I suspect that RNIB will just be purchasing rights to certain Audible books
rather than having access to their whole library, mostly because Audible
would lose a considerable customer base otherwise.
But there are other companies, like Isis, who also produce high quality
audio books and I wouldn't be surprised to see RNIB forming partnerships
with other audio book producers; it makes sense!
Alison
--- Begin Message ---Hi David
- From: "John Ramm" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2016 22:34:11 +0100
I'm struggling to believe that anyone can be quite so unexcited about an
increase from 25,000 to 29,000 books available to borrow for free from the
RNIB Talking Book service! I don't know whether you know how difficult it is
to persuade organisations to wave or share their copyright for the benefit
of blind and partially sighted people, but it's not easy and I believe that
this is a major step forward. I hear what you say about Audible books being
available to disc and USB users but, given that Audible is an online
service, I can't imagine that these books won't also be available via
Overdrive but I can check, or perhaps one of the RNIB staff who are members
could clarify.
At no point did anyone suggest that people should give up their Audible
subscriptions, but if you did, rest assured that it is an incredibly simple
matter to subscribe again, that's business ... they want your money.
The deal announced via this link may well be followed by others and I know
that the team at RNIB is working hard behind the scenes to increase the
number of titles available to the tens of thousands of people who use this
great service on a daily basis.
Talk soon, John
At 21:06 20/08/2016, you wrote:
Very interesting and certainly sounds good news but in the intro bit it
raises a lot of unanswered questions/ clarifications needed. I did not
listen through the sample from the Militarist Audio Book to its conclusion
so these questions/clarifications may have been addressed later. But
assuming they were not.
1. It only mentions eligibility for those using the USB/Daisy Disk service -
what about those who have switched to the Download Service? Are we excluded?
2. It seems to suggest though does not make clear that actually only a tiny
sub-set of books on Audible will be available to the RNIB . That is the
4,000 books for which Audible directly hold the copyright. Audible is
massively bigger than this though. Presumably this means that only 1 in 50
of the over 200,000+ books available (according to Google when I checked
just now will actually be available to RNIB members.
3. What people should definately not be doing then is cancelling their
Audible membership in the belief that they will get anything like the
selection of books they currently enjoy.
4. If I am correct in all this I think it is possibly misleading not to
include this clarification at the stage of the announcement, certainly my
first thought was should I now cancel my Audible Membership?
This is not to downplay what is an important marginal development. An
increase of 4,000 books is certainly an uplift on the current 10,000 books
that the RNIB hold.
If as a Download Talking Book User I can access these titles I will
certainly appreciate not having to expend my Audible Credits on them.
Still I think the announcement should be clearer to prevent people taking
premature stpes regarding cancelling Audible membership that they may later
regret.
David Griffith
ON 20/08/2016 17:45, Michael Allan wrote:
Here is a link to the announcement concerning this.
<https://audioboom.com/boos/4951397-audible-team-up-with-rnib-talking-books>
https://audioboom.com/boos/4951397-audible-team-up-with-rnib-talking-books ;
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:-
** [ <mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx%3Fsubject=unsubscribe>
mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe]
** If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** and in the Subject line type
** unsubscribe
** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the
** immediately-following link:-
** [ <mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx%3Fsubject=faq>
mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq]
** or send a message, to
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:-
** [ <mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx%3Fsubject=unsubscribe>
mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe]
** If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** and in the Subject line type
** unsubscribe
** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the
** immediately-following link:-
** [ <mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx%3Fsubject=faq>
mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq]
** or send a message, to
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
John Ramm
Drummer for 40days - @40daysofficial -
<http://www.facebook.com/40dayswrexham> www.facebook.com/40dayswrexham -
<http://www.soundcloud.com/40daysofficial> www.soundcloud.com/40daysofficial
Chair, RNIB Cymru - <http://www.rnib.org.uk/wales-cymru-1>
www.rnib.org.uk/wales-cymru-1
Trustee, Action for Blind People -
<http://www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk/> www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk/
Non Executive Director, Habinteg Housing Association -
<http://www.habinteg.org.uk/> www.habinteg.org.uk
Clore Social Fellow: <http://www.cloresocialleadership.org/>
www.cloresocialleadership.org
1.
--- End Message ---
