New York Public Library begins offering downloadable audiobooks

One of America's largest libraries has begun offering free digital audio books to its members. The New York Public Library — which already lets members download ebooks — has already uploaded over 700 titles, and though many are public domain works like the Bible and the 9/11 Commission Report, the list includes recent bestsellers from authors like Nora Roberts and Michael Chabon. The catch is that the audio files are treated like library books — the library makes a limited number of "copies" available at any given time, and potential listeners may have to get on a waiting list for popular titles. The books are also DRM-protected, requiring the WMA-based OverDrive Media Console to play. However,
"borrowers" can burn copies to CD, essentially cracking the DRM in the process. While we don't expect this to put Audible out of business, we'll be watching to see how many of these turn up as torrents once they've been available for a while.