It is impossible to fight. It seems every new portable technology is measured in terms of the iPod.


It may be about time to dig out that old library card. Hoping to draw back readers, libraries have vastly expanded their lists of digital books, music, and movies that can be downloaded by their patrons to a computer or MP3 player -- and it doesn't cost a cent, unlike, say, media from Apple Inc's iTunes or Amazon.com Inc.

...

"People like the portability of it," Jim McCluskey, collection development assistant manager for Washington State's Sno-Isle Libraries, which will soon be offering iPod compatible downloads.

Now I have and enjoy reading books on my iPod Touch, and the new apps for the "media player" make reading most anything relatively easy. And I will be interested to hear what Sno-Isle Libraries will be using for iPod compatible downloads.

And the E Ink devices do get some love, or at least the Sony Reader does get a mention. In a list of devices.

But it is the name "iPod" that seems to drive the article. What you gonna do...?

Good to see the article, and hope it gets more people aware of digital reading.

Reuters article here (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0729441420080807)

And I have used my local library for pdf books to read on the new software for the Sony Reader. It works just fine, although the formatting does suffer the usual reflow problems. My local library does not yet offer epub books.

Libraries have been offering audio to checkout for quite some time. It is usually WMA files with DRM that are checked out. Unfortunately very few if any portable devices will use that format and Windows is usually required to do the checkout.

Dale

Off topic (from my own post), but I remember in college my roommate and I would check out paintings (copies of course) from the local library. A new Degas, Renoir or Van Gogh every week or so. It went well with the beer can, pizza box and roach clip decor.

Libraries have always been cool.

Quoting Julie Howkins, head of e-commerce at Borders:

"It is not an iPod moment for books."

source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7545000/7545598.stm)

Here we have it again, the iPod. ;)

I like the way Naomi Alderman (indirectly) calls people who rave about the tactile sensation of paper books "fetishists." There's a way to get on a traditionalist's good side!

Reminds me of a quote attributed to jazz player Dizzy Gillespie, when a journalist questioned him about his "fetish" for a goatee:

"It's not a fetish... it's an affectation!"

Still, I question whether or not we're really seeing any substantive changes yet. Pubs are still talking, but I don't see a lot of real action. And throwing about buzz-words like iPod don't constitute action... just trying to catch attention with buzz-words.

Like you said, the WMA software keeps Mac/Linux users out. I think libraries have a duty to use platform independent technology. Restricting access to Windows users only is wrong.