1	Audiobooks: Beyond the Bricks Lurks Lots of Use Tom Peters’ Segment of a Panel Discussion during the Annual Conference of the Texas Library Association Dallas Convention Center Thursday, April 17, 2008
2	These Slides are Online http://www.TAPinformation.com/TLA200804.htm
3	Audiobook Use: Big and Growing 2006 Overview of the U.S. Market (from Audio Publishers Association – Aug. 2007) $923 million in U.S. sales 6% increase over 2005 CDs account for 77% of $ sales (up from 74% in 2005) Downloads: 14% of $ sales (up from 9% in 2005) Libraries: 32% market share (up from 28% in 2005) Source: http://www.audiopub.org/PDFs/2007SalesSurveyrelease.pdf
4	A Plethora of Personal Portable Playback Devices “MP3” Players (most can play other audio file types) Portable media players and gaming devices Cell Phones Dedicated eBook Readers (e.g., Amazon’s Kindle) Preloaded, Self-Contained Devices (e.g., Playaway) Laptops and Ultra Personal Computers Devices Designed for Children Devices Designed for Blind and Low-Vision Users Conclusion: Despite the current iPod craze, don’t expect a “one-device-fits-all” situation to emerge anytime soon
5	File Format Wars WAV MP3 Lingua Franca of Podcasts WMA (Windows Media Audio) Primary file format for OverDrive and NetLibrary OverDrive will begin offering some MP3 files this summer AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Used by iPod, iPhone, iTunes, iEverything Ogg Vorbis Bottom Line: Not all hardware and software can play all audio file formats. Read the tech specs and ask questions.
6	Digital Audiobooks: Many Delivery Modes Download: OverDrive, NetLibrary, etc. Streaming: Tumble Preloaded: Playaway Burn to CD: OverDrive Preloaded on CDs: Still the bulk of the market Preloaded on flash cards, memory sticks, thumb drives, etc. Conclusion: Of the making of memory and delivery modes there is no end?
7	Unabridged: Downloadable Digital Audiobooks for the Print-Impaired Launched in November 2004 (3.5 yrs ago) 9 Member States/Organizations: CA, CO, DE, MA, NH, NLS, OR, TX, VT 2,500 titles (3,200 copies) (Plus SDL) 3,500 cardholders (2,200 active users) 48,000 total circulations to date 2,400 circs/month (approx. 80/day) www.unabridged.info
8	What Have We Learned in 3.5 Years? Requests for Tech Support have been Low Rule of Thumb: 20 circs per copy Greater demand for fiction than for non-fiction Genre Fiction Rules! Some genres are high-performance super-genres
9	First Quarter 2008 Turnover Rates of the Super-Genres Turnover Rate = Number of Circs Divided by the Number of Copies Fantasy (3.51) Westerns (3.47) Religion & Spirituality (3.29) Mystery (3.16) Romance (3.00) Classic Literature (2.90)
10	Other Lessons Learned 50% of titles account for 80% of use 20% of titles account for 49% of use 99.8% of titles circ at least once Most of the “yet to circ” titles are Spanish language titles An Oddity: 7 of the top 11 titles begin with a number, not a letter
11	Top 11 Circulating Titles
12	Ergo James Patterson Rules! (4% of use) 5 of the top 11 circulating titles No other author has 2 titles in the top 11 7 of the top 25 circulating titles 8 of the top 30 circulating titles 9 of the top 35 circulating titles Nary a woman author in the top 11 17^th: Black Rose by Nora Roberts
13	More Lessons Learned When the hold ratio climbs to 4, consider purchasing another copy Average Price Per Copy: $40 Voracious Listeners: Average of 4 circs per active user per month Texas is BIG (Texas users account for 38% of total use during Q1 2008)
14	Gazing Blithely Into the Future Prepare for a Post-DRM World? Will Streaming Eventually Rule as a Delivery Mode? Will Text-to-Speech Versions Muscle Out and Marginalize Natural Human Narrations?
15	Contact Information Tom Peters TAP Information Services 1000 SW 23rd Street Blue Springs, MO 64015 phone: 816-616-6746 email: tpeters@tapinformation.com web: www.tapinformation.com Skype: tapeters4466 avatar: Maxito Ricardo in Second Life