Public libraries from New York City to Alameda, Calif., now offers something new. People not just able to borrow a book, now the can also borrow the audio, called audiobooks. They only need to donwload the audiobooks to their computer or portable music players, from home.

First, people log onto the library’s website and choose the desired audiobooks, which is encrypted. Once he found the audiobooks he want, he download the necesarry files to their computer. These files can also be loaded to their portable music player or burned into CD. After the borrowing periods over, files become unplayable. However, user can renew the loan.

Unfortunately, the audiobooks is currently only playable through Windows-platform music player. Apple Computer Inc.’s popular iPod player is not yet supported by the audiobooks. It’s because OverDrive Inc. and OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc.’s NetLibrary as the vendor of the audiobooks use Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio format to save and encrypt the audiobooks. They have licensing deals with publishers which includes copyright protections designed to help audiobooks stand apart from the often lawless world of song swapping.

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