Digital downloads on the rise
LIBRARY DVD GUIDE: But high-definition DVDs still wait-and-see
By Buzz McClain -- Video Business, 5/12/2008
MAY 12 | LIBRARY DVD GUIDE: Though digital downloads are catching on at libraries, the high-definition disc format is still a long way behind standard DVD.
Family fare such as the Harry Potter series is popular on Blu-ray at libraries.
Patrons are increasingly requesting downloads of movies and TV programs, says Mary Getchell, communications director for the Pierce County Library System, Washington’s fourth largest system, with 95,000 DVDs representing 19,500 different titles. Downloading, she says, “does not compare to the checkouts of DVDs, but it certainly is on the rise.”
Downloading still has some drawbacks. Much of the programming consists of older catalog titles, which limits the audience, Getchell says. “Our downloads of movies and TV programs are not as new as the DVDs that we have. Yes, people are using them, but not to the extent of the checkouts.”
Standard DVDs still far overshadow high-def discs. Although libraries traditionally are eager to make new technologies available to patrons, some library leaders contacted by VB weren’t even aware that Sony’s Blu-ray Disc triumphed over Toshiba’s HD DVD format earlier this year. Most say there’s still no customer demand for high-def discs.
|
|
When Blu-ray eventually reaches critical mass, it’s likely the nation’s libraries will help grow the business, just as they’re doing with digital downloads. “They’re supplying an educational basis for the consumer to go digital,” says Mitch Mallon, VP of digital sales for Image Entertainment, a large supplier of libraries’ download programming as well as discs.
Libraries that have tried Blu-ray have seen its potential but believe it’s still very early in the adoption cycle.
Michael Seigler, director of the Smyrna Public Library outside Atlanta, has responded to “a couple of requests” for Blu-ray titles and ordered 20, largely family fare (the Harry Potter series, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Cars) and classic action (The Terminator, the Die Hard collection). “Each of them have been checked out at least once by a total of six patrons,” he says.
To avoid confusion, Seigler had the Blu-ray titles placed on special shelving and with large labels explaining that they won’t work on standard DVD players. So far, no one has reported checking out a non-compatible title.
“We’ll continue primarily purchasing regular DVDs until there’s sufficient demand to make a switch,” he says, estimating that will occur in about two years.
In other parts of Georgia, librarians are seeing even less demand for Blu-ray but are optimistic that adoption will soon set in. In Covington, Ga., near Atlanta, librarian Greg Heid surveyed the DVD patrons of his Newton County Library System in March and discovered a lack of interest in Blu-ray, even among those who count on the libraries for DVD programming.
“We did not have any responses or requests to purchase that format,” he says. “As a result, I am going to wait until Christmas to ask again. I figure that several people will get Blu-ray players as presents, and we may start receiving requests for films in that format.”
“We have nothing in the way of HD DVD or Blu-ray,” says Alan Kaye, director of the Roddenbery Memorial Library, located in a county of 24,000 in Cairo, Ga. “But I’m not sure I’m sitting on the hotbed of demand here.”
Kaye believes the federally mandated digital broadcasting changeover in February could impact future high-definition purchasing decisions. “I think it will cause people to buy [high-definition] TVs,” he says, “and then they’ll say, ‘What else can I look at on this TV?’”
And, as on disc, high-def hasn’t yet made its mark on downloads.
“We are not expecting to offer download high-def video in the near term due to file size,” says Steve Potash, CEO of OverDrive, which offers the Digital Library Reserve download service to libraries. He has seen “lots of great adoption of digital video in our library channel, but standard video is what we are offering presently.”
At some four hours per download for high-definition material, “it’s just too large a load right now,” echoes Mallon. “But for standard definition, the activity has been wonderful. I see it grow monthly. We’re very, very happy.”
Downloadable Video and Blu-ray Discs in Libraries
More libraries offer downloadable video than high-def discs, but the number that offer Blu-ray is likely to increase in the future.
|
Public |
Academic |
|
|
Libraries that offer downloadable video: |
33% |
13% |
|
Libraries that plan to begin offering downloadable video in the future: |
69% |
55% |
|
Libraries that offer high-definition discs: |
3% |
2% |
|
Libraries that most likely will begin offering high-def discs in the future: |
80% |
74% |
|
Libraries that plan to begin offering high-def discs within 12 months: |
5% |
3% |
Source: Reed Business Information based on responses from 190 public libraries/library systems and 107 academic libraries to a survey emailed May 1 to 3,489 subscribers to Library Journal’s LJ Xpress.
