Tag: audio books

New E-Books, Albums, Videos & Audio Books Available In Digital Catalog Today!

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, just a quick FYI our new order of titles for the Digital Catalog has been placed and processed! So you’ll find new e-books, album, music and videos available in the Digital Catalog this afternoon.

Check them out!

Here’s a direct link to the catalog, which you can browse on your PC as well as via your tablet or smartphone (via the OverDrive Media Console app):

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/EAD73E20-5D6B-4230-8638-C1FE4AAF3812/10/50/en/Default.htm

If aren’t familiar with the Digital Catalog let me know!

If you’re interested in reading e-books in languages other than English – please let me know that too and I’ll check into what titles are available for the Digital Catalog.

Have a great day!

Linda R. 

Siri & iBooks E-Books = Audio Books & Digital Buyers Rights Are Not Just About E-Books

Linda Reimer

Siri & iBooks E-Books = Audio Books: Public libraries (and their staffs!) are of course big proponents of the practice of life-long learning. After all public libraries are places you can go, either in the real world or online, to learn more about a subject whether that subject is how to write a better resume, how to cook a dish with exotic spices, how to fix a car or leaky faucet or to discover what were the causes of World War I.

And since I’m a public librarian working in a public library I am always pleased both to assist patrons in learning something new and to learn something new myself. With that in mind, I was thrilled last evening after owning three different iPad models since 2010 to discover something I didn’t know about the iPad! And what I discovered it that if you own a Siri equipped iPad (3rd of 4th generation models) and buy e-books through the iBooks app (that is Apple’s e-book store app); you can go into settings and turn on the Speak Selection option which will in turn allow you to highlight any text in the e-books in your iBooks library and have the Siri personal assistant voice read the highlighted text to you! So in essence you can turn all printed e-books purchased from Apple’s iBook store into audio books. And I thought that was cool! You can even slow down the Siri voice to suit your taste.

To do this, that is to turn this function on which incidentally you can do not just with the iPad but with Siri equipped iPhones and iPods too, you:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select the General option
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the General settings option and tap the word Accessibility to open the Accessibility options
  4. Under the Vision section that displays turn on the Speak Selection option
  5. Then open the iBooks app, open a book, select the text you wish to have read aloud and you’ll now see an option that says “Speak” (it is the option on the far right hand side of the highlighted text menu”; tap Speak and presto – the Siri voice will read the highlighted text!

Now granted Siri will only read a page at a time – so you might want to make the text really tiny before you select it and instruct Siri to read it – but still it is a cool that we have this option with our newer Apple devices.

And not surprisingly I found out about the Siri reading option by reading an article! The article, which also features an accompanying step-by-step instructional video, is titled Siri Trick Turns iBooks into Audio Books, here’s the link:

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/03/18/siri-trick-turns-ibooks-into-audiobooks/

Digital Buyers Rights Are Not Just About E-Books: Digital buyers rights might also be described as consumer’s “Digital Property Rights;” and I did know, as does anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis, that at the present time consumers don’t have the ability to actually buy and own e-books or digital music, audios or videos. We can purchase a license to access the content but we don’t own it and thus we can’t give it away, lend it to a friend or bequeath it to our heirs. And I did know that – however, I was astonished to read an article yesterday that illustrates how colossal an issue the lack of ownership of digital content is because in fact the term “digital ownership” doesn’t just apply to e-books, e-videos and e-audios it also applies to the propriety computer and software systems built into new high-tech cars and other vehicles.

And with that in mind, did you know that you can buy certain new high tech cars and other vehicles that require computer software and hardware to run properly but that even if you “buy” one of those cars or other vehicles you don’t own the proprietary software and/or hardware that runs that vehicle? So if your high tech car or other vehicle breaks down and needs to be fixed you don’t have the authority to fix it! Instead you have to pay the manufacturer more money for one of their technicians to come and fix it!

I came across an article in Wired on this subject yesterday titled Forget the Cellphone Fight – We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own, and the author Kyle Weins gives two excellent examples of how manufacturers are in essence using outdated copyright laws to infringing on the property rights of consumers – essentially blocking us from actually owning things we buy and making more money in the process– in the case of his examples – the items are cars and farm vehicles.

In the first example, Weins discusses a small farmer in California named Kerry Adams who purchased two high tech transplanter machines at round $100,000 each for his farm. These high-tech computerized machines broke down shortly after he purchased them and he didn’t have the right to fix them because the software that runs them is proprietary– so the manufacturer required that he pay one of their approved technicians to fly out to his farm to fix the machines. And naturally the machines have subsequently broken down again and are now sitting idle on his farm because he cannot afford to keep paying the manufacturer’s technicians to keep traveling out to his farm to fix the equipment that he isn’t allowed to fix himself and he isn’t allowed to take the machines to a local business to be serviced.

And consider the second example, new high tech cars that break down. Now if my 2004 Ford broke down I’d take it to Kapral’s Auto & Tire over on Pulteney Street and have them fix it – which they could do because it isn’t a high tech car with a built in computer system.

However, with todays’ new high-tech cars – ones that have proprietary software built into them and for which the diagnostic tools are copyrighted by the manufacturers  – consumers are finding that independent auto repair shops either cannot fix those cars because the manufacturers won’t allow the independent auto repair shops to buy the copyrighted car manuals or the shops cannot fix them without charging their customers more money because they have to pay for the car manuals for these complex high tech cars which are too complex for auto mechanics to fix without accessing the manufacturer copyrighted car manuals.   

Unbelievable!

You buy a new high tech car or a pricey farm machine and you don’t really own it!

We better all hope that our cars and other high end vehicles we purchase don’t break down because otherwise we’ll have to pay the manufacturer more money to send one of their approved technicians out to fix our vehicles or we’ll have to pay more at our local auto repair shops – that is always assuming that the manufacturer will graciously allow our local independent auto repair shops to purchase the manuals for the model cars we “own” so they can fix them. I highly suspect the manufactures would rather force consumers who purchase new high tech cars into by-passing using their local repair shops. I am quite certain they’d rather we all drive our vehicles, or have them towed, to manufacturer approved regional service centers where approved technicians and mechanics will no doubt charge us even more money to fix our vehicles than we would have paid at our local repair shops – that is if we had been allowed to take our high tech cars that needed repair to those shops; but apparently that is yet another consumer property right that modern manufacturers would rather consumers not have – the choice of where to take your car to have it repaired.  

And I certainly hope that our government catches up with the rapidly-advancing-technology-copyright versus Consumer Property Rights issue soon. And further that Consumer Property Rights legislation or Supreme Court rulings, as the case may be,  should cover all physical and digital materials and all hybrid materials like cellphones and high end, high tech cars – and all the consumer rights we’ve always had previously in our democratic society – to actually own all the items we buy – and own them in their entirety – so if our high end car breaks down we should be able to access the tools we need to fix it ourselves or have our favorite local auto mechanic fix it for us without paying the car manufacturer more money or being told where to take the car for approved repairs. And of course, we should also be able to own our e-books too and read them on any device we wish, loan or give them to anyone we wish or even donated them to our public libraries for their next cyber book sale if we wish.

And in the meantime, while the manufacturers of high tech vehicles and appliances and producers of digital content (e-books etc.) are blocking the traditional consumer right to buy and own items and the government is sloooowly working to catch up copyright law wise – I’ll be keeping my 2004 Ford for as long as I can!

And here’s the link to the Wired article:

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/03/you-dont-own-your-cellphones-or-your-cars

Have a great day!

Linda R.

 

References

Sande, Steven. (2013, March 18). Siri trick turns iBooks into audiobooks. TUAW. Online.  

Wiens, Kyle. (2013, March 18). Forget the Cellphone Fight – We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own. Wired. Online. 

New E-Books, Audio Books, Music & Videos Available In The STLS Digital Catalog Later Today

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, just as an FYI for all the consumers of digital content out there! There will be a multitude of new items appearing in the STLS Digital Catalog this evening. The new items include audio books in the swashbuckling Horatio Hornblower series, albums by Pink Floyd and videos on a variety of subjects including non-fiction titles on genealogy and gardening, children’s videos including Thomas The Tank Engine, All About Cowboys, All About Dinosaurs & Mr. Sherman & Peabody, Season 1. Other new video titles include: Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Budokon For Beginners, Night Train – Pociag, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Derailed and American in World War II.

You can access the entire Digital Catalog by going to the library’s home page (SSCLIBRARY.ORG) or clicking on the following link:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/5654A588-8683-4527-A797-407FB5E8710C/10/536/en/default.htm

And if you’d rather check out e-books, music, videos or audio books categories directly please click on anyone of the following links:

All E-Books:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/5654A588-8683-4527-A797-407FB5E8710C/10/536/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=7457576s&SortBy=CollDate

All Music:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/5654A588-8683-4527-A797-407FB5E8710C/10/536/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=7457568s&SortBy=CollDate

All Videos:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/5654A588-8683-4527-A797-407FB5E8710C/10/536/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=7457555s&SortBy=CollDate

New Audio Book Editions:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/5654A588-8683-4527-A797-407FB5E8710C/10/536/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=31706431&SortBy=CollDate

Note: To check on format compatibility with your device click on the following link which will take you to the OverDriveDeviceResourceCenter page:

http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/

Also of note, as of January 2013 you can download all OverDrive Content to a PC and OverDrive E-Books to most e-readers and tablets. A/V materials can be downloaded to PCs and a handful of portable devices from Creative Zen and Colby. Reportedly OverDrive (that is the name of the STLS Digital Catalog platform vendor) will be ushering a new streaming system for all e-books, audio books, music and videos in the catalog which will mean that you’ll be able to stream content to most smart phones, tablets and PCs in the near future. We’ll update our website, Facebook page and the SSCL Tech Talk blog site with that information as soon as that update occurs.

And if you have any questions about the items in the Digital Catalog and how you can access them please ask the staff; we are here to help!

Have a great afternoon!

Linda R.

What On Earth Is The STLS Digital Catalog Anyway? & Why Is It Exciting? Part I of II!

Linda Reimer

We do quite few tech programs here at the library. And one of the ones that I’m hosting this week is a part of our Wednesday One Hour Tech* series – it is titled STLS Digital Catalog. Now that is a very bland name from an entertainment perspective…very bland indeed; however, I assure you the Digital Catalog is both cool and exciting! And if you want to find out more about it you can come to the workshop – it is tomorrow from 2-3 PM and I’ll answer any questions you have about the catalog. And for more information right now – please read on!

The short answer to the very valid question: “What on Earth is the Digital Catalog?” is that the Digital Catalog is essentially an e-library that is open twenty four hours a day and 365 days a year. A library where patrons can go, via the Internet, and check out e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music — on demand — whenever it is convenient for them; whether that time happens to be before ones 6 AM run, late into the evening after a very long day or smack dab in the middle of a week day afternoon .

So let me see if I can add some color and depth to the explanation of what that bland name “Digital Catalog” means while further illustrating why it is exciting to be able to access digital content on demand. And I’ll start by offering a brief definition of what I mean when I say “e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music titles.”

E-books are the best known of the four formats mentioned and they are simply versions of print books offered for people to read on PCs, Macs, e-readers, tablets, MP3 players like the iPods and smartphones like the iPhone 5.

The term E-Audio Books refers to audio book titles that may be checked out via the Digital Catalog and downloaded and/or transferred to a PC, smartphone, tablet or other portable device. So you can listen to e-audio books on your PC, iPod, MP3 player, iPhone and most other smartphone and tablets.

E-videos are videos that may be downloaded from the Digital Catalog to a PC and then watched on that PC.

And e-music titles are albums that may be downloaded from the Digital Catalog to a PC and then listened to on that PC or transferred to supported portable devices so you can take the music on the go.

Having said that here are some scenarios that illustrate why accessing content from the Digital Catalog can be both fun and very convenient!

Regarding On Demand Library E-Books: Consider These Scenarios: E-Book Scenario 1: It has been a hectic Tuesday and it is 7 o’clock at night as you sit down ready to read. As you go to sit down in your favorite chair glass of wine or cup of favorite tea in hand, you realize you’re ten pages from the end of the mystery you’ve been reading…

 So what do you do?

You could get in your car and drive to the library to pick out another book or you could buy another e-book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble…

Or you could just go to the Digital Catalog and search for a new e-book to read without even leaving your house and be reading it in less than minute*1. You might out one of those spicy paranormal books by Lara Adrian, a new Susan Mallery book or perhaps if you’re in the mood for something really light one of the Sophie Kinsella books that you haven’t read yet. And low and behold, via the Digital Catalog, your relaxing reading evening is saved!

E-Book Scenario 2: You’re stuck in the airport in BoiseIdaho. You’re flight has been delayed for three hours and you’re bored straight out of your tree. What do you do? You might get out your Nexus 7 or Motorola Zoom tablet, open the STLS Digital Catalog app (aka OverDrive)*2 and download a new e-book to read or e-audio to listen to so you can pass the time more pleasantly. And what do you know, those three hours pass quickly!

E-Book Scenario 3: You’re on vacation at the beach, or ski lodge, and have run out of reading material. It is so nice to be able to just sit there in the sun or in the chair by the cracking fire of the ski lodge hot toddy in hand, that you don’t want to get up and go out to get a book.

So what do you do? You take your iPad out of your bag and open the STLS Digital Catalog (OverDrive) app and search for an e-book by your favorite author to read; if you’re in the mood for romantic reading perhaps a Debbie Macomber or Susan Mallery title? Or perhaps you’d like something more in a suspense vein like an e-book by John Grisham, James Patterson, Lisa Jackson or Karin Fossum? Or just perhaps you’re in the mood for a biography…You might check out Barbara Eden’s bio Jeannie Out of the Bottle, Lois Banner’s bio of Marilyn Monroe – The Passion and the Paradox…or if you’re in the mood for a more historical works you might check out Marc Seifer’s of Nikola Tesla, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla or Wade Davis’s book Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest.

E-Book Scenario 4: It is Saturday afternoon and your fifth grader just told you he has a book report due on Monday on a biography that he hasn’t read yet. You’ve got plans for the evening and for all day Sunday so what do you do? You might access the Digital Catalog on your family’s PC*3 because you know that sports fan that your son is – if he really has to write a book report on a biography than one of the Matt Christopher sports bios for kids might be just the ticket! The Matt Christopher bios in the catalog include ones on: Tony Hawk (skate boarding), Derek Jeter (baseball) and Jeff Gordon (obviously NASCAR!). So your son picks his sports bio of choice and begins eagerly reading the e-book! He is just engrossed enough that you think he will actually finish the book and the book report by Monday!

E-Book Scenario 5: It is 6 PM and as you’re getting ready for dinner your teenage daughter, who is a voracious reader, complains that she’s read all the print books she checked out of the library earlier in the week. You suggest she hop on her laptop and check out the e-books in the Digital Catalog. She finds two new e-books by Rachel Vincent! And she sees there is an e-book edition of the Hobbit so she can read it again – this time as an e-book. She then transfers all three titles to her Nook and begins reading. So you’re tops in your daughters book! She has something new to read without either of you having to leave the house – how cool is that? Of course, you may have to do the dishes yourself but at least your daughter is happy.

Regarding On Demand Library E-Audio Books: Consider These Scenarios: Scenario 1: You’re going on a vacation and driving from the Southern Tier of New York to Maine to visit friends. It is early on a crisp fall day with a bright blue sky and not a cloud in sight. What could go wrong? The car is packed and you’re ready to go with a cup of coffee in one hand and a library CD audio book set in the other. You put your coffee cup in your cup holder and the CD in your CD player and down the road you go. And after about 20 minutes you realize you’ve already read the book you’re listening to on CD.

Major league bummer!

So what do you do?

You could turn around and go home to get another audio that you’ve already listened to or you could drive back to town and wait an hour for the library to open…

Or you might pull out your iPhone or other smartphone, open the STLS Digital Catalog (OverDrive) app and look for a new e-audio to listen to. You might check out the audio version of Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan series, book 1)by Laura Lippman since your sister has been telling you to read it; or perhaps you should try that Blaine Harden book, Escape from Camp 14, you heard about on NPR the one about the Korean prisoner who escaped from a work camp. Or you just might be in the mood to listen to the War Horse audio by Michael Morpurgo as you never got around to seeing the movie and the books are always better than the movies anyway. And if you’ve got kids with you the entire Harry Potter series is available in e-audio format and you could always listen to one or two of those audios again. So which ever e-audio you download to your phone – you should be all set as far as entertaining listening goes and you don’t have to turn the car around to go home and get another audio nor do you have to buy a new one!

Scenario 2: You’re getting ready to go out on your morning run and realize you finished the audio book you were listening to on your iPod or MP3 player, yesterday. You fire up your PC and check the Digital Catalog for newly added e-audios and find the new Ken Follett audio The Winter of the World is available; so you download the Follett e-audio book to your PC and quickly transfer it to your iPod or MP3 player and away you go! Of course, if you’re not in the mood for historical fiction you might try out one of the Hunger Games trilogy of audios, one of the E.L. James audios or perhaps something in the mystery or suspense vein by Joss Morag or James Patterson…and with the new library e-audio on your iPod you wind up so engrossed in the story that you run two extra miles for a definite fitness plus!

Scenario 3: It is 6 PM on a Wednesday and you’re dropping an item off for an elderly relative who has difficulty reading and loves audio books. It seems she’s listened to all the audio books you checked out of the library for her last week. Fortunately, she has a library card! So you fire up her laptop, go to the Digital Catalog and download three new audios for her to listen to on her laptop while she is knitting. You found her the Gone Girl audio by Gillian Flynn, a Julia Quinn romance she missed – What Happens in London and one of Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone cozy mysteries – Chocolate Covered Murder. And needless to say you are a big hit with your relative! You made her day!

And as I’ve typed a longer blog post than I intended I’m going to leave a discussion of the exciting aspects of downloading e-videos and e-music titles for tomorrow!

And if you have any questions about the STLS Digital Catalog let us know! You can call the library at: 607-936-3713 and press extension 502 which will get you the tech savvy folks at the Reference Desk or you can send us me an email at: REIMERL@STLS.ORG

Have a great afternoon!

Linda R.

*1) You can download free library e-books directly to a number of tech devices including the iPhone, the iPad most Android tablets and most smartphones. If you have a dedicated e-book reader the process is a bit different but essentially if you have a Kindle you go online to the Digital Catalog click on an available e-book you would like to read and follow the prompts – the e-book will then be sent to your Kindle and you can read it. If on the other hand you have any of B&N’s Nooks you will have to download the e-book to your PC and then transfer it to your Nook. As the staff for details about this process!

*2) The free STLS Digital Catalog app, which once installed allows you to download e-books and some e-audio books to your iPad, other tablet or smartphone, is called OverDrive and is available from most App Stores.

*3) All the formats in the STLS Digital Catalog – e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music titles can be downloaded to a PC – so you don’t need an e-reader to read e-books on! You can bring up that bio for your fifth grader on your PC and let him have at it – as the expression goes…