Content Reserve

Content Reserve
Launch date	2000
Platform	Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Website	www.contentreserve.com

Last updated October 22, 2019

Content Reserve is a digital e-warehouse operated by OverDrive, Inc. It holds more than 150,000 eBook, audiobook, music, and video titles. Content Reserve serves as a digital repository for publishers to distribute downloadable media through OverDrive's retail and library channels. It is also the collection development portal for libraries using OverDrive Digital Library Reserve. As of April 2008, more than 7,500 libraries and retailers and 500 publishers utilize Content Reserve.^[1]

Rakuten OverDrive, Inc. is an American digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video titles. The company provides secure management, digital rights management and download fulfillment services for publishers, libraries, schools, and retailers. OverDrive's catalog includes more than 2 million digital titles from more than 5,000 publishers. The company's global network includes more than 43,000 public libraries, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and corporations in 75 countries worldwide. OverDrive was founded in 1986 and is based in Cleveland, Ohio.

An audiobook is a recording of a book or other work being read aloud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of a shorter version, or abridgement of the text are labeled as "abridged".

Retail is the process of selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand identified through a supply chain. The term "retailer" is typically applied where a service provider fills the small orders of a large number of individuals, who are end-users, rather than large orders of a small number of wholesale, corporate or government clientele. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products. Sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing; sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing: it does not always result in a purchase.

Content Reserve provides hosting, storage, management, and protection services for digital content in WMA, WMV, PDF, EPUB, PRC, and LIT formats. Audio and video content fulfilled from Content Reserve through an OverDrive channel is played in the proprietary OverDrive Media Console software, while the various eBook formats can be read in their respective readers (Adobe Reader, Adobe Digital Editions, Mobipocket Reader, and Microsoft Reader).

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high resolution audio. A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity. WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates. Microsoft has also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store audio encoded by WMA.

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe in the 1990s to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Based on the PostScript language, each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it. PDF was standardized as ISO 32000 in 2008, and no longer requires any royalties for its implementation.

EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes styled ePub. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. EPUB is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It became an official standard of the IDPF in September 2007, superseding the older Open eBook standard.

In the summer of 2008, OverDrive began offering management and fulfillment services for audio content in the MP3 format.^[2]

Publishing market

Content Reserve provides DRM-protection and download audiobook, eBook, music, and video distribution services through OverDrive's channels. Through Content Reserve, publishers can upload content, set user permissions, establish pricing, monitor sales activity, and edit content marketing metadata.^[3] Publishers only need to add each piece of content one time, and can then distribute this content to members OverDrive's network of libraries, schools, and retailers. Some publishers with content available in Content Reserve are Random House, Harlequin, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, BBC Audio Books America, and Brilliance Audio.

Digital rights management (DRM) tools or technological protection measures (TPM) are a set of access control technologies for restricting the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies try to control the use, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works, as well as systems within devices that enforce these policies.

Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. As of 2013, it is part of Penguin Random House, which is jointly owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann and British global education and publishing company Pearson PLC.

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a Toronto-based company that publishes series romance and women's fiction. Harlequin was owned by the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, from 1981 to 2014. It was then purchased by News Corp and is now a division of HarperCollins.

Library market

Content Reserve is the collection development portal for libraries using the download service Digital Library Reserve. Public library collection managers can review title metadata such as jacket covers and descriptions, and order audiobooks, eBooks, music, and video for their digital collection.^[4] Purchased titles are automatically added to their library's online collection.

Content Reserve also features collection development tools such as a Download Standing Order Plan,^[5] which works like a print book standing order plan, and a Holds Manager, which automatically adds titles to a library's collection when a waitlist reaches the library-supplied holds ratio., Using Content Reserve, librarians can also upload digital materials for which they own the copyright or have permission from the content owner (for instance, a book written by a local author) to make them available for circulation at their patron-facing Digital Library Reserve website. Some major libraries utilizing OverDrive's services include New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Singapore National Library, and Toronto Public Library.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States and the third largest in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.

The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; all adult residents of the commonwealth are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million volumes, and electronic resources, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In fiscal year 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.

Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada and in 2008, had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making it the largest neighbourhood-based library system in the world. Within North America, it also had the highest circulation and visitors when compared to other large urban systems. Established as the library of the Mechanics' Institute in 1830, the Toronto Public Library now consists of 100 branch libraries and has over 12 million items in its collection.

Online retail market

Content Reserve supplies online stores with digital audiobook and eBook content. Retailers select which eBooks and audiobooks are included in their inventory and then distribute them via their current online store or one developed using OverDrive's MIDAS service.^[6] Content Reserve retailers receive alerts about new titles and new publishers offering their eBooks and audiobooks. Major retailers utilizing Content Reserve include Borders Group,^[7] eFollett.com, Harlequin, and WH Smith.

Related Research Articles

Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes an editorial aspect, that consists of editing books, journals or magazines that are mostly destined to be read on a screen.

EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., the third largest private company in Birmingham, Alabama, with annual sales of nearly $2 billion according to the BBJ's 2013 Book of Lists. EBSCO offers library resources to customers in academic, medical, K–12, public library, law, corporate, and government markets. Its products include EBSCONET, a complete e-resource management system, and EBSCOhost, which supplies a fee-based online research service with 375 full-text databases, a collection of 600,000-plus ebooks, subject indexes, point-of-care medical references, and an array of historical digital archives. In 2010, EBSCO introduced its EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) to institutions, which allows searches of a portfolio of journals and magazines.

Digital distribution is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, software and video games. The term is generally used to describe distribution over an online delivery medium, such as the Internet, thus bypassing physical distribution methods, such as paper, optical discs, and VHS videocassettes. The term online distribution is typically applied to freestanding products; downloadable add-ons for other products are more commonly known as downloadable content. With the advancement of network bandwidth capabilities, online distribution became prominent in the 21st century, with prominent platforms such as Amazon Video, and Netflix's streaming service starting in 2007.

Audible is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on the Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. Audible's content is only accessible through special proprietary closed software, including unauthorized-playback prevention by means of an Amazon account.

DAISY is a technical standard for digital audiobooks, periodicals, and computerized text. DAISY is designed to be a complete audio substitute for print material and is specifically designed for use by people with "print disabilities", including blindness, impaired vision, and dyslexia. Based on the MP3 and XML formats, the DAISY format has advanced features in addition to those of a traditional audio book. Users can search, place bookmarks, precisely navigate line by line, and regulate the speaking speed without distortion. DAISY also provides aurally accessible tables, references, and additional information. As a result, DAISY allows visually impaired listeners to navigate something as complex as an encyclopedia or textbook, otherwise impossible using conventional audio recordings.

Adobe Digital Editions is an ebook reader software program from Adobe Systems, built initially using Adobe Flash. It is used for acquiring, managing, and reading eBooks, digital newspapers, and other digital publications. The software supports PDF, XHTML and Flash-based content. It implements a proprietary scheme of Digital Rights Management ("DRM") which, since the version 1.5 release in May 2008, allows document sharing among multiple devices and user authentication via an Adobe ID. ADE is a successor to Adobe eBook Reader.

The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.

Scribd is an American e-book and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles. Scribd hosts 60 million documents on its open publishing platform.

OverDrive Media Console is a proprietary, freeware application developed by OverDrive, Inc. for use with its digital distribution services for libraries, schools, and retailers. The application enables users to access audiobooks, eBooks, periodicals, and videos borrowed from libraries and schools—or purchased from booksellers—on devices running Android, BlackBerry, iOS (iPad/iPhone/iPod), and Windows, including Mac and Windows desktop and laptop computers.

Metadata is "data that provides information about other data". In short, it's data about data. Many distinct types of metadata exist, including descriptive metadata, structural metadata, administrative metadata, reference metadata and statistical metadata.

A digital library, digital repository, or digital collection, is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, or other digital media formats. Objects can consist of digitized content like print or photographs, as well as originally produced digital content like word processor files or social media posts. In addition to storing content, digital libraries provide means for organizing, searching, and retrieving the content contained in the collection.

Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. Alternative formats that have been developed to aid different people to read include varieties of larger fonts, specialised fonts for certain kinds of reading disabilities, Braille, e-books, and automated Audiobooks and DAISY digital talking books.

Calibre is a cross-platform open-source suite of e-book software. Calibre supports organizing existing e-books into virtual libraries, displaying, editing, creating and converting e-books, as well as syncing e-books with a variety of e-readers. Editing books is supported for EPUB and AZW3 formats. Books in other formats like MOBI must first be converted to those formats, if they are to be edited.

Blio is a free-to-download e-reader software platform created by Ray Kurzweil that was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January 2010. The Blio e-reader preserves typography and supports color illustrations, features that make it particularly effective for certain categories of books not well supported by E Ink, such as cookbooks and children's books. Blio also comes with text-to-speech integration, with support for both a computerized voice and synchronization with professionally recorded audiobooks.

Blackstone Audio is one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the United States, offering over 23,000 audiobooks. The company is based in Ashland, Oregon with five in-house recording studios. Blackstone distributes directly to consumers on their e-commerce site, Downpour.com, and to the library market via BlackstoneLibrary.com with titles from Blackstone, Hachette, HarperCollins, Brilliance, BBC and Disney Press.

Hoopla is a web and mobile (iOS/Android) library media streaming platform for audio books, comics, e-books, movies, music, and TV. Hoopla allows library patrons to download or stream media content.

Google Play Books, formerly Google eBooks, is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google, part of its Google Play product line. Users can purchase and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the "largest ebooks collection in the world". Books can be read on a dedicated Books section on the Google Play website, through the use of a mobile app available for Android and iOS, through the use of select e-readers that offer support for Adobe Digital Editions, through a web browser and reading via Google Home. Users may also upload up to 1,000 ebooks in the PDF or EPUB file formats. Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.

Silver Spring Library is part of the Montgomery County Public Libraries System. It opened to the public in 1931 and is currently located at 900 Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland.

References

↑ "About OverDrive". Archived from the original on 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
↑ "Library Journal".
↑ "About Content Reserve for Publishers".
↑ "Doryoku Blog - efolett.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
↑ "OverDrive Automates Download Audio Book Collection for Libraries".
↑ "eBook Distribution Goes Global; OverDrive Content Reserve Creates International and Multi-lingual Marketplace".
↑ "OverDrive Powers Digital Audiobook Service for Borders(R)". Reuters. 10 March 2008.

External links

Content Reserve

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[1] "About OverDrive". Archived from the original on 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-04-28.

[2] "Library Journal".

[3] "About Content Reserve for Publishers".

[4] "Doryoku Blog - efolett.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2008-09-01.

[5] "OverDrive Automates Download Audio Book Collection for Libraries".

[6] "eBook Distribution Goes Global; OverDrive Content Reserve Creates International and Multi-lingual Marketplace".

[7] "OverDrive Powers Digital Audiobook Service for Borders(R)". Reuters. 10 March 2008.