The Sentient Search Engine

Prior posts might leave you with the impression that I’m a bit of a pessimist when it comes to ebooks and eBook Readers, especially Amazon’s Kindle. I’m still a pessimist about Kindle and dedicated readers, but I have to tell you I’m coming around on eBooks.

I never doubted that eBooks would “take over” someday, as there are too many plusses to the technology. What I really objected to was the speed with which everyone though it would happen. The Kindle app has changed my mind.

I’ve had it on my iPod Touch for several months now, but I didn’t have anything to read on it, or any desire to acquire anything. Recently I left work without a book I wanted to finish. I had a largely unscheduled evening ahead of me and nothing to read! Being the type of guy I am, I decided to turn a problem into an opportunity. I went on Amazon’s site and bought a Kindle copy and started reading.

Let me start with the purchasing process. Its too easy, and I’m only partially kidding. I found the book, and clicked “buy with one click” and it was mine. Wow! All I had to do then was fire up the Kindle App and synch it with my Kindle account! My book came to me over my wifi connection almost instantly, no pluging in required. Wow again.

The recent 1.1 upgrade to the Kindle App is extraordinary. It uses the motion sensing capabilities of the iPhone\iPod touch to allow a landscape presentation and lets you lock in in your prefered orientation. This is huge for those among the uninitiated, for it lets you keep the print big enough to read without having to have only 3 words per line. One can therefore actually follow the book you’re reading as you can string coherent thoughts together! You advance the pages with a tap on the right side of the screen, and flip back with a tap on the left. It seems Amazon learned a few tricks from LexCycle when they bought them.

This app is whats going to sell eBooks for Amazon long term, not their overpriced one trick pony. When I think of what will be possible when the rumored large-form iPod/iPhone/Apple Tablet comes out…

This does leave me with a rather galling question for librarians. Why don’t we have a method of distributing digital material that is this easy to use? My library offers a collection of Overdrive eBooks, eFlicks, eAudiobooks, etc. Why can’t overdrive create an app(s) for the numerous portable devices out there to seamlessly deliver our material to where people want it? There are no technological limitations to this. Apple wouldn’t be stupid enough to deny such an app admittance to the App Store (I don’t think).

This would certianly allieveate some of the clunkiness assoicated with using Overdrive materials on iPods. One could browse ones “checked out” items and start it up immediately! This might also help with compatibility issues, who really knows what’s possible until someone does it! I might actually use my library’s digital collection if it was as easy as my Amazon experience!

Here’s hoping someone gets it togather and gets this done!

PS. Owners of the iPod Touch and iPhone need not spend money to try out their Kindle Apps. Amazon has several (good) titles available for FREE. I’m enjoying Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson at the moment. Also available (and highly recommended) is His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (Anne McCaffery meets Patrick O’Brien, what could be better?).

Okay, so I first started hearing rumors about a larger “tablet PC”-ish iPod Touch back in December. I remember thinking at the time that it was the most absurd thing I had heard or read in quite awhile (and remember, I work with the general public folks *wink*) . After all, we all saw how successful Tablet PCs turned out to be on the broader market.

However, I now know that I was simply not yet one of the converted. I bought myself a 32GB Touch in January, and I’m in love.  I really am. The only think I don’t like about it is that its not an iPhone. (I would have gotten an iPhone, but AT&T worries and my poor track record with gadgets prevented me.) The coolest thing about it is the app store. The idea that I could find and download programs for nearly every need (often for free) was a huge deal with me, especially since I didn’t have to be at a PC to do it, could download directly to my iPod.

Its this capability that sruck a cord with me when I revisited those “Big iPod” rumors. The new iPod, it is said, will be between 5 and 7 inches in diameter, so it will have a nice sized screen without being too huge to be travel-friendly.

What do you get when you combine the flexibility and ease of use of an iPod Touch (with the App store) with a significantly bigger screen? A renaissance (you heard me, renaissance) in mobile computing, that’s what. Think of the productivity that would afford. I could actually stand to compose a long document on something that size. I managed a post on this blog on my Touch, and I imagine a larger screen would have only made the experience more pleasant. Would people really want to go without the keyboard associated with traditional notebooks? Sure! If I can handle a iPod Touch keyboard with my bloated meathooks then a larger screen would only make that better!

The main pitfall of the Tablet PCs are complexity and size. They were PCs with primitive touchscreens neither of which is conducive to real productivity. The smaller form factor implied in the rumors coupled with the super-simple interface of the iPod makes for very exciting possibilities.

A big Ipod has important entertainment ramifications as well. After all, It will be more fun to watch a movie on a bigger screen, and browsing ones library will become simpler as longer song titles can be accomodated [This is one other minor shortcoming of the Touch for me. I listen to a lot of classical music, and the titles of most works are much too long to display a useful fragment of, let alone in their entirety]. The touch certainly looks to be a possible Kindle-Killer (not that it had THAT much life in the first place) as apps like Stanza will make the big iPod an effective eBook reader.

In a library note, the “Big iPod” would also be the ultimate roving reference tool. You could search the catalog and the web and demonstrate databases and Electronic Resources right from the floor with a device large enough to view with a customer, but small enough to carry casually (rather than lug around). Here’s an idea! Add a USB port for a barcode/RFID scanner to the Big iPod and you get the Weeder’s/Shelf Reader’s best friend…

Overdrive announced several months ago their intent to start releasing material in MP3 format to allow iPod users to use their digital audiobooks and music. They have now delivered on that promise. Checking the MOLDI site (mentioned in a previous post), I saw a big announcement of their inclusion. I have to say I’m pleased as punch, both as a iPod owner and a Librarian. This sould go a long way toward making this service more useful for our customers and I couldn’t be happier.

This service is still in the larval stage of course. There are currently only 177 titles available in MP3, only 4.4% of the 3,993 titles available in WMA format. However, this will only increase. It also looks (at least at first glance) that a good job has been done in selecting interesting titles for the “first run”.

I look forward to having the chance to take advantage of this new service.

This is no less true for Learn & Play than it is for anything else. Our final “thing”, is to reflect on our experience.

I’ve enjoyed Learn & Play, and I feel that I come at it from a different perspective as well. For most staff, the stuff covered in this program was entirely new, whereas I had at least heard of it and usually was already up to my neck in it. This means I had to do things a little differently to make it interesting, so I focused on the reflective aspects, trying to decide how something could be used/useful.

I also used this as an oppertunity to develop better blogging habits. I have a tendency to ignore blogging for months at a time, so its been nice to have an incentive to keep up with it.

Learn & Play has also been the stew pot for some interesting thoughts. I’m planning on following up on my “Staff YouTube Booktalks embedded in the catalog” idea!

I would definitely participate in a similar program in the future. I love this sort of self-directed thing and the prize/time-limit is pretty effective at putting an fire under my but to get it done. Special Thanks to LibraryJoy, gerald2.0, and all the folks in CML Digital Services that made Learn & Play possible!

In the penultimate exercise for Learn & Play @CML, we were tasked with exploring the world of downloadables on MOLDI. For those among the uninitiated, that stands for the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative a project that provides access to digital media to library patrons (learn more).

I found the system fairly easy to use, though I will say that I am used to purchasing things online and the experience is similar (if not identical). The only potential hiccup I can see for others is the possible need to install the Overdrive software, but that only needs to be done once!

I must say that the quality of the selection is much improved from the last several times I’ve looked at it, especially the eAudiobooks! The audiobook selection in sci-fi and fantasy is excellent and very current (previously a sore point with me)! The eBooks and Music have improved as well (I like classical music).

However, the improvement in the selection does not carry over into the “eFlicks”. There’s a mix of quirky retro stuff like old sci-fi B-flicks and silent films which is very nice. There are also some comedy specials (ex Howie Mandell & Bill Engval) and neat documentaries. What is lacking is anything that could remotely be called mainstream or blockbuster. Now, I understand that there is likely to be trouble getting Hollywood to give up there latest and greatest in this format! Sure! That’s unsurprising! What bothers me is that there are no older blockbusters or true classics (think AFI 100) on the list. It seems that if we’re going to offer such a service that we need to have more of what a general audience would want to see, especially if (as I’ve heard) libraries are expecting downloadable content to replace DVDs and CDs down the road. I’d also like to begin seeing high-definition offerings in the near future. I understand why there haven’t been any to this point and agree with the logic, but the market penetration for HD is growing quickly and price drops this holiday season are expected to increase it even more. For those folks who have their TVs hooked up to their PC (neither difficult or uncommon) or have the new widescreen HD laptops, this would be a great new feature!