Tag Archives: digital content

Recent Ebook News & ALM DCWG Big Six Matrix for Ebook Licenses Comparison

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See the full article at DCWG Big Six Matrix for Ebook Licenses Comparison | American Libraries Magazine. Link for the matrix here.

Recent Ebook News

New DRM Will Change the Words in Your E-Book | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

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The next e-book you buy might not exactly match the printed version. And those changes are there to make sure you’re not a pirate.

German researchers have created a new DRM feature that changes the text and punctuation of an e-book ever so slightly. Called SiDiM, which Google translates to “secure documents by individual marking,” the changes are unique to each e-book sold. These alterations serve as a digital watermark that can be used to track books that have had any other DRM layers stripped out of them before being shared online. The researchers are hoping the new DRM feature will curb digital piracy by simply making consumers paranoid that they’ll be caught if they share an e-book illicitly.

via New DRM Will Change the Words in Your E-Book | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

It will be interesting to see if those publishers who have recently moved to open access on ebooks reverse their stance due to this new technology. I’m sure libraries will be having many discussions about the implications of this new technology on ebook lending and relationships with publishers.

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Digital Rights Management (DRM) & Libraries | American Library Association 

A Guardian Guide to Your Metadata | Technology | guardian.co.uk

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A Guardian Guide to Your Metadata | Technology | guardian.co.uk

The guide explores some of the metadata collected through activities you do every day with services including email, phone, camera, Facebook, Twitter, Google Search and web browsers.

A core skill for librarians is learning about metadata. Our reference and research abilities are inherently dependent upon the metadata linked to the materials we are searching for and retrieving. Now we can use these skills to assist our users and patrons in learning about their own personal metadata if they want to educate themselves or have privacy concerns.

Make Web sites mobile-friendly or face Google search wrath | Internet & Media – CNET News

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If smartphone users have problems with your site, here’s some incentive to fix them: Google said Tuesday it plans to punish problematic sites with lower placement in search results.

via Make Web sites mobile-friendly or face Google search wrath | Internet & Media – CNET News.

This Google Trends Visualization Will Mesmerize You | Mashable

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This Google Trends Visualization Will Mesmerize You | Mashable

Google Trends

See Google trends visualizations tool here. You can choose to view the number of trends by changing the matrix size clicking the icon on the top-left of the screen. Definitely mesmerizing!

Create Your Own Magazines with Flipboard | Screencast Tutorial – The Digital Shift

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Now anyone can create a beautiful digital zine of customized content, thanks to Flipboard. In a highly touted new feature, version 2.0 of the iconic newsstand app allows users to tap and select articles, photos, and video they find on Flipboard to create magazines on any interest or topic.

via Create Your Own Magazines with Flipboard | Screencast Tutorial – The Digital Shift, April 23, 2013

See also:

Flipboard update turns readers into magazine publishers | CNET

Music Discovery Services

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My personal preference was to discover new music based on recommendations from previous purchases or my library content, rather than listening to the radio. Or I would be watching a TV program (e.g. So You Think You Can Dance) and hear a track and absolutely must have it. Its time-consuming to find new music, so more and more I’m using recommender systems for discovery. There are so many options available now to discover music, its hard to decide which one is best for you. I’ve used Shazam in the past for recognition and just signed up for This is My Jam to follow what my friends like and Noon Pacific (because who doesn’t want handpicked music recommendations delivered by email!).

(Note: For music within an academic context most academic libraries offer a music library portal or music subject guides.)

Music curation and discovery is shifting from computer-generated algorithms back to including human recommendations and integrating social media and sharing within music streaming and radio services. The article Human Editors Are Returning To Music | FastCompany discusses services Pandora, iTunes, NPR and Rdio in this context.

There seems to be no end to the options for music streaming services, offered offline, online or as apps, free, freemium or subscription-based. Some services put social discovery at the forefront, rather than streaming. Here is a non-comprehensive list of music discovery and streaming services, with emphasis on discovery. Some of these services, such as Pandora (only offered within the U.S), have restrictions based on country.

  • 2u.fm. Free. “Finds music from music sites all over the web.”
  • 8tracks. Sign up for free. Internet radio created by people not algorithms.
  • Accuradio. Free. Also free mobile app.”Internet radio crafted by music lovers.” 600+ free Internet radio stations.
  • Amazon MP3. Shop 20+ million songs. Recommendations and Discover Music services.
  • Beastmode.fm. Free. “Random music to make you happy.” Music published on blogs courtesy of Shuffler.fm.
  • Blip.fm. Free. “Internet radio made social – free music streaming and sharing.”
  • Deezer. Free basic account (ads, restricted listening, discovery only) and subscription (no ads, mobile requires subscription). 180 countries – not in the U.S. “Discover, enjoy, share the music you love.”
  • Earbits. Free online radio. Connect with bands, support artists. No Top 40, no ads. Awesome “About Earbits” video.
  • Google Play Music. “Discover, play, store and share.” Only available in a few countries (not Canada). Google Play All Access subscription service coming soon.
  • Groove. Remixes your music library based on listening habits.
  • Grooveshark. Free basic account. Paid subscribers have access to cloud storage. 15+ million songs, 35+ million users. Listen to music online. Grooveshark Community and recommendation application. Full-featured.
  • Hype Machine. Free. MP3 blog aggregator.
  • iTunes. Also iTunes Genius for playlists, mixes and iTunes Match subscription for cloud storage. Apple Internet radio announcement coming soon (WWDC June 10-14).
  • Jango. Free Internet radio and on mobile that “plays what you want.” Simple. Search by artist. “Making online music easy, fun and social.”
  • Last.fm. Free and premium subscription. “Personalised recommendations based on the music you listen to.” Requires Scrobble plugin.
  • Live365. Free (with ads), 5 day unlimited with signup. 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions. Network of 5000+ radio stations, 260+ genres. Personalized recommendations. Create your own Internet radio station.
  • liveplasma. Discovery search engine for music, movies and books. Search results are browsed using a graphical interface.
  • MOG. “Music On the Go.” Find, play anywhere, share with friends. Listen for free with ads (basic account). Subscriptions for unlimited music and no ads. U.S. only. 16+ million songs.
  • Musicovery. Free. Graphical interface Internet radio. Music by mood.
  • Noon Pacific. Free. Weekly playlist of the best songs handpicked from the best music blogs. Email delivery.
  • NPR Music. Web portal. NPR Music Radio for continuous music streaming. Social media integration.
  • Ohmytracks. Free. “Uses Last.FM to create a better user experience by offering you music that matches your tastes.”
  • Pandora. Personalized Internet radio. Free basic account, subscription for premium. Full-featured. Only available in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
  • Piki.fm. Free. Handpicked radio. Counterpart to Turntable.fm. U.S. only.
  • reddit Music. Web portal and forum. Listen and share. radioreddit. Free. Tunes are voted on.
  • Rdio. Discover (following friends, tastemakers, critics and artists), collect and share. 14 days unlimited trial. Up to 6 months free on computer. Subscription required. Many devices and full-featured.
  • Rhapsody. “More than just Internet radio.” Follow members, artists interviews and reviews. Full-featured. Subscription required. 16+ million songs. U.S. only.
  • seevl. Semantic music discovery plugin for Deezer and YouTube. Free.
  • Shazam. Music recognition app. Share to Facebook, Twitter and email.
  • Shuffler.fm. Free. An audio magazine made by music blogs. “Channel surf the music web through thousands of music sites and blogs, curated by tastemakers who filter the music information overload.”
  • Slacker Radio. Free. Subscribe for commercial free and offline listening. “The Best Music — Anytime, Anywhere, Any Device.” Curated by 200+ experts. 10+ million songs. Highly customizable.
  • Songbird. Free. Connect artists and fans. Handpicked YouTube playlists.
  • Songza. Free. Curated by music experts. Choose to customize music by day, time and situation. No listening limits.
  • SoundCloud. “The world’s leading social sound platform where anyone can create sounds and share them everywhere.” Distribution platform for artists.
  • SoundHound. Music recognition app. Also identifies by songs you sing or hum. Share and bookmark.
  • Spotify. Free and premium accounts. Desktop application. 20+ million songs. 20+ million users = many “eclectic playlists.” Full-featured.
  • Stereomood. Free. Turn your mood into music.
  • Tastebuds.fm. This is unique. Meet people through music – a music-based online dating service.
  • Torch Music. Free. Create online music collections with your friends.
  • Twitter #music. Truly social music discovery.
  • This is My Jam. Free. Music handpicked by your friends.
  • TuneIn. Free. “…the world’s radio station.” 70,000 stations. Multiple devices and connectivity in cars, televisions, etc. Social media and favourites integration, linked playlists.
  • Turntable.fm. Free. Share music interactively, play music together using “rooms”. U.S. only.
  • Whyd. By invitation. Keep, play and share tracks.
  • Xbox Music Pass. Previously known as Zune. Subscription required. Xbox 360/Windows devices only. 30+ million tracks. SmartDJ to create custom stations.
  • YouTube Disco. “Find > Mix > Watch.” Find by artist or song.

You may also like:

Slacker Radio Wants to Redefine Top 40 Music Charts by “Engagement” | Gizmodo

Why it’s still hard to discover new music online (and how we can fix it) | Digital Trends

100 Ways to Discover and Enjoy Music | DailyTekk – April 16, 2012

DC Announces Choose-Your-Own-Path Digital Comics | Underwire | Wired.com

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Less than two years after DC Comics began selling digital versions of its own comics on the same day as print, the superhero publisher announced two new digital comics formats: DC2, which will feature “dynamic artwork” that unfolds as the reader taps on the screen, and DC2 Multiverse, a choose-your-own-path format that will allow users to make decisions at key points that will unlock different storylines.

via DC Announces Choose-Your-Own-Path Digital Comics | Underwire | Wired.com.

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The Rise of the Mobile-Only User | Karen McGrane – HBR

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If you’re trying to reach specific audiences, you can’t afford to ignore mobile-only users. As Pew Internet reports:

  • Young adults: 50 percent of teen smartphone owners, aged 12-17, say they use the internet mostly on their cell phone, according to a 2013 Pew Internet report on Teens and Technology. Similarly, 45 percent of young adults aged 18-29 reported in 2012 that they mostly go online with a mobile device.
  • Black and Hispanic adults: 51 percent of black Americans and 42 percent of Hispanic Americans who use a mobile device to access the internet say that’s the primary way they go online — about double the 24 percent of white Americans who say they rely on their mobile devices for access.
  • Low-income adults: People whose household income is less than $30,000 per year and people with less than a college education are also more likely to rely on their mobile devices for access — about 40 percent of people in these groups say they primarily use their cell phone to go online. Healthcare, non-profit, and government institutions which need to reach these populations should be aware that their audience is mobile-only.

See the full article: The Rise of the Mobile-Only User | Karen McGrane – Harvard Business Review.

Infographic: 2012 Mobile Growth Statistics | DigitalBuzzBlog 

The Rise of Mobile

Gizmodo | A Look Behind the Scenes of the Internet Archives Impossible Task

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Last fall, the Internet Archive celebrated a massive milestone, as the “online Library of Alexandria” reached 10 Petabytes of stored information. Yes, that means 10,000,000,000,000,000 bytes accessible to anyone. Wow.

Filmmaker Jonathan Minard was on hand for the celebration, and in the short doc above he speaks to the Archives founders about how it expanded from a project dedicated to cataloging everything ever published online—to a project to document every piece of information in existence. Turns out its possible—we just need the will to do it.

via Gizmodo | A Look Behind the Scenes of the Internet Archives Impossible Task.