LJNDawson.com, Consulting to the Book Publishing Industry
Blog Directory
<<     February 2007     >>

Widget race

Category: Publishing , E-commerce , Digital Publishing , Bookselling
Random House has announced its new "inside the book" tool called Insight, on the heels of HarperCollins's launch of its Browse Inside Widget. This allows any website owner or blogger to add functionality similar to Amazon's "Look Inside the Book" feature.

These are cool toys, and up the merchandising capacity of any one website significantly. Random House has this tool available for 5000 titles, while Harper offers it for 1500 books on its list.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 9:27 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Is it a floor wax, or a dessert topping?

Category: Copyright Law , Google , Digital Publishing , DRM
Frank Pasquale, in the blog Concurring Opinions, scratches his head over the enigma that is Google (and other search engines) - media, search engine, channel, directory...? What IS it? Is it the pipe, or is it the stuff that's in the pipe?

For some time, Google and other search engines have been trying to have it both ways when they confront internet complaints. For the purposes of copyright and defamation suits, they claim "We're not a media company--we're just a conduit. Don't come to us if we highly rank a site you find objectionable--we're just the infrastructure. Go to the source." But when they hide behind the shield of Tornillo in these rankings cases, they openly claim to be just like a media outlet. They allege that any effort to regulate would violate their editorial discretion--a discretion they claim is well-nigh impossible in the case of eliminating defamatory or infringement-inducing websites from highly ranked results.

Very good questions and a great articulation of the conundrum.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 9:12 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Wal-Mart in China

Category: Publishing , Company News , Bookselling
Wal-Mart has announced a deal whereby it assumes a 35% stake in the Chinese retailer Bounteous, with the goal to total ownership by 2010. The retail market in China is upwards of $1 trillion.

What does this mean for publishing? The demand in Asia for American books is, at this point, pretty limited to STM - a category Wal-Mart doesn't traditionally stock. But Wal-Mart is notorious for selling...what customers want. So it's entirely possible that a new channel for the STM market could be on the brink of opening up. It's a reach, but so are bird-calls on iPods.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 10:44 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Kazaa - Bless you!

Category: Company News , DRM
As might be expected in the wake of the Viacom/YouTube fallout deal, the Times has the requisite profile of Joost in today's technology section. The message: the founders of Kazaa have learned from their mistakes and are not interested in "a long, multiyear litigation battle". Thus they are working hard at gathering licenses and playing by the rules. There's something to be said for being famous at piracy - you certainly become aware of content providers' concerns about it, and you know how to address them. Brilliant marketing.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 10:35 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

A new use for e-audio

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing , Digital Libraries
I've been writing and thinking a lot about downloadable audiobooks - and now here comes a new use for the iPod, from the Wall Street Journal: birdwatching.

MightyJams LLC, in Atlanta, sells an iPod loaded with its BirdJam software and sample songs of 650 birds. The National Geographic Society also sells sample calls loaded onto memory cards for use in handheld devices. The song libraries are intended as identification guides, but they can also be amplified and played through portable speakers to attract birds.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 10:29 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Digital Book Conference

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing , Digital Libraries
The International Digital Publishing Forum is coming up on May 9th. Held in the McGraw-Hill auditorium, there will be presentations by Ingram Digital, VitalSource, Harvard University Library, HarperCollins, Oxford University Press, and many others. Registration is $179 for non-members and $89 for members.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 10:18 AM , comments(2) , permalink , Email this post

Ahhh, Roma!

Category: Publishing , Company News , Digital Publishing
I was treated to a wonderful e-chat this morning with Claudia Palmira, a designer and content creator who's taking full advantage of this global society and living in Rome. (She is American.) Claudia's got a great business - her clients have included Nokia, Simon & Schuster, CBS, NBC, and she's also worked for Conde Nast and Flavorpill. So she's quite hip and - as you can see from her website - she's got a fabulous aesthetic.

She's designed everything from book jackets to skin-care brand identities and TV studio sets - and now she's launching an e-publishing business. Clients can choose from a variety of packages - a simple template for a newsletter, a larger marketing campaign that includes content creation, a technology component that includes hosting - which is ideal for independent publishers, for example, who need these sorts of things but would just rather get on with the business of publishing books.

It just amazes me what we're capable of these days - a smart, gifted, ambitious young woman living in the city of her dreams, doing the work she loves - and what technology makes possible for us.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 10:01 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Putting the squeeze on the digital divide

Category: Company News
RioS - Research, Innovation, Organization, and Societies - has signed a 10-year deal with the UN's Global Alliance to essentially coordinate all the efforts of all the disparate organizations who are bringing technological improvement to underfunded populations. IBD has the scoop on this fascinating attempt to not just bridge the digital divide, but to bridge all the little islands of philanthropy that have taken up residence within this divide.

I think that metaphor has stretched about as far as it's gonna go.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 9:51 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

It's humanities day at the digital library

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing , Digital Libraries
I blogged too soon. The student newspaper of Wayne State University describes a session given by a Professor Steven Shaviro: 
At "Remediating English Studies," an informational session Friday dedicated to highlighting technology such as blogging, networking, Wikipedia, databasing and a program called Second Life,  Professor Steven Shaviro described remediation as "how old media relates to new media" and how it can change the way classes are taught.


English Studies has extended its horizons, Shaviro said.


"There were no English studies until late 19th Century," he said.


Because of these new forms of media, teachers can use different methods to discuss topics in class and students can give feedback through blogging and read books posted online.

And not a moment too soon. Humanities have tended to ignore technological developments, claiming that "nothing will ever replace the book". And this is true - but there's certainly plenty to AUGMENT the book.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 9:44 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

ebrary expands offering

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing
ebrary today announced a new partnership with Yale Univ. Press, Blackwell Publishing, and Columbia Univ. Press. This is good news for academic libraries - and interesting news for the rest of us. The ebook market has, so far, been fairly well limited to STM titles - but ebrary seems to be growing in the humanities sector. I had wondered when we would begin to see that expansion.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 27, 07, 9:39 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Netflix celebration

Category: DRM
Netflix has just announced that it has shipped its 1 billionth DVD. I can attest that this wild success is almost solely due to my 8 year old's obsession with John Cleese. We have rented at least 400,000,000 Cleese DVDs in the last 2 months. We now know in great detail how to irritate people, have labeled every inanimate object in the house an ex-whatever-it-is, and can quote every line of every Fawlty Towers.

The ability to digitally download these movies would race my kid through her obsession and end it a lot quicker. I'm gritting my teeth for the Stooges.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 26, 07, 1:32 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Leave it to Google to provide news for us on an otherwise slow and dreary Monday. Our helpful kids at Google are talking with the likes of Conde Nast, Dow-Jones, and Sony to provide contextual placement of syndicated video content on other websites. The Times has the scoop:

The videos appear inside Google ad boxes on sites that are relevant to the content of the videos, and advertisements run during or after the content. Google shared the ad revenue with the video provider and with the sites that show the videos.


Meanwhile, there's a new player in the contextual ad space - Quigo, a small NYC-based company taking on Google and Yahoo. They have already garnered clients such as ESPN.com and FoxNews.com, so they bear watching.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 26, 07, 10:50 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Electronic Resources in Libraries

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing , Libraries , Digital Libraries
The blog "K-State Libraries: Conference Reports" caught my eye last week and I didn't get a chance to write it up - apparently there was a session on referral marketing campaigns - in other words, how to get information consumers to check the library along with other online resources. This statistic, in particular, made me look twice:

There is an awareness gap when 1% of searches start with library.

In other words, consumers are still thinking of libraries as places you have to walk into to use.
This "awareness gap" extends to publishers as well. Publishers are still thinking of "digital publishing" as being a B2C enterprise - selling ebooks on Amazon, for example, which is not the best way to sell your ebooks. Very few consumers are going to buy ebooks.

However, the library market for ebooks is HOPPING (as Overdrive, ebrary and NetLibrary can attest). Libraries can't get enough of them! So far as they are concerned, publishers can't created digital texts fast enough! When "digital publishing" is regarded as a B2B enterprise, then its possibilities extend significantly.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 26, 07, 10:26 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

More DRaMa

Category: Digital Publishing , DRM
  • Ars Technica reported this weekend that EMI is telling Apple and Microsoft that while getting rid of DRM is all very well and good, it expects to be paid heavily for the privilege.


  • Meanwhile, the PureTracks store is getting a lot of press, as it has songs for download by Norah Jones, Luscious Jackson, Macy Gray - without DRM protection.


  • Over in Hollywood, BitTorrent has launched a "legal" store with movies, video games and TV shows for rent and sale - but have Apple and Walmart zipped past them in market awareness?


Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 26, 07, 10:13 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Cory Doctorow Thinks Steve Jobs is Lying

Category: E-commerce , DRM
In today's Salon, Cory Doctorow takes on Steve Jobs's DRM assertions. A really cogent piece, and very descriptive for those who are a little late to the discussion.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 23, 07, 9:45 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Not just the news, but the reader too

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing
Hearst is hooking up with Microsoft to offer readers of its newspapers a piece of software that will "create a digital reading experience", debuting with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Says MarketWire:

The P-I Reader allows users, such as business travelers or commuters, to synchronize their laptops before getting on an airplane or train and have available the latest content to read when it is most convenient. Up to six days of content can also be archived and read.


Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 23, 07, 9:30 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Not all information wants to be free

Category: E-commerce , Digital Publishing
According to a study released today by Adams Media Research, the ad model for video content is going away. Says MediaPost Publications,

as significant numbers of homes connect their TVs to the Internet, consumer spending on downloaded movies and TV shows should expand rapidly and exceed ad spending substantially by 2011, Adams Media finds.

Interestingly, as users get accustomed to paying for video content, paying for digital text probably isn't going to seem so horrendous. Subscription models could do quite well if that's the case.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 23, 07, 9:22 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

DRM roundup

Category: DRM
The Jobs/DRM skirmishing continues, sparking a much-needed discussion all over the world.
 
  • Europe's getting all hot and bothered
  • TG Daily reminds us that Napster has a point (and quotes a Jupiter Research study in a sidebar, stating that most music execs are anti-DRM)
  • The Brits slapped down a petition calling for a ban on DRM
  • A hacker named Arnezami has cracked the AACS code that "locks" Sony Blu-Ray and HD DVDs

  • Meanwhile, the Canadians have launched a store called Puretracks, which sells DRM-free MP3s.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 22, 07, 10:17 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Britannica on your phone

Category: Company News , Libraries , Digital Libraries
Encyclopedia Britannica released the news yesterday that it is offering a mobile service through AskMeNow.com. By texting a query to ASKME (27563), users can access information in Britannica's 28,000 articles. Additionally, customers can also receive Britannica Mobile Dailies, which are

daily topical features sent directly to their mobile phones free of charge via AskMeNow, such as Biography of the Day, Quote of the Day, and This Day in History.

Wonder how long before Wikipedia gets in on this.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 22, 07, 10:08 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Breaking - Google not all that

Category: Google , E-commerce , Digital Publishing
InfoToday reports on the FAST conference held recently, in which Susan Feldman from IDC presented some findings about search. Using both Nielsen and IDC data, Feldman found that

roughly 70 percent of users' queries on the Web are not going first to the search engines (to be then referred through results clicks to Web sites). Instead, users are going directly to destination sites (such as Amazon or Staples) to search for specific information and are bypassing the search engines.


"The conventional wisdom is that ad revenue and the Web itself is dominated by Google," said Feldman. "But I think the Web is up for grabs."

For advertisers, this means re-thinking the "must go through Google" strategy. Feldman made the obligatory Long Tail mention, but the point was valid enough - there's a lot of ad money out there in unexpected places.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 22, 07, 9:58 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

More Sommers scuttlebutt - blog chatter

Category: Company News , Libraries
The blogs have got hold of the Sommers news and here's the download:

Andrew K. Pace's Hectic Pace for ALA quotes Marshall Breeding:

"It's clear that Pat Sommers was hired by Seaport Capital to grow Sirsi from the $25 million company that it was then to the new SirsiDynix that is nearly five times that size. But he was Seaport's guy, and Vista will want to bring in their own leadership."

Craig Carlson, from Emporia Public Library, is blogging SirsiDynix's Superconference this week, and notes that while it's acknowledged that Sommers is no longer at SD, it's not being discussed in any depth.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 4:11 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Sommers follow-up

Category: Company News , Libraries
The press release PDF from SirsiDynix is here. InfoToday has a bit of a squib as well. Reactions are ambivalent - a general consensus that when a company is acquired by another company, the CEO can't expect to be there too long...and yet surprise that after building Sirsi into a juggernaut, Vista would let him go. And hours before the SirsiDynix User Group meeting.

Further scuttlebutt as it becomes available....
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 3:14 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Buffalo's digital assets

Category: Libraries , Digital Libraries
The Buffalo News has a great profile of its library system, which is chucking out books in favor of electronic resources. It's a lovely illustration of all the trends active in libraries today - ebooks, online journals, smaller physical book collections, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks for MP3 players, ILS systems. One very meaningful quote:

Multimedia materials now make up 43 percent of total circulation, [Carole A.] Batt [administator of coordinated system services] said. That figure has risen in recent years, though she couldn't provide previous circulation figures.

And, from the University of Buffalo:


UB, for example, is spending more than half its annual acquisitions budget on digital and electronic materials, up from 9 percent in 1997, UB reported.

Crucial figures for understanding how libraries are fighting the relevance issue.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 11:18 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

E-shoppers love B&N.com

Category: E-commerce , Bookselling
Congrats to B&N.com, which placed first out of 200 companies in a survey 65,000 e-commerce customers run by the Univ. of Michigan in conjunction with Foresee Results. Nice going!
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 11:08 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

WorldCat Registry

Category: Libraries , Digital Libraries
Michael Cairns reminded me yesterday to take a look at Lorcan Dempsey's blog, as he had a link to the new WorldCat Registry. Michael's got a great explanation in English, for those who find Lorcan a bit technical. According to the registry itself, its purpose is to host a single location that lists, for each institution who registers (for free):

  • Institution type
  • Identifying codes issued by industry organizations
  • Physical and electronic (IP) locations
  • Consortial memberships
  • Parent-child relationships (main and branch institutions)
  • Web-based services such as online catalog, "Ask-a" virtual reference and OpenURL servers
  • Vendors used
  • Budgetary and service statistics
  • Administrative contacts
It seems like a great resource if you're a vendor of services that libraries could potentially use - you could do a lot of market research there.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 10:47 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Evergreen at PINES

Category: Libraries , Digital Libraries
Roy Tennant has a bit in Library Journal worth noting, about the Georgia PINES open-source ILS system that "they wrote from scratch", called Evergreen. The complexity of designing a system for an enormous consortium like PINES is an achievement - while Koha, another open-source ILS, has been available for quite some time, Evergreen is notably more scalable. They're using Linux boxes, rather than Solaris machines, and support is provided either by the library itself or by an open-source support consultancy called Equinox.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 10:39 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Dept. of Holy Shit - Sommers leaves SirsiDynix

Category: Company News , Libraries , Department of Holy Shit
Library Journal reports this morning that Pat Sommers, CEO of the juggernaut SirsiDynix, has left. Apparently this happened on February 16th. No word on why Vista Equity Partners has chosen not to retain him, what his plans are for the future, or who the prospective replacements might be.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 21, 07, 10:35 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

iPods teach

Category: Digital Publishing , Digital Libraries
Digital publishing isn't just limited to what you can see on a screen. A growing component of it is in audio format - language lessons, audiobooks, audio summaries, and other interactive "book" content that can be downloaded onto an MP3 player. AP has a great story about how students are using their MP3 players to "read".

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 20, 07, 10:22 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Open Publishing

Category: Publishing , Google , Digital Publishing , Bookselling
At the Google conference on publishing a few weeks ago, one of the speakers was Cory Doctorow, the author and co-editor of Boing Boing. He had some really interesting things to say about publishing and distributing content - many of which involve the word "free". Corante's Strange Attractor blog has a profile of him today.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 20, 07, 10:08 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

IP Skirmishing

Category: Copyright Law , Google , Company News
In a fit of pique at YouTube, Viacom has announced a licensing deal with Joost, a YouTube competitor founded by the guys who brought you Skype and Kazaa. Says WSJ:

Mr. Dauman said Joost's promise that it would protect Viacom's copyrights was a major factor in his decision to pursue the deal. The same issue was a stumbling block in the company's talks with Google.


The deal with YouTube fell apart because, while YouTube is providing technology that allows content providers to ferret out pirated content that is uploaded to YouTube's site, that technology will only be available to companies who have signed distribution agreements with YouTube. This proved to be too much for Viacom, who stalked off to Joost two weeks later.




Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 20, 07, 9:54 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

The Big Picture...LAUNCHED

Category: Publishing , E-commerce , Company News , Digital Publishing , Bookselling , Industry Events , Libraries , Digital Libraries , The Big Picture
This morning we're delighted to announce the launch of our newsletter, The Big Picture. The Big Picture is a newsletter at the nexus of technology where publishing, bookselling, libraries, and service providers meet. Covering trends in digital content delivery – to both retail and library markets – The Big Picture provides insight, news, analysis, and community in a fast-moving sector.

The Big Picture is essential to understanding digital strategies in the book industry. The newsletter is aimed at:

  • Publishing – mid- to senior-level executives who are forecasting and implementing digital distribution
  • Bookselling – product sales executives who are planning digital strategies
  • Libraries – collection development librarians who are allocating funds for acquisitions
  • Distributors – business development executives who are examining digital distribution of content as another aspect of book distribution
  • Enterprise Software Providers – software developers and product managers who have to accommodate digital strategies according to their customers’ needs
The Big Picture offers analysis of the latest news, company and product profiles, feature articles, and a job board focusing on the electronic content distribution market. The Big Picture's subscribers are executives and professionals responsible for major purchasing, distribution and development decisions.

The Big Picture is published every 2 weeks – 26 issues per year. Subscription is free. Click here to subscribe!

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 20, 07, 9:50 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

The Big Picture - Steve Jobs stirs the pot again...

Category: DRM , The Big Picture
In this issue of The Big Picture:

INTEL: COMPANIES - Cambridge Information group acquires ProQuest
INTEL: PRODUCTS - SirsiDynix forms Librarian Advisory Council
INTEL: PEOPLE - James Gray moves from Coutts to Ingram Digital
THE DOWNLOAD - Steve Jobs stirs the pot again - what does it mean for us?

"Of course, whenever Steve Jobs does anything, we’re all left scratching our heads and wondering what this means for us. We know it means something. But Jobs’s pronouncements are like the magma underneath the earth’s plates – shifting land masses around gradually and undetected, until one day we roll out of bed and realize we’re in China.

On Monday, February 6th, Jobs put an open letter up on the Apple website which purported to be a bit of abstract musing on the future of digital rights management in music. He urged music labels to stop requiring digital rights management. Because Apple’s software (called FairPlay) is proprietary, the DRM embedded in MP3 files sold by Apple prevents those files from being played anywhere but on an iPod. (The inverse is true as well – downloadable files which are NOT sold by Apple are difficult to load onto an iPod, and in some cases are wiped out when a user synchs the iPod with iTunes software.)..."

Click here to access our newsletter archives and read the February 20, 2007 issue in full.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 20, 07, 6:03 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Department of Holy Shit

Category: Company News , Department of Holy Shit
The WSJ just announced that Sirius and XM Radio are merging. Mel Karmazin will be CEO of the newly-unified company. Gary Parsons will be chairman. No word on what the new name will be.

The FCC is regarding this dubiously, due to anti-trust issues. The Journal goes on to say:

But the two sides are likely to argue that the proliferation of Internet-based radio, digital music players, and new HD-radio formats creates a vigorous competitive market for such media. Indeed, in surveys, consumers rarely can differentiate between the two companies, which have spent hundreds of millions trying to appeal to them.

For some in our trade, it's reminiscent of the time B&N tried to acquire Ingram Book Group. For others, of course, the analogy to Time Warner and AOL springs to mind. Says one industry insider, "These things never end well."
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 3:35 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

CSA Proquest

Category: Company News , Digital Publishing , Libraries
Cambridge Information Group has finished acquiring Proquest and has merged it with CSA. The new CEO of the whole shebang is Marty Kahn.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 12:25 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

NetLibrary goes into Overdrive

Category: Digital Publishing , Libraries , Digital Libraries
NetLibrary announced on Friday that it is adding Random House audio and Blackstone audio titles to its catalog, with "more to come". Overdrive is already carrying these publishers in its Digital Content Reserve system - this will make NetLibrary's offering a bit more competitive.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 11:04 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

DRM - the Jobs blowback

Category: Copyright Law , E-commerce , Digital Publishing , Digital Libraries
Steve Jobs's open letter on February 7th about digital rights management has rippled through the media industry and the responses are trickling back in.

Macrovision has responded with a pro-DRM missive, which ends with a rather hamfisted plea for its own business:

We offer to assist Apple in the issues and problems with DRM that you state in your letter. Should you desire, we would also assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices.

Bronfman at Warner has hit back as well, saying, "DRM and interoperability are not the same thing." And of course he is right - if Apple's FairPlay were interoperable with other DRMs, rather than being proprietary, then this wouldn't be an issue. For music.

Film studios, however, are also concerned. Music listeners and movie watchers have different usage patterns - and so the packages of rights need to be different as well.

While most people simply want to listen to a song over and over, movie watchers want different things. Some want to see it only once; some want to have a copy forever; some want to watch it in different places. Digital rights management is what makes the tailored purchase possible.

No conclusions or predictions yet.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 10:27 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Perseus wins

Category: Publishing , Bookselling
On Friday, the WSJ and Shelf Awareness reported that Perseus had won the rights to distribute PGW's list. Perseus offered $.70 on the dollar for each publisher claim - NBN had offered 100%, but the bankruptcy court chose Perseus anyway.

Meanwhile, Alan Greenspan will be the keynote speaker at BEA this year. Booksellers, however, were not irrationally exuberant.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 10:15 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Data rules

Category: E-commerce , Bookselling
There's an interesting story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about how book sales are holding steady while the number of books bought in actual brick-and-mortar bookstores is declining. The author puts that down to online shopping - which is a pretty good assumption. But it's worth noting that the physical retail market for books is also increasing in non-bookstores - drugstores, grocery stores, Costcos and Wal-Marts. Tracking these sales is quite difficult, as stores tend to stock them according to price point rather than title (all paperbacks get described as "a $7.99 book" rather than as the actual titles). The lesson of GDSN, folks - if the book industry had its data in the mass-merchandise data pools, stores could tap into it and merchandise books by title rather than price point. And articles like this would come to somewhat different conclusions.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 19, 07, 9:35 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

What's it all about, Sirsi?

Category: Libraries
Michael Rogers reports in today's LJ Technology section that the Vista acquistion of SirsiDynix is a good thing for libraries, because as Chief Marketing Officer Angus Carroll states, "Too many companies can't dedicate [research and development money]," whereas Vista appears to be investing in that arena. Sirsi is looking at "vendor-hosted library systems", a solution that would help libraries who don't have significant IT resources to devote to building and maintaining web services.

Rogers also reports on ebrary's debut of its "eBOP" functionality - which integrates with ordering systems (YBP and Blackwell's, to start) to allow acquisitions librarians to view ebooks in full before ordering them. Now if only we could get that functionality for print books as well - to view them electronically before ordering them - it would save a lot of trees....
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 15, 07, 12:23 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Distributor news

Category: Company News , Bookselling
Jim Milliott reported late yesterday that B&T is making a "stalking horse" offer to acquire the assets of AMS. This offer excludes the acquisition of PGW. Meanwhile, Perseus and NBN scramble for the PGW piece of the pie - there is a possibility that the bankruptcy judge could pull a Solomon and accept both offers, dividing PGW up. He is set to rule sometime today.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 15, 07, 12:15 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

They don't like snippets in Belgium

Category: Copyright Law , Google , Company News , Digital Publishing , Libraries
A Belgian court ruled on Tuesday that offering "snippets" from news stories violated copyright law - but reduced the fine for doing so from $1.3 million to $32,500/day. Obviously, Google's going to appeal. Says ZDNet:

Specifically, the court rejected Google's defense that storing of cached copies of the articles and use of excerpts was fair use of the material and thus not a violation of copyright. The court also did not agree with Google that newspapers should have the burden of opting out if they don't want their articles included on Google.



Of course, then there is the pragmatic view. As so many have said, if material is not included in a Google search, how the hell is anyone going to find it?

Library Journal's got a great piece today on Google Scholar as a metasearch application - rivaling MetaLib and WebFeat. Jonathan Rochkind makes a great case for libraries to start storing the metadata (and in some cases the actual content) of their subscriptions locally, so that searches are more exhaustive, more effective, and more inclusive.
Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 15, 07, 12:05 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Shake it up

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing
Wiley has acquired Blackwell Publishing for $1.08 billion. PW has the scoop here.

Princeton is joining the Google Library project. The Book Standard has more.

But the big news this morning is Apple. On the Apple website, Steve Jobs has written an appeal to the big 4 music labels, more or less asking them to do away with the DRM embedded in their music files. This would, Jobs says, allow MP3s to play on any device, not just an iPod. Music labels have responded as one might expect - and industry observers are noting that the alternative to Jobs's proposal would be making the Apple software, Fairplay, available to competing hardware devices. Jobs, of course, dismissed this - the New York Times says that it "would only complicate enforcement of digital rights management, as myriad companies would have to coordinate software and hardware updates."

Of course, that happens now every time Windows releases an update, and the republic has survived.

This is good for the book industry, however - and VERY good for libraries. The audiobook market - as PW reports - is booming and downloadable audio is of course largely responsible for this. Audible has a lock on iPod-compatible downloads...but Audible is not heavily invested in the library market. Meaning that libraries who want to offer iPod-compatible audiobooks are screwed. Given that iPods are now THE listening device of choice (particularly among 14-24 year olds, who access libraries primarily via the Internet)...Audible's exclusive deal with Apple, and disinterest in the library market, is another blow to libraries' increasingly difficult fight for relevancy.

However, if audiobook files become disintermediated from their devices - if the DRM embedded in those files becomes less of an issue - then that opens the playing field for Overdrive, Ingram Digital, iofy, and others to offer hardware-neutral audiobooks to libraries.

Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 7, 07, 9:28 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Vista - Ingenta; Ingenta - Vista

Category: Publishing
Yes, you heard it right. Vista, which develops back-office software for publishers (yes, THAT Vista) and Ingenta, which develops technologies for online publishing, are merging. The new company is called Publishing Technologies, and PW has the scoop here. Notes one industry observer about this merger in the face of a shrinking industry: "Two drowning men hoping they'll be able to float for a while on the corpse of the other?"

Also in the back-office solution department, Cat's Pajamas has a new owner. They will remain in Burlington, but they are migrating their systems to an SQL database which should allow for more flexibility among their clients.

And the date/location for the second annual Self-Publishing Symposium has been set - the Schomberg Center in Harlem, on March 25, 2007. Tony Rose, founder of Amber Communications Inc., will be the keynote speaker. More information is here (the links in the press release above don't work).


Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 6, 07, 9:45 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Monday roundup

Category: Google , Company News , Digital Publishing , Libraries , Digital Libraries
In Library Journal today, it's reported that LC has received a grant to digitize public domain material - "brittle" books and others in need of preservation. It's exciting because it includes original works by Benjamin Franklin, local histories and memoirs not otherwise archived (secret family histories, anyone?) and my personal favorite..."the Katherine Golden Bitting and the Elizabeth Robins Pennell Collections of Gastronomy" (the "Fast Food Nations" of colonial America).

On Friday, PW reported that  Amazon book sales were up in the "double digits" for the fourth quarter of 2006. No explanation was given for this sudden insatiable hunger for books by Amazon users, though hints are that pre-sale figures for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows could be involved somehow.

On the subject of Harry Potter, Red Herring reports that Rowling will not be releasing any of the series via ebook. Both piracy concerns and author preference for print are cited.

Yahoo hopes to achieve non-news today as it launches its competitor to Google Ads - Project Panama. The Times does not report any major product differentiators, but notes that "[w]hatever Yahoo’s gains turn out to be, they will not necessarily come at the expense of Google."

“If this is successful, advertisers will not shift from Google or MSN, but rather from other mediums, such as e-mail, display advertising and offline budgets,” said Stuart Larkins, vice president for search at Performics, a division of online advertising firm Doubleclick.



Bookmark this post: Add this post to del.icio.us Digg it! Add this post to Furl StumbleUpon it! Add this post to Technorati Add this post to Google Bookmarks Add this post to Windows Live Add this post to Netscape Add this post to BlinkList Add this post to Newsvine Add this post to ma.gnolia Add this post to Tailrank
Posted by Laura Dawson , February 5, 07, 9:02 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post
FRONT PAGE
Developed by Codehead   Powered by: PHPBlogManager.com