Podcasts--I will admit it--I love podcasts. They are on every conceivable topic. They can be audio or video. And for the most part, they are free, Of all the podcast directories that are out there, two are the best for those people who to be lifelong learners. The first is Itunes U and its companion "Beyond the Campus." Itunes U has an unbelievable number of lectures, courses, occasional talks from a continually expanding group of schools. Many of the schools have companion websites for those courses where they present course outlines, bibliographies and other supplementary materials. "Beyond the campus" features educational podcasts from organizations like the Library of Congress, WGBH and similar groups. My second favorite directory is at
learnoutloud.com. That organization sends me a daily email highlighting a usually free introduction to a course or a complete audiobook. Sometimes the originating website charges for the content but it is often worth it and, for the most part, you can sample it for free.
Netlibrary--I used to thoroughly love Netlibrary. I could download both audiobooks and ebooks. Unfortunately, the Netlibrary content that you can access is controlled by your home library. Consequently, when I belonged to the Basking Ridge Public Library I was able to access both ebooks and audiobooks from Netlibrary. But then Basking Ridge changed and restricted the Netlibrary content to just ebooks. For audiobooks they shifted to Overdrive Media. I was never able to get my Basking Ridge ID to work with Overdrive. I then paid a $100 fee for an out of state membership in the New York Public Library. It also uses Overdrive Media but it has from 5 to 10 times more content than Basking Ridge has on the same system and considerably more than Netlibrary does. Getting these systems right is crucial for a library. The future belongs to audiobooks and ebooks.
I agree that they need to get the system right, ListenNJ is only accessible to patrons of 26 libraries. It seems that if you have a library card from any NJ library you should be able to access it.
ReplyDeleteEach library has to pay and join the project - each of the four regional library cooperatives helps to cover the cost - you should definitely ask your library to join if they are not a part of it! The libraries need to KNOW their patrons would want this service! You may be happy to find out that the ListenNJ user group of libraries just decided to add e-books to that collection..... starting next year....
ReplyDeleteThe competition Overdrive (supplier of ListenNJ and other programs across the country) between Recorded Books/Net Library is fierce...
ReplyDeleteHaha - I love the picture. Great post. John I.
ReplyDeleteWhit, and now I see Ingram is in the game too!?
ReplyDelete