Dan toch… Audio downloaden op je iPod

OverDrive Breaks the iPod Barrier for Downloadable Audio

Norman Oder — Library Journal, 3/19/2008

• 3000 titles will be available
• No DRM means compatibility with iPods, iPhones
• Libraries will remind patrons of copyright

For years, librarians and patrons have complained that the most popular digital audio player, the iPod, was incompatible with the Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, the format for library downloadable audio. OverDrive now says it will offer at least 3000 titles—about 15 percent of its catalog—in MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM), which means compatibility with nearly every MP3 player and mobile phone, including iPods. OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will go on sale in May at Borders.com and should be available to libraries by the end of June, to be followed with the release of OverDrive Media Console for the Mac.

Nieuwe generatie iPod en eBooks?

We tend to field a lot of inside information here at Engadget HQ, but we’ve gotten not one, but two bits from separate, trustworthy insiders that Apple’s not satisfied merely vending Audible’s books-on-digital-audio solution. With the iRex iLiad and Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader both right around the corner, is it possible the next iPod might catch the eBook bug? We’d say the possibility is very real, since according to a source at a major publishing house, they were just ordered to archive all their manuscripts — every single one — and send them over to Apple’s Cupertino HQ. A separate trusted source let us know that the next iPod will have a substantial amount of screen real estate (as we’d all suspected), as well as a book reading mode that pumps up the contrast and drops into monochrome for easy reading. It’s no e-ink, sure, but a widescreen iPod would be well suited for the purpose, and according to our source, the books you’d buy (presumably through iTunes) won’t have an expiration — kind of like Apple-bought music, as well, but contradictory to the movie rental scheme we’ve heard rumored. Could they please just rename it the iTunes Music, Movies, and Book Store and get it over with already?

Bron: http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/22/apple-to-do-ebooks/

Apple’s Next iTunes Plan: Movie Rentals?

Since the launch of the iPod video and the addition of downloadable TV shows to the iTunes Music Store, there’s been a lot of speculation about when and movies would get added to the mix. According to one Apple rumors site — which has been sued by Apple for revealing secrets in the past — at Apple’s developer conference later this month, the company will announce that it will rent movies through iTunes (via Broadband Reports), using some sort of DRM to limit their playback to a certain time frame or number of playbacks. Without more details or pricing information, it’s hard to feel that this will be all that successful. One major problem with other, struggling, movie-download sites is that they tie movies to a user’s PC, and don’t let them burn films to DVD so they can watch them on their TV. While one site, Movielink, says it’s licensed some technology to allow users to burn movies to DVD, it still has to get studios to sign off on the idea — something it doesn’t sound like they’re particularly interested in doing. The bigger issue with renting films through iTunes is that, apart from sounding like the digital equivalent of the oft-repeated self-destructing DVD ploy, just like with record labels, the studios’ insistence on playback restrictions make Steve Jobs and Apple the main beneficiaries here. Assuming the movies will be delivered in the same format as the TV episodes iTunes sells, they’re essentially limiting playback to iPod video owners — a pretty narrow market. The service will be basically useless to anybody else, making this just another halfhearted attempt to embrace digital distribution, rather than something that stands much chance of widespread success.