RPL's OverDrive emedia, HarperCollins

Earlier today the weekly update came out with this news:

Library Acquires “Overdrive” Allowing Downloads Of Audiobooks And eBooks
On Monday, the Richardson Public Library switched on “Overdrive”, which is an online service that offers access to best-selling and classic audiobooks and eBooks all day, every day from the Library’s website.

Anyone can browse the collection, but a Richardson Library Card is required to check out a selection. The books can be downloaded to computers and many mobile devices, and some audio titles can also be burned to CD. Titles automatically expire at the end of the lending period, meaning there are no late fees. A link to the site is available in the Related Links section.

Then a few minutes ago this pops up online -- "HarperCollins to libraries: we will nuke your ebooks after 26 checkouts":

LibraryGoblin sez, "HarperCollins has decided to change their agreement with e-book distributor OverDrive. They forced OverDrive, which is a main e-book distributor for libraries, to agree to terms so that HarperCollins e-books will only be licensed for checkout 26 times. Librarians have blown up over this, calling for a boycott of HarperCollins, breaking the DRM on e-books--basically doing anything to let HarperCollins and other publishers know they consider this abuse."

A little to too arcane and inside baseball? Maybe. But electronic media will probably increase as a percentage of library loans going forward, and this kind of battle is important and inevitable.

The OverDrive service page at RPL doesn't say so, but there is one open platform
player available: an Android client is available on the official overdrive page.



[I should point out that completely DRM-free ebooks and audiobooks are available, legal, and free elsewhere online. You can help prepare free ebooks for publishing by volunteering your keen proofreading skills.]