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1 | Like Netflix, for Library Books. | URL of Website or App Store Location | User Names and Password Access | Purpose of Site/App/Product/Service | Year Founded | Funding Rounds | Revenue Streams | Monthly Traffic or App Downloads (note: use Similarweb.com for websites) | # of SKUs / Listings (estimate) | Primary Categories | Social Networks | Content Types | Personalization Features | Community/UGC Features | Competitive Advantage | Region | Heuristic Evaluation | Customer Reviews | General Notes | Questions/Notes to Team | Analysis | ||||||
2 | LIBBY | https://appgrooves.com/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Libby | https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/ App Store Google Play Store | Library card at participating library required. Have personal account only. | Libby (by OverDrive, Inc.) works with public libraries that use OverDrive. Over 90% of public libraries in North America have OverDrive, and Libby can be found in 78 countries worldwide. Try searching for your library on overdrive.com | Overdrive founded 1986, Libby released in 2018 | Libby is completely free to library patrons (no subscription costs, no in-app purchases, and no late fees). A valid library card is needed for use. Revenue from government donations, and fees charged to libraries. | 37,500,000 ebook/audiobook downloads >1,000,000 app downloads | Over 2,000,000 digital titles | Digital lending (eBooks, audiobooks) | Facebook Pintrest | Books added to the Libby app are in the Read or Listen formats. Audiobook, eBooks. Libby does not include any physical materials from the library. | Customizable browsing options to find the books you want faster Read-Along ebooks Support for ebook highlights and annotations Custom lists for tagging books you love, want to read, and more Direct support for readers provided by OverDrive Ability to change the font size OpenDyslexic font | Global | Recent issues with buggy prompts like "Internet not connected" and "device not supported". Freezes, complaints about amount of steps to accomplish tasks in UI. | Overall: 4.8 of 5, from 1M+ reviews | Aesthetically pleasing, functional and intuitive layout. Libby is definitely more friendly than Overdrive to new users from a set up perspective. It starts off by asking if you have a library card and then guides you through on finding a library and adding the card. Process for checking out books and placing holds is also basically the same between Libby and Overdrive. However, where Libby makes a big leap forward is tautomatically downloading holds when they come in. | |||||||||||
4 | DIRECT COMPETITORS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | cloudLibrary | https://www.bibliotheca.com/cloudlibrary/ https://www.yourcloudlibrary.com/ Apple Store Google Play Store | Library card at participating library required. Have personal account only. | cloudLibrary. A must-have app for library users! Easily borrow physical items using your mobile device, receive reminders, manage receipts and discover new digital content all within the cloudLibrary app! Extremely intuitive, all it takes is a library card to login and get started! | 3M (original owner) founded in 1902, Cloud Library released around 2014, sold to bibliotheca in 2015 | Free to library patrons. Revenue from government donations, and fees charged to libraries. | 720,000 web visitors | Unable to locate solid number of titles. | Digital lending (ebooks, audiobooks ) | Boiler-plate social media presence: | eBooks, audiobooks | One-click category selection allows you to customize which genres you wish to see on your shelves. Advanced filtering allows you to sort by publication date, author, title, recent additions, or rating. Saving titles for future browsing is as easy as adding to your favorites. | Global | Super slow and buggy. Skips way forward or way back when audiobooks are paused and resumed. Bookmarking is buggy. | Overall: 3.7 of 5, from 26K reviews | cloudLibrary is currently not compatible with Kindle Paperwhites or the Kindle Apps. | UI is clean, nothing fancy aesthetically, very spartan. | ||||||||||
6 | hoopla | https://www.hoopladigital.com/ App Store Amazon Google Play nook fire | Library card at participating library required. No participating libraries in HI. | hoopla is a groundbreaking digital media service offered by your local public library that allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV! With no waiting, titles can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later. We have hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily. hoopla is like having your public library at your fingertips. Anytime. Anywhere. | 2010 | Free to library patrons. Revenue from government donations, and fees charged to libraries. | 3,500,000 web visitors | Over 850,000 titles instantly available, with around 10,000 new titles added each month | Digital lending ( eBooks, audiobooks, comics, music, movies, TV) | Boiler-plate social media presence: YouTube | eBooks, eAudiobooks, music, movies, and TV shows | Kids Mode, History, Recommendations, sends out custom notifications. | Unique model that allows patrons to borrow content immediately, removing artificial availability constraints and maximizing the power of digital content and Internet distribution. Technologically, we focus on the latest browser, phone, tablet, and TV products to deliver the best possible experience to our user – our passion – the public library patron | Canada and US (1,500 library systems) | Prone to crashing is a call comes in. Sometimes freezes. Doesn't sync between devices. Reading offline and bookmarking are buggy. | Overall: 4.7 of 5, from 404K reviews | he admin site found at library.hoopladigital.com serves as the access point to your library’s hoopla account. After logging in with your credentials, the reporting dashboard provides you with real-time statistics on key performance indicators, such as how many patrons are signing up (patrons registered), how many titles are being circulated and cost tracking. All reports on the admin site are customizable and exportable allowing you to explore, discover and gauge the affect that this digital service is having on both your library and community. The patron finder app is a great way to provide support to patrons. This simple, yet powerful tool allows staff members with access to their library’s hoopla account to look up registered patrons by library card and/or e-mail address. | In March 2008, OverDrive announced that it would distribute a collection of approximately 3,000 audiobooks in the MP3 format, which is more widely compatible.[27] On November 19, 2008, OverDrive also released the OverDrive Media Console for Mac, which allows Mac owners to download and listen to MP3 audiobooks from their library on a home computer.[citation needed] OverDrive's streaming audiobook option—scheduled for release in 2012—will enable Mac users to access many audiobooks that were previously unavailable due to WMA compatibility issues. [28][unreliable source?] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OverDrive,_Inc. | Looks nice, but not available in Hawaii. Content downloadable to be played without internet connection. Limitations, per format, on number of titles that can be borrowed. | ||||||||
7 | Overdrive | https://www.overdrive.com/ Apple Store Google Play Kindle nook | Library card at participating library required. Have personal account only. | OverDrive is a free service offered by your library or school that lets you borrow digital content (like ebooks and audiobooks) anytime, anywhere. Every OverDrive collection is slightly different because each library or school picks the digital content they want for their users. | 1986 | Free to library patrons. Revenue from government donations, and fees charged to libraries. | > 5,000,000 app downloads 28,036,291 web visitors | Over 2,000,000 digital titles | Digital lending (eBooks, audiobooks, streaming video) | Facebook YouTube | eBooks, audiobooks, streaming video | Ability to change the font size OpenDyslexic font | OverDrive’s business model is to be the most comprehensive supplier of digital material – e-books, audio books, educational materials, streaming video – for the most comprehensive collection of digital gadgets – iPads, smartphones, e-readers, whatever. OverDrive even has a direct integration with Amazon, so library patrons can borrow an ebook directly to their Kindles. The hope is, that with comprehensiveness, Overdrive’s library customers won’t bother to engage with other platforms that can not match their depth in titles and publishers -- allowing OverDrive to be the winner that takes all. https://www.forbes.com/sites/avaseave/2013/11/18/are-digital-libraries-a-winner-takes-all-market-overdrive-hopes-so/#2fe4a5f27e64 | Global | In the Overdrive app, you have to a particular library and manually download checked out holds. Which can get confusing if you have multiple libraries loaded. Process for adding libraries and library cards is not terribly intuitive. It requires finding a library, choosing it, then logging into it. | Overall: 4.5 of 5, from 296K reviews | Many OverDrive titles are available under the One Copy/One User lending model. This means that if your digital library only has one copy of a title, then only one user can borrow that specific title at a time, just as if it were a physical book. The more copies you own, the more copies can be borrowed simultaneously. | OverDrive is criticized for relying on digital rights management (DRM) protection technology from Microsoft for the bulk of its audiobooks. Microsoft's refusal to update its Macintosh versions of Windows Media Player to accommodate the requisite encryption scheme disqualifies Apple computer users from accessing the bulk of OverDrive's audio files, which are formatted as DRM Windows Media Audio (WMA). | Basically, a more complicated, less refined Libby. Tech savvy and okay with a plainer UI will likely have little to no issues. Everyone else is in for some troubles. | ||||||||
8 | rbdigital | https://www.recordedbooks.com Amazon App Store Google Play | Library card at participating library required. Have personal account only. | Built by Recorded Books, RBdigital is a state-of-the-art platform and app providing access to the broadest array of digital content services, including audiobooks, eBooks, magazines, newspapers, comics, entertainment, education, health and wellness, and more. | 2017 | Free to library patrons. Revenue from government donations, and fees charged to libraries. | >1,000,000 app downloads 1,000,000 web visitors | Over 40,000 audiobook titles published by Recorded Books, as well as tens of thousands of premium audiobooks from other major publishers, and 14 other formats. | Digital lending (audiobook, eBook) | Facebook | audiobook, eBook | Wishlist, Holds, History, Recomended titles, Profile, and additional customizations for reader mode, preferences, and auto-download. | With RBdigital, you can access more than 15 content services—all from a single app. Only RBdigital delivers all of your patrons' favorite types of content: Audiobooks—Over 40,000 titles published by Recorded Books, as well as tens of thousands of premium audiobooks from other major publishers. | North America | Overall: 4.8 of 5, from 1M+ reviews | UI is clean, nothing fancy aesthetically, very spartan. | |||||||||||
9 | INDIRECT COMPETITORS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | Audible | https://www.audible.com/ App Store Google Play | Have personal account (paid subscription). | Audible is the world’s largest producer and provider of spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, enriching the lives of our millions of listeners every day. With our customer-centric approach to technological innovation and superior programming, Audible has reinvented a media category, and is the driving force behind today’s audio entertainment revolution. | 1995 | 4 rounds, $14.5M | $14.95 a month subscription fees | 3,373,262 app downloads 25,301,346 monthly web visitors | over 470,000 audio titles | audiobooks, audio content | Boiler-plate social media presence: | audiobooks, audio content | Enjoy your titles on iOS (Apple iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad), Android, Sonos, Kindle and Alexa-enabled devices. And when you switch a device, pick up right where you left off. | User generated reviews and recommendations, sharing | Global | Overall: 4.8 of 5, from 1M+ reviews | Good UI, simple to use. Works great, not buggy. Nice features like driving mode. Pricey. | ||||||||||
11 | Blinkist | blinkist.com App Store Google Play Amazon Alexa | Paid subscription. 7 day free trial. | Blinkist offers an app that allows its users to read the most important insights from non-fiction books in 15 minutes. | 2012 | 5 rounds, raising $34.8M | You can try out the app for free for 30 days, after which Blinkist costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. | >1,000,000 app downloads 1,164,685 web visitors | 3,000 titles | book insights, full-length audiobooks | Facebook | audiobooks, audio content | Saving your entire library offline. Syncing your highlights to Evernote. Sending your favorite summaries to your Kindle. Share to Facebook, Twitter Highlight: will mark that passage with a yellow background and save it as a highlight. “You” menu option called “Wishlist” : users can vote for the books they most want the team to summarize. Scroll through and upvote any book you’d like to see on the platform. | User generated reviews and recommendations, sharing | Global | Overall: 4.8 of 5, from 1M+ reviews | Blinkist is a startup from Berlin, Germany. The Blinkist team reads books, identifies the key insights, and explains them in an easy-to-digest, 15-minute summary format. Each key insight is called a ‘blink’ and fits nicely on one page. The app is free to download and so is setting up an account. If you do, you’ll be able to read the daily pick. This is one of their 3,000+ book summaries, and it changes every day. https://fourminutebooks.com/what-is-blinkist/ | ||||||||||
12 | bookshout | https://bookshout.com/ App Store | Free accounts (sso with Facebook, Twitter, WSJ, etc). | BookShout is a software based eBook distributor, with offices in Dallas, TX, Fort Wayne, IN and New York, NY. BookShout has native eReader applications on Android and iOS and can be accessed directly on the web. According to Wikipedia It is the largest provider of bulk eBook distribution in the world. | 2010 | 1st Round, raised a total of $2M in funding. Two additional rounds raised $8.8M | Generates $33.1K in revenue per employee | 2,566 app downloads | eBooks | Boiler-plate social media presence: | eBooks | User profiles Share to Facebook, Twitter | User generated reviews and recommendations, sharing. Join reading groups/circles. See friend's bookshelves. | It is the largest provider of bulk eBook distribution in the world[1] and works with all of the major U.S. publishing houses including HarperCollins[2], Macmillan, McGraw Hill, Penguin Random House, Perseus, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, Chronicle Books, Hachette Publishing Group, and Workman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookshout | Global, purchases only on US credit cards | Overall: 4.0 of 5, from 4K reviews | Has evolved from its initial business model of facilitating bulk eBook distribution to additionally providing publishers with customizable direct-to-consumer digital storefronts. Also, carved out a business services component of their business model, partnering with major corporations including, the Hearst Corporation, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Cheerios[3], T-Mobile[4], CareerBuilder, Cisco, The Wall Street Journal[5], Salesforce, Google, Deloitte and others to aide in the marketing and promotion of products, as well as in the onboarding, education and training of employees through the use of eBooks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookshout | ||||||||||
13 | Chirp | https://www.chirpbooks.com/ | Free accounts (Have personal account only). | Chirp is a service that lets you get amazing limited-time deals on select digital audiobooks and great everyday pricing on everything else. All books you purchase are yours to keep, and, unlike many other audiobook services, there's no monthly subscription fees or minimum purchases. | 2013 | Titles are purchased individualy | >100,000 app downloads | Audiobooks | Boiler-plate social media presence: | Audiobooks | US | Overall: 4.2 of 5, from 4K+ reviews | |||||||||||||||
14 | Goodreads | https://www.goodreads.com/ Google Play | Free accounts (sso with Facebook, Amazon, email). | Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations. Our mission is to help people find and share books they love. If you're looking for a place to discover a great book or to discuss your favorite books with a community of readers, you've found the right place! | Goodreads was launched in 2007. | Amazon acquired it for $140 - $150 million, in a mixture of cash and stock, for the site’s 16 million users in 2013. | 522,911 app downloads 24,535,435 web visitors | Social media platform for books | Goodreads is a social media platform in and of itself. Also on: | social media platform, book reccomendations | As a social network, Goodreads makes it easy to identify influencers by the number of friends and recommendations they make. Sends out custom notifications (text, email) | User generated reviews and recommendations, sharing | Amazon has skillfully harnessed the self-publishing movement as a counterweight to the power of large the publishers featuring self-published works alongside traditionally published books, Amazon has dramatically enhanced the prospects of self-published authors. The Kindle Direct Publishing Select program (which requires that an enrolled work is published exclusively with Amazon in digital form) has given indie authors two tools to build readership. | Global | Overall: 4.5 of 5, from 514K+ reviews | A Few Things You Can Do On Goodreads * See what books your friends are reading. * Track the books you're reading, have read, and want to read. * Check out your personalized book recommendations. Our recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion data points to give suggestions tailored to your literary tastes. * Find out if a book is a good fit for you from our community’s reviews. | |||||||||||
15 | Google Play Books | https://play.google.com/books App Store Google Play | Free accounts (Have personal account only). | Google Play Books is an ereader app, letting users read Google ebooks on mobile devices. Users can download Google books to numerous mobile devices, and have their ebooks synced across devices, so users can start reading a book on their phone and continue from where they left off on their tablet at home. | 2010 | Google is publicly traded. Titles on Google Play Books are purchased individually. | >1,000,000,000 app downloads | Over 5,000,000 titles | eBooks, audiobooks | Boiler-plate social media presence: | eBooks, audiobooks | User generated reviews and recommendations, sharing | Global | Pages freezing, inability to turn to the next page. | Overall: 4.2 of 5, from 2M+ reviews | ||||||||||||
16 | kanopy | https://www.kanopy.com/ AppleTV fireTV ROKU | Library card at participating library required. No participating libraries in HI. | Kanopy is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers. | 2008 | 1 round, amount not disclosed. | $150 for a 1-year license, $350 for a 3-year license. Institutions, however, purchase at a lower rate: $120/1-year, $280/3-year, with 5-year and perpetual licenses also available. | >100,000 app downloads 3,235,888 monthly web visitors | Digital lending (movies/videos) | Boiler-plate social media presence: | films, video | US ans Australia | Overall: 4.8 of 5, from 1M+ reviews See also: https://filmquarterly.org/2019/05/03/kanopy-not-just-like-netflix-and-not-free/ | ||||||||||||||
17 | Scribd | https://www.scribd.com/ App Store Google Play | Paid subscription. Free for 30 days. | Scribd is the premier digital reading subscription! Members can read and listen to the best audiobooks, ebooks, and magazines, and more — available anytime and on any compatible device. | 2007 | 6 rounds, raising $105.8M | $9.99 subscription fee per month. More than 1M paying subscribers. Over $100M in revenues in 2019. | >10,000,000 app downloads 93,498,849 monthly web visitors | Reading subscription for Audiobooks, eBooks, Sheet Music | Audiobooks, eBooks, Sheet Music | Global | Overall: 4.5 of 5, from 540K+ reviews | |||||||||||||||
18 | Wattpad | https://www.wattpad.com/ https://www.wattpad.com/getmobile | Free accounts (Have personal account only). Premium accounts (do not have). | Wattpad is a website or app for readers and writers to publish new user-generated stories in different genres, including classics, general fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, poetry, fan-fiction, spiritual, humor, and teen fiction. | 2007 | Wattpad has raised more than USD $117 million from international investors in Asia, the US, and Canada. Our world-class investors share our vision to entertain and connect the world through stories. | Ad revenue for free tier and premium subscription user fees, $5.99 per month. | >100,000,000 app downloads 80+ million monthly audience use the Wattpad platform | 350,000+ interactive stories available on Tap by Wattpad | Books, entertainment | Instagram Archive of Our Own | Books/eBooks, entertainment (user generated content) | All user generated content | Global | Overall: 4.2 of 5, from 4M+ reviews | ||||||||||||
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