Baker & Taylor Axis 360 is the definitive app that library patrons use to read books, listen to audio or watch streaming video. One of the downsides is that B&T relies on many 3rd party companies such as Blio, Acoustic to deliver audiobooks and music. Instead of listening to music within the Baker and Taylor app, customers are instead redirected to download and install many different apps to take advantage of multimedia content. This process is similar to Barnes and Noble suspending their relationship with Overdrive because customers were mandated to download the Media Console and use Adobe Digital Editions, a convoluted process. Baker & Taylor realizes that redirecting patrons to download alternative apps breaks immersion and is working on a next generation content delivery system.
The new Axis 360 app is poised to launch near the end of the year. They are utilizing new API systems that will allow patrons to listen to music or audiobooks, watch movies or engage complex EPUB3 textbooks. This will basically incorporate content from all of the companies they lean on to provide content within their own app and be more intuitive to use.
Michael Bills of Baker and Taylor said that the new app will be huge and reduce the complexity for libraries. Everything will be done behind the scenes, making the end-user experience a thing of beauty.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.