Review of BCPL Digital Media

In our modern age of computers in almost every bedroom and media-playing personal electronic devices on almost everyone’s belt or in their purse, the traditional style of public libraries has to change, not of its own random accord, but through careful planning. When Andrew Carnegie first established public libraries, he did so with the desire to see the general public have free access to resources to better its education and expand its imagination. He left a successful legacy. Boone County Public Library (BCPL) understands this and is on the move to realize Carnegie’s dream in our technology-driven world. In September, 2006, BCPL began offering audiobooks in digital downloads to its patrons through its website, BCPL.org. Being an experienced user and developer of digital technologies, I decided to review BCPL’s new offering. The first step is to obtain a library card from your local BCPL branch. To register for BCPL’s new “Digital Media” website, you must visit their local branch, rather than use your own internet access to create an account. A mandate such as this seems quite unnecessary. But I can appreciate that the NetLibrary system requires only name, email address, password, and security question. I like forms that don’t ask for personal information. After obtaining an account, a patron can visit BCPL.org, click Digital Media on the left side, click Search Now, click OK, type a password twice, login with their username and password for NetLibrary, and then finally get to searching for resources. This seven-step process can be frustrating with very little repetition, but it does remain more-convenient over piling the family into the car and driving to the local library. Once in the NetLibrary interface, developed and maintained by Online Computer Library Center Inc., the interface is simple. A Basic Search box is immediately visible, and collection selection appears in a box on the right side of the screen. An advanced search is linked from this landing page that gives the visitor more precision over searches. If a search has already been performed, it is saved as a Recent Search on this page. I decided to Full-Text search for “Bible.” On my DSL internet, the search results loaded very quickly, and I saw that I had 846 results in an “All” tab. Three other tabs filter my results by media—eAudiobooks, eBooks, and Other. I selected eAudiobooks and found a title that interested me. Right from these search results, I can click Show Details to see more about the item; I can add it to my favorites, perhaps as a list for future enjoyment; or I can jump straight to check out by clicking Download this eAudiobook, and then selecting either CD-quality (32 kbps mono) or radio-quality (4 kbps mono). Now, I must say something about the technical side of this. “Digital rights management” (DRM) is a technology that enforces restrictions on files. DRM requires that a license be downloaded, which is fairly automatic, in order to allow playback or transfer. Files that use DRM can only be played on compatible computers, with compatible software, and only transferred to compatible portable devices. This means that if your computer, software, or portable media device isn’t compatible with the DRM in the file, then you can’t play the media. This same DRM also prevents the media from being converted to a compatible format, transferred to noncompatible portable players, or burned to CD or DVD for playback in standard audio or video equipment. Because of this, many consumers have good reasons to hate this technology because it prevents convenient use of the media, and behaves more like an infection rather than an aid. The purpose of this obstinate level of security is to prevent illegal copying and duplication of the media. But all studies so far show that duplication is not that big of a threat. And if someone wanted an illegal copy bad enough, there are plenty of other ways to attain it. The digital audio files downloaded from NetLibrary come as DRM-infected Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. Immediately, this means that these files will not play at all on a Mac PC, Linux PC, the extremely-popular iPod, or any portable device that does not bare the Microsoft “Plays-for-Sure” logo. And any computer that receives this file must download a new license to play the media, but the file may be restricted to play on only one computer. Technology does exist to remove the DRM, which would make the file more convenient to your equipment or situation, but this is frowned upon by some officials. So, unless you have an approved portable device, you are stuck to listening to this audiobook on only your PC. These audiobooks also download as only one WMA file, which contains the entire length of the audiobook. My particular selection gave me an eight-hour-long audio file. This will frustrate anyone who does not intended to listen to the whole book in a single sitting, because the single file provides no simple means for bookmarking. Even if CD-burning was allowed by the file’s DRM, the long length of these audio files makes it impossible to burn to an audio CD, which can only hold seventy to eighty minutes of audio. One positive aspect to the DRM infection in these downloaded audiobooks is that it makes renewing or returning the audiobook quite easy. To renew, you would simply click that option within your Checked Out items list in NetLibrary. This will renew your license for the file and allow another three weeks worth of playback, but you won’t have to redownload the file. There is no return process because the license for each file automatically expires after three weeks. The expired file can then be deleted from your computer. Thus, there are no late fees. I can support Boone County Public Library for taking this step into the twenty-first century and developing a smooth process, but the many shortcomings inherent with the system force me to give a final rating of only three stars out of five.