[bookport] Re: NLS Beta Program
- From: "Walt Smith" <walt@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 12:46:24 -0500
I don't understand how anybody can make such a statement as that the NLS web
site will "blow away" Audible. NLS has a history of never re-issuing books
originally produced in one audio medium in the next generation medium,
except for a relatively small number of Talking Book recordings that had
originally been recorded on the old 33 1/3 recordings once the slower 16 2/3
format was introduced. They _never_ re-issued any of the old classic Talking
Book recordings, even though they retained master copies of all titles, on
tape once cassettes came into use, so if anyone expects that previously
released titles will become available in digital form, I feel fairly safe
(based on over 50 years as a customer of NLS and its predecessor, the
Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, as well as having worked
in the NLS system at one time as head of two different regional libraries)
in saying that this isn't going to happen.
Given the relatively tiny number of new titles (even contrasted with
Audible) that NLS releases every year in audio format, it will take years
before the NLS digital audio collection can be said to rival Audible. The
great thing is that once the switch to digital takes place, every title
should remain available in pristine condition forever, which certainly was
never the case with cassettes, even though that should not have been the
case. In short, I think that claiming that the NLS site will ever rival
Audible during the lifetime of anyone subscribed to this list is just a pipe
dream. Also, what possible evidence is there that the current normal delay
of approximately a year from book publication to NLS availability will ever
be reduced? This has been a problem with respect to audio materials ever
since I first used the program in 1955. There have been a _tiny_ number of
exceptions--the best-known being the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy
assassination--but the very fact that they were so exceptional merely proves
the rule. Nothing having to do with digital is going to speed up this
process because there is essentially little difference between the
production of cassette and digital materials from the point of view of
selecting the material, assigning it to a studio, and getting the master
recording back. By the way, does anybody actually _know_ if, once digital
becomes a reality, the masters will be recorded digitally rather than on
analog tape? That, alone, could speed up the time currently lost between
studio production and availability to readers.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jamie Pauls" <jamiepauls@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 11:58 AM
Subject: [bookport] Re: NLS Beta Program
You say that the NLS download site will blow away Audible. If books aren't
produced in more of a timely fashion than they have in the past, Audible
will still be the place to get Culture Warrior the day it is released. A bit
off topic I suppose; just couldn't resist throwing in my two cents. Perhaps
NLS will be able to speed up the release of new books when everything goes
digital.
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