By way of background, Overdrive Media is a company that provides publishers, enterprises, libraries, schools and retailers with a “back end” that allows them to manage, protect, lend or sell digital audiobooks, e-books, music and videos. According to their website HarperCollins, Random House and McGraw-Hill are among their commercial customers, along with many large and small libraries round the US. Thus, their statistics are an interesting touchstone for the e-book community.
According to a press release they sent me:
– 5,500 iPod®-, Mac®-, and iPhone™-compatible MP3 audiobooks made available to libraries for the first time
– 4.2 billion minutes of digital spoken word audio delivered in 2008 (equivalent to 47 million audio CDs)
– 237 million website pages viewed by library patrons for download media (76 percent growth over 2007)
– Patron sessions exceeded 30 million (63 percent growth over 2007)
– Number of new users increased by 45 percent over 2007
– Over 1.5 million new installs of OverDrive Media Console for Windows and Mac (bringing total to 3.5 million)
– The OverDrive digital catalog grew to 150,000 titles with the addition of 50,000 eBooks, 10,000 audiobooks, and 5,000 music and video titlesMost Downloaded Library Audiobooks (2008)
1. “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer
2. “The Appeal” by John Grisham
3. “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer
4. “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyer
5. “7th Heaven” by James Patterson
6. “1st to Die” by James Patterson
7. “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama
8. “24 Hours” by Greg Iles
9. “Blood Brothers” by Nora Roberts
10. “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman
Most Downloaded Library eBooks (2008)
1. “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer
2. “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyer
3. “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer
4. “Devil in Winter” by Lisa Kleypas
5. “Because You’re Mine” by Lisa Kleypa