In support of the library’s audiobook program that began in January, the Digital Media Lab acquired Mp3 players for student use.

N.C. State Libraries initially purchased 50 Creative Zen Micro digital audio devices, Keith Morgan, manager of the Digital Media Lab, said in an article in Focus, a library publication.

The Zen Micro players are similar to Apple iPods, but are capable of playing Windows format audio files. According to Morgan, the audiobooks available from the library are currently only in a protected Windows format that Apple players cannot read.

“We’re evaluating its popularity, we’ve expanded the numbers of available units since the original purchase,” Morgan said.

The library also purchased 20 iPod Shuffles to be used for “pod-casts” available through the library, according to Morgan.

“My belief is that pod-casting will become more important to the campus as time goes on,” he said. “More professors are going to find ways to put lectures on pod-casts and our hope is that for students who don’t have devices — that we will have devices that they can listen to and [we can] loan out.”

Students may check out the audio players from the Digital Media Lab in much the same way they can check out laptops, according to Morgan. Students have to sign an audio agreement form the first time they check one out, and then just use their student ID after that.

The program has become popular among students.

“They’re always checked out,” Lillian Crites, a junior in civil engineering and Digital Media Lab employee, said. “People call all the time.”

Employees in the lab indicated that it is tough to keep the Mp3 players on the shelves.

“Most of our equipment is rarely here more than an hour before it gets checked out,” Chris Hill, a senior in wildlife science and Digital Media Lab employee, said.

Crites said the program is popular because it is easier for students to use school equipment when they need it rather than purchase their own.

“It’s been very successful because, both, like the cameras and the camcorders, we very rarely have them in.” Morgan said. “They come in, they go out. It’s just a constant cycle. People are asking for them, stopping by to see if we have any in, so that’s one reason we’d like to increase, somewhat, the collection. There’s [got to] be some reasonable limit on how many you have, but I’d like to see more.”

Both Crites and Hill are participants in the program.

“I always have one checked out,” Crites said.

Hill said he does not own an Mp3 player and checks one out from the library for weekend car trips.

“It’s a really good program,” Hill said. “If we could do it on a larger scale it would be good.”

Crites hinted that the Digital Media Lab needs more Mp3 players to loan out.

“The demand is much greater than the supply,” Crites said.