Sorry it took me so long - I didn't know what to say, since I wasn't expecting an anti-Apple diatribe. Of course Apple computers aren't intuitive! No computer is intuitive; you have to learn how to use them. That said, I've consistently found Apples to be easier to learn, more stable, and more reliable than Windows PCs. But all that is beside the point, really.
What the post is about is e-books and e-book readers. At the library where I work, Apple was in no way to blame for our weird situation (for a long time, we couldn't play any downloaded audiobooks on iPods. This was because all audiobooks had DRM from Windows attached so that they would expire and vanish from the patron's computer after three weeks. When the provider figured out how to attach these to mp3s that iPods could play, the audiobooks were iPod-enabled. And I can now download audiobooks from the library onto my mac and have them vanish after 3 weeks in the requisite way. I always steer fellow mac fans to librivox, where you can get lots of classics absolutely free.) The point is that the publishers want to be sure to get payment for every use of the audiofile. It's been easier for them to arrange this with Windows Media, generally, than it has been for mac-compatible audio formats.
Now, I'm a writer as well as a librarian. I do hope to get paid for my books and poems someday. But I also hope that libraries will be able to lend out my books! If putting books in electronic formats prohibits lending, that's a problem. It's a problem regardless of the type of computer of reader used to read those electronic texts. Where Apple comes in is just here: if the iPad takes off, more and more books will be published in electronic format only, and there's no clear method for lending them.
(BTW, getting back to iTunes, one of the reasons it was so successful is that it provided a legal way for people to get MP3s. The reason it's legal is that the artists and publishers get paid. I don't really have a problem with that. Artists SHOULD get paid! As I said, the problem I have is that, so far as I know, you can't lend a song or album AFTER it's legitimately paid for. But a lot of iTunes music is completely DRM-free right now, and I imagine that that music might be "lendable". The problem is, we don't know for sure. I am thinking of contacting Apple and asking them specifically how libraries should cope with albums their patrons want which are available only on iTunes.
My (rather long!) two cents. Again, it's not about the computer platform. It's about the whole concept of e-books, and how that's likely to affect libraries.
Well (replying at long last)
What the post is about is e-books and e-book readers. At the library where I work, Apple was in no way to blame for our weird situation (for a long time, we couldn't play any downloaded audiobooks on iPods. This was because all audiobooks had DRM from Windows attached so that they would expire and vanish from the patron's computer after three weeks. When the provider figured out how to attach these to mp3s that iPods could play, the audiobooks were iPod-enabled. And I can now download audiobooks from the library onto my mac and have them vanish after 3 weeks in the requisite way. I always steer fellow mac fans to librivox, where you can get lots of classics absolutely free.) The point is that the publishers want to be sure to get payment for every use of the audiofile. It's been easier for them to arrange this with Windows Media, generally, than it has been for mac-compatible audio formats.
Now, I'm a writer as well as a librarian. I do hope to get paid for my books and poems someday. But I also hope that libraries will be able to lend out my books! If putting books in electronic formats prohibits lending, that's a problem. It's a problem regardless of the type of computer of reader used to read those electronic texts. Where Apple comes in is just here: if the iPad takes off, more and more books will be published in electronic format only, and there's no clear method for lending them.
(BTW, getting back to iTunes, one of the reasons it was so successful is that it provided a legal way for people to get MP3s. The reason it's legal is that the artists and publishers get paid. I don't really have a problem with that. Artists SHOULD get paid! As I said, the problem I have is that, so far as I know, you can't lend a song or album AFTER it's legitimately paid for. But a lot of iTunes music is completely DRM-free right now, and I imagine that that music might be "lendable". The problem is, we don't know for sure. I am thinking of contacting Apple and asking them specifically how libraries should cope with albums their patrons want which are available only on iTunes.
My (rather long!) two cents. Again, it's not about the computer platform. It's about the whole concept of e-books, and how that's likely to affect libraries.