Public libraries in Fairfax, VA, are buying DRMed audiobooks with tax-dollars, despite the fact that these audiobooks won't play on iPods (or other MP3 players), MacOS, or GNU/Linux systems.
Do you know who is getting the shortest end of this stick? The tenants in affordable housing units in Northern Virginia where GNU/Linux computer labs have been set up for them to use. Many of these tenants are hardworking immigrant families. Could the adults and children in these families benefit from greater access to audio books? You tell me. "Sorry, buster, you're a digital minority. No audio books for you. Here, let me relieve you of your taxpayer dollars all the same." How about this for irony — one of the books currently inaccessible? Martin Luther King, Jr., On Leadership: Inspiration & Wisdom for Challenging Times, by Donald T. Phillips. I hear it's a good book.
(Thanks, Matt!)
