Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), mod_rewrite, Letter to Audible.com
Good news yesterday. Tiger is coming out on 4/29,
but we're grandfathered in to get it for the cost of the media.
I'm wondering if Delicious Library is all set for
Tiger. I'm probably going to put it out using Panther until I get some feedback.
I've got the branch library kiosk running Panther, but the kiosks here are still
using Jaguar. If Tiger looks good, I'll upgrade everything at once. I saw the
colors for Spotlight, Apple's new mega-searching application. The colors looked
awfully close to the XP palette, aka SuperMario
Sunshine.
I had an idea last night to use the mod_rewrite method to use iTunes' search buttons to go to our catalog, but since iTunes goes to the Music Store within the app, i.e., it doesn't call upon an external browser, I don't think it would be that easy. It's too bad that the Music Store isn't treated as a library playlist, then it would be a simple scripting job. I guess it's not in Apple's interest to have us take their information and go elsewhere.
I sent an e-mail to Matt Fine of Audible yesterday, giving him my take on the audiobook situation in regard to public libraries. I'm pretty sure that I talked with him over a year ago about what they had to offer us. Let's hope he still works there. :-)
Here's the core of my rant:
I want to impress upon you how important it is that Audible devise a means for us to circulate multiple copies of audiobooks concurrently. To not address this need would be a major oversight. Libraries, like mine, are more than willing to pay for the ability. It just seems pointless to download the same file multiple times.
For the private consumer, the iTunes system is excellent. Obviously, the library doesn't fall into the same category, but the potential for multiple concurrent circulation is there. We don't even care about a three week checkout. If you can have multiple circs, counted and paid for accordingly, and the files cannot be used apart from the ipods they are downloaded to, who cares? Do we need to have the file automatically "disintegrate" after 3 weeks? The patron would not be able to store the titles on another machine and reload them to an iPod, so does it matter? Once the patron is finished with the title, they'll come back in when they want another one. When the patron brings his iPod back in, we would zap all audiobooks from it. If they owned any titles on their own, they could reload them at home.
The better idea is to only download once, then if a concurrent checkout is needed, pay extra at that time. Let the owning library set a limit on each title. For example, I'm willing to pay for up to 4 concurrent circs of the latest Grisham novel. Non-fiction would be defaulted to just one circ, unless the administrator overrides the setting. Each concurrent multiple circ would be counted and charged to the library account. Once the library pays for a concurrent circ, they essentially would own two copies of the title.
The details need to be addressed carefully, but it boils down to this:
1. We want to offer digital audiobooks to our patrons.
2. We do not want to circulate any devices. The patrons must provide their own.
3. We want the patrons to come into the library, and have the staff load patron devices.
4. We want the library to own the files locally, on a local storage device, e.g., when our Internet service is slow, we do not want to hinder the patron from checking out an audiobook.
5. We want to support iPods. WMA-based services can't offer this. Audible offers the greatest range of supported hardware and has the advantage over any other service in this regard.
6. We want to be able to circulate multiple copies easily and affordably.
I had an idea last night to use the mod_rewrite method to use iTunes' search buttons to go to our catalog, but since iTunes goes to the Music Store within the app, i.e., it doesn't call upon an external browser, I don't think it would be that easy. It's too bad that the Music Store isn't treated as a library playlist, then it would be a simple scripting job. I guess it's not in Apple's interest to have us take their information and go elsewhere.
I sent an e-mail to Matt Fine of Audible yesterday, giving him my take on the audiobook situation in regard to public libraries. I'm pretty sure that I talked with him over a year ago about what they had to offer us. Let's hope he still works there. :-)
Here's the core of my rant:
I want to impress upon you how important it is that Audible devise a means for us to circulate multiple copies of audiobooks concurrently. To not address this need would be a major oversight. Libraries, like mine, are more than willing to pay for the ability. It just seems pointless to download the same file multiple times.
For the private consumer, the iTunes system is excellent. Obviously, the library doesn't fall into the same category, but the potential for multiple concurrent circulation is there. We don't even care about a three week checkout. If you can have multiple circs, counted and paid for accordingly, and the files cannot be used apart from the ipods they are downloaded to, who cares? Do we need to have the file automatically "disintegrate" after 3 weeks? The patron would not be able to store the titles on another machine and reload them to an iPod, so does it matter? Once the patron is finished with the title, they'll come back in when they want another one. When the patron brings his iPod back in, we would zap all audiobooks from it. If they owned any titles on their own, they could reload them at home.
The better idea is to only download once, then if a concurrent checkout is needed, pay extra at that time. Let the owning library set a limit on each title. For example, I'm willing to pay for up to 4 concurrent circs of the latest Grisham novel. Non-fiction would be defaulted to just one circ, unless the administrator overrides the setting. Each concurrent multiple circ would be counted and charged to the library account. Once the library pays for a concurrent circ, they essentially would own two copies of the title.
The details need to be addressed carefully, but it boils down to this:
1. We want to offer digital audiobooks to our patrons.
2. We do not want to circulate any devices. The patrons must provide their own.
3. We want the patrons to come into the library, and have the staff load patron devices.
4. We want the library to own the files locally, on a local storage device, e.g., when our Internet service is slow, we do not want to hinder the patron from checking out an audiobook.
5. We want to support iPods. WMA-based services can't offer this. Audible offers the greatest range of supported hardware and has the advantage over any other service in this regard.
6. We want to be able to circulate multiple copies easily and affordably.
Posted: Wed - April 13, 2005 at 11:03 AM
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Published On: Mar 19, 2008 08:30 AM
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Published On: Mar 19, 2008 08:30 AM