall 2010 News and Notes

      From SaveNYCLibraries.org
The frost is on the pumpkin (so to speak), a parade of Zombie librarians is about to cross the Brooklyn Bridge (really), and 2010 is drawing to a close. I'd thought I'd use this week's post to look at a couple of the year's most-hyped predictions and to present a few items of assorted "news and notes."

Although sales of e-books have been climbing throughout 2010, a number of big announcements from early in the year have yet to be fully delivered upon.

In late September, Blio's long-awaited launch left most observers a bit "underwhelmed". In my opinion, the basic interface is very strong -- as everyone has known it would be since seeing the earliest demos.

But many people were disappointed when the roll-out came considerably later than expected and was at first available for only a single operating system -- Windows.

To make matters worse, the initial title offerings were far fewer in number than had been expected (10,000 titles -- nothing to sneeze at but not nearly what's offered by Amazon or B&N).  And, in some cases, Blio titles were more expensive than the competition.

Reviewers were likewise disappointed by Blio's over-hyped text-to-speech (T2S) capabilities. Unfortunately, it's implementation of T2S fails to improve upon existing robo-talk performance, such as is offered by the Kindle. But anyone expecting narration comparable to a human reader was being naively optimistic.  For visually impaired people, however, the point is not to replace human readers but merely to gain better access to the millions of books that are available only as text.  For these people, Blio T2S will be a major plus.

The real promise of Blio's speech integration is not its current implementation of robot-like synthetic speech but rather its ability to smoothly sync professionally produced audio to the text displayed on screen.  It remains to be seen if publishers will be interested in offering combo e-book/audiobook content (or if consumers will be interested in paying for it), but if the interest is there, Blio provides the capability.

It also remains to be seen how publishers will respond to the software and services for converting to Blio format. Blio seems to be doing all it can to make this process painless, but it's clear that their client software is still evolving, and this is likely to also be the case for their authoring tools.

Lastly, the current Blio business model only addresses consumers. We'll have to wait till next year (at least) to see what Blio intends to do for libraries.

Announced early in 2010 but not yet materialized is Google Editions -- potentially the most game-changing of all e-book developments once it finally gets here. Google denies that the roll-out is dependent on a successful conclusion to the ongoing Google Book Search law suit.  That case isn't about  the sale of brand-new e-book titles to consumers but rather about Google's right to sell access to scanned library editions of so-called "orphan works".   But despite the denials, I'm not aware of any other reasons having been offered for the delay in Google Editions, so I tend to believe that there are connections.

In the meantime, a visit to the service currently known as Google Books gives one a little idea of what's in store. And when the time comes for a full launch of Google Editions, you can bet that the Big G won't make the mistake of rolling it out to only a single OS.

For some clues as to where all this might eventually be heading, I recommend two recent online posts: an interesting overview of the three newest and biggest e-book platforms (Blio, Google Editions, and Copia) by publishing guru Mike Shatzkin; and from Steve Leveen (CEO and co-founder of the Levenger catalog), the most level-headed comparison of print books to e-books that I have yet to come across.

Of course, 2010 was also going to be the year in which we would be flooded with Android tablet devices. Maybe next year.  They are doubtless still coming -- they just haven't gotten here yet. Barnes and Nobles' announcement earlier this week of a $249 Android-based color touchscreen Nook is probably a sign that more inexpensive devices are on their way.

Elsewhere in the news... 

Sony's announcement earlier this week that they were discontinuing production of the cassette Walkman made a lot of people my age stop and think about the first time they ever saw one of these devices and how impressed they were. I think a lot of us were equally surprised to discover that the production halt hadn't occurred already and that they were actually still being made.

This is one more sign that the days are numbered for library collections of audiobooks on cassette. Throughout the year, we've heard from more and more public libraries telling us that they have finally begun intensive weeding of their cassette collections -- or in many cases have eliminated the collections entirely. The shelf space is just too valuable and -- in most communities -- the drop-off in circulation has been very steep. What substitute will libraries offer to older patrons who have been sticking with cassettes? Many are finding that Playaway is an ideal replacement.

 

Gwyneth Jones as seen on YouTube Speaking of libraries and the future, we were delighted to hear school librarian extraordinaire Gwyneth Jones (aka "The Daring Librarian") extolling the many benefits of Playaway on last Sunday's edition of Bob Edwards Weekend from XM Radio and Public Radio International.

Our own marketing department couldn't have offered a more thorough summary of Playaway's benefits for school libraries and classrooms. I also like what Jones had to say about new technology "enhancing but not replacing" older formats -- such as the printed book. And I was highly amused by her pronunciation of "Target" as "Tarjhzay".

If you missed the show, you can listen online to parts one, two, and three of the series "SHHHH... Libraries At Work!" (Gwyneth Jones is featured in Part 3.)

 

 

 

---

Subscribing just got easier - simply enter your e-mail address in the right-hand sidebar and click "subscribe".
Or click "Subscribe to this blog's feed" to subscribe via RSS.

Like this post?· Click on the button below to "like" it FaceBook-style.

---

Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Senior Content Strategist
Twitter: david_perrotta

Robert B. Parker: 1932-2010

For many of us returning from ALA Midwinter in Boston it was a shock to hear today's news that Robert B. Parker, the consummate Boston writer, had died unexpectedly on Tuesday.

Parker has long been revered as one of the best detective writers of all time. This morning's story by Karen Grigsby Bates on NPR's "Morning Edition" cited author Robert Crais' opinion that Parker was on a par with Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald.

Parker was a long-time resident of Cambridge, and his 37 Spenser novels describe Boston-area locales with loving detail. According to Grigsby Bates, "Boston is as much of a character... as [Parker's] people are."

Admirers of Parker can take solace in the fact that the 77-year-old writer lived up to his promise to keep writing till the day he died. He died seated at his writing desk.

Unabridged audio editions of ten Parker novels are currently available on Playaway with more to come:

• Double Deuce
• Paper Doll
• Thin Air
• Small Vices
• Sudden Mischief
• Death in Paradise
• Bad Business
• Double Play
• Walking Shadow
• Hundred Dollar Baby

---

Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy

Farewell, Kirkus!

Many libraries will be sad to see Kirkus close shop, as will I.  The publication produced in the ballpark of 5,000 reviews each year and for those of us who relied on those advance reviews, we’ll be at a loss without them.  Nielsen has made an overall effort to shed many of their publications, some sold off and others put to rest.  Although the details have not yet been publicized, this may be the last year for their annual YA Best Book list, which I found to be a great source for current titles that could become classics over time.  It seems appropriate to highlight a few titles from the Kirkus 2009 YA Best Books list available on Playaway and take advantage of their expertise and insight before they say goodbye:

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Soul Enchilada, by David Macinnis Gill

Liar, by Justine Larbalestier

The Miles Between, by Mary E. Pearson

_________________________________

Posted by Caroline Duke

Playaway Content Development Coordinator

Neil Gaiman Explores the World of Audiobooks for NPR Interviews David Sedaris and others

Neil Gaiman, the prolific, charming, hunky author and sometimes narrator of his own work on audio, offered up a wonderful love letter to the audiobook this morning [11/30/2009] on the "Open Mic" segment of NPR's Morning Edition. If you missed it, you can listen to the story online as well as hear extended segments not included in this morning's broadcast.

In the course of the piece, Gaiman speaks with author (and narrator of his own works) David Sedaris, veteran narrator Martin Jarvis, and Don Katz, founder of Audible.com. Sedaris, as usual, is hilarious in his send-up of the type of narrator that he doesn't much care for.

Gaiman asks if listening to audiobooks is the same thing as reading, and concludes that it's not. "An audiobook," he says, "is its own thing, a unique medium that goes in through the ear."

An aspect of the story to which I personally related was Gaiman's reminiscence of the audiobooks of his childhood, including the 1954 Caedmon recording of Dylan Thomas narrating Under Milkwood. Stuff like that loomed very large in my own childhood.

By the way, Playaway currently offers two Neil Gaiman titles: M is for Magic (narrated by the author) and Interworld (written with Michael Reaves and narrated by Christopher Evan Welch). And you'll find three more Gaiman books on Playaway, available from Recorded Books.

From David Sedaris, Playaway offers Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, both narrated by the author.

---

Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy

Averting Ohio's Library Funding Crisis

ALA President Jim Rettig describes Ohio Democratic Governor Ted Strickland's proposed 50% cut to state library funding as an "unprecedented national disaster."  

“I encourage all Ohioans to contact the Governor’s office to express their opposition to his proposal to cut library funding and urge Ohio legislators to reject the Governor’s plan,” said Rettig. (See the ALA press release.)

Nationwide, the crisis in library funding has been growing since at least last Fall.  But since Playaway is a homegrown Northeast Ohio company, folks here can't help but feel an extra measure of concern now that the problem has caught us where we live.  Libraries are our customers of course, but we are library patrons and library supporters too.

Yesterday a group of Playaway employees joined over three hundred demonstrators gathered in Cleveland to protest the proposed budget cuts.  You can read about it (and see a short video clip online) in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Across the state, libraries have swiftly mounted a well-organized campaign to warn the public of the consequences of severe cuts and to encourage people to contact representatives to express their concern.  Many local libraries and library systems have posted special splash pages on their websites in order to spread the word.  (Take a look at the home pages for Cleveland Public, Cuyahoga County Public, Rocky River Public, and Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, OH.) 

Statewide efforts are being coordinated by the Save Ohio Libraries coalition:

http://saveohiolibraries.com/

Kindle 2.0 -- too Blount a point?

Just returned from a trip to Brilliance Audio in Grand Haven, Michigan, where I had the chance to play for a few minutes with Amazon's new Kindle 2.0.   (Amazon acquired Brilliance in May of 2007.)

The new Kindle has a sleeker design that's thinner and lighter than the original Kindle but also feels more solid.  It has longer battery life, smoother controls, and an improved display.  It really looks like a product that has come in to its own. 

Also new to Kindle 2.0 is a somewhat controversial text-to-speech capability, employing technology from Nuance Communications, Inc.  Originally intended to  work with any text loaded onto the Kindle, the announcement of the feature briefly caused a huge stir in the world of publishing, when author Roy Blount, Jr., speaking as president of the Authors Guild, asserted in a New York Times Op-Ed, that Kindle's text-to-speech functionality constituted an unauthorized taking of audio rights for the written work. 

“Kindle text-to-speech will
help the audiobook industry
more than it will hurt it...”

Blount is wonderfully witty, a skillful raconteur, a lover of language, and an irrascible defender of "what is right."  In taking his position, he's doing what he must do as president of the Guild.  

He's correct to point out that, "income from audio books helps not inconsiderably to keep authors, and publishers, afloat."  But, in my opinion, he overstates the case when he asserts that authors must be compensated for the additional value "that audio adds to Kindle 2’s version of books."

The question is:  how much value is that, really?  Kindle's designers seem to have intended the feature as a bit of a "gee-whiz" type of option.  The idea is that it might afford busy, multi-tasking readers the opportunity to continue to take in information even at times when they have to take their eyes off the page -- while driving for example. 

It's doubtful that one would want to listen in this manner for very long, but it's easy enough to imagine certain types of texts where the approach could be useful.  Certainly people who use Kindle to read research reports and other professionally required non-fiction material could benefit, as could visually and physically impaired users (although the National Federation for the Blind has expressed concern about the accessbility of Kindle's visually based controls).  The popularity of Kindle 2.0 in general and its text-to-speech feature in particular remain to be seen.

My own opinion is closer to that of Times technology writer David Pogue who -- the day before Blount's piece was published -- wrote a glowing review of Kindle 2.0 but noted:

But if you have visions dancing in your head of turning every book into an audiobook, forget it. The Kindle’s male and female voices are very good, but nobody will mistake them for the voices of humans, let alone the professionals who record audiobooks. Kindle voices have some peculiar inflections and pronunciations — they sound oddly Norwegian, sometimes — and, of course, they’re incapable of expressing emotion. They read Hemingway the same way they read Stephen Colbert.

At Brilliance, we listened to a sample read-aloud by Kindle -- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (available on Playaway in English and Spanish). 

Like many reviewers, my immediate reaction was that the overall voice quality does sound quite good.  But after a few sentences, I noticed that the delivery is about what anyone with a GPS unit might expect it to be -- robotic, free of interpretation, and -- despite the corporate name -- lacking in nuance.  Words sometimes run together in an odd way, and the "Norwegian" sound that Pogue refers to is the singsong rhythm that sometimes results from evenly stressing words of varying syllabic length.

The general opinion of the people in the room was that Kindle text-to-speech will help the audiobook industry more than it will hurt it by expanding interest in and demand for spoken-word content.  The bar may be set a little higher for human-read narrations -- if a commercial audiobook production doesn't sound appreciably better than a robo-read, then why buy it? -- but if the result is better-sounding human-read audiobooks, then audiobook listeners and the industry in general can both benefit. 

In the end, the possibility of legal action by the Author's Guild was real enough that Amazon announced it will provide a mechanism for rights holders to opt out of text-to-speech on a title-by-title basis.  They are positioning this as a "disabling" of the feature by rights holders. Currently there are some 225,000 titles available on Kindle.  Only time will tell how many remain text-to-speech enabled and on what terms. 

What do you think?  Leave your comment below.

There are currently 240 Brilliance titles on Playaway, with dozens more added every month.

And by the way, Roy Blount's 2007 memoir, Long Time Leaving, from HighBridge audio, narrated by the author, is available on Playaway - click here for details.