Hear ye, hear ye book lovers

Audio downloads let patrons skip the trip to the library

By Janet Forgrieve, Special To The Rocky

Published June 29, 2008 at 10 p.m.

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Photo by Illustration © iStock Photo

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Poll

Do you download audio eBooks from your library?

Avid readers too time-stressed or cash-crunched to buy and read all the titles on their summer lists have a free audio option that's catching on fast. Whether classic Jane Austen or the latest John Grisham, literature lovers can listen to their favorites with just a PC and a library card.

Patrons at a growing number of public libraries, including Denver's, are taking advantage of audiobook downloading technology that lets them choose their titles from home rather than make a trip to the library.

Denver cardholders have been able to download print books for about two years, said Denver Public Library spokeswoman Celeste Jackson. Since then, the library has added audiobooks and, more recently, movies and music.

"It's getting incredibly popular," Jackson said.

Last year, Denver library patrons checked out 61,049 downloadable items. This year, they've already downloaded almost 36,000, more than half of them audiobooks.

The library is adding about 450 customers for the service monthly and has logged more than 15,500 unique customers using the service, said Michelle Jeske, manager of Web information services.

The technology lets library patrons download their choices free, for a certain amount of time. After that, the audiobooks automatically expire. Anyone with a PC and a Denver Public Library card can have up to 20 digital audio titles checked out at one time, and that can be a combination of audiobooks, text tomes, movies and music, Jackson said.

"Once you have the software, you can pretty well add to the collection all the time," Jackson said. "In the middle of the night, the library is available."

The only other limit to access is the same one library patrons have always faced. Libraries buy or license a certain number of copies of each title, just like with books. So, when all the digital copies are checked out, patrons must put their names on a hold list and wait.

Borrowers can even own certain titles by burning the book to a CD before the digital download expires. That option is determined by the publishers and is only available for some titles.

OCLC's NetLibrary division in Boulder launched its eAudio Book service in early 2005, said Scott Wasinger, the company's director of business development and operations. The company saw a fourfold increase in library patrons using the service in the second year, he said, and last year's customer adoption grew by 50 percent.

"Since we launched the service, the growth in library acceptance also continues to exceed our expectations," Wasinger said.

NetLibrary's service offers titles in 33 subject areas. The most popular genres are popular fiction, mystery and suspense, and language learning. Self-help is also in the top five.

Although digital print content continues to comprise a larger part of NetLibrary's overall business, Wasinger said, eAudio Books is growing at a faster rate, especially among public libraries. University and academic libraries, which provide much of their material for research purposes, is largely print content, while public libraries have been the biggest growth area for the audio content, and patrons are largely accessing leisure reading rather than content for serious study.

In addition to providing the technology, NetLibrary acts as a go-between for publishers and libraries, with publishers setting many of the ground rules.

Currently, Mac and iPod users can't download eAudio Books to those devices, although the industry is working on changing that, Wasinger said. The issue is digital rights management - simply put, the available Windows format allows for the content to expire after a certain amount of time, while that capability isn't available on Apple's products.

So, either a change in the technology to allow for expiration dates or a mind-set shift among publishers is needed for Mac and iPod users to access eAudio books, said Wasinger, who expects significant progress on the issue in the next 12 months.

"Just recently, Random House announced it was making some titles compatible with mp3 technology in a retail environment, not just libraries," he said. "More will likely move in that direction, so rather than having to come up with the technology to expire, publishers may be more willing to try an mp3 format that doesn't expire."

What you need

* A PC with Internet access

* A library card to Denver Public Library or any other library offering the service

How to download library audiobooks

1 Go to your library's Web site and check for a link that says downloads and then something like "audio eBooks." Check out Denver Public Library's site at denverlibrary.org.

2 Once you've clicked on the link, titles will be organized by genre. Search out the title you're looking for, or browse among the titles available.

3 If you're a first-timer, you may need to download OverDrive Console software. Denver Public Library offers the software as a free download, and it just takes a few minutes to install.

4 Download your book. It'll take a few minutes to load.The technology lets library patrons download their choices for a certain amount of time. After that, they automatically expire.

The benefits

* Patrons can download from home or other computers, so they don't need to go to the library.

* Goodbye overdue fines - audiobooks expire automatically.

* Many audiobooks can be burned to CDs.

* It's free.

The drawbacks

* The service is not yet compatible with Macs or iPods.

* Libraries pay to get a certain number of licenses for each title, so as with books, if all available copies are checked out, you can put your name on a hold list.

* The selection is limited.

Download times

* Audiobook: It takes only a few minutes to download an audiobook. Times vary depending on the length of book because the software downloads it in sections.

* First-timers: If this is your first audiobook and you also have to download the software, figure 10 to 15 minutes for the whole thing.

* Burning books to CD: It takes three to four minutes to burn an hour of listening time, so the total time will depend on the length of the audiobook.

In demand

The most popular audio eBooks:

People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks

The 4-Hour Work Week, by Timothy Ferris

The Art of War, by Sun Tzu

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Appeal, by John Grisham

eBook titles with the most holds:

Sail, by James Patterson

The Appeal, by John Grisham

Fearless Fourteen, by Janet Evanovich

Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child