Another reason to host video or audio remotely is to give access to multiple formats of the file. EPUB3 has the capability of looking through a series of links and only using the one that works best in a given ereader. Including multiple versions of a video file in an EPUB file would result in unnecessary bloat. (Of course, this is a bit of a moot point in a world in which video and audio in EPUB mostly works in iBooks, but that is changing with Readium, and surely with newer ereaders. The fact that there is no agreed upon codec for video is also an important factor.)
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
Another reason to host video or audio remotely is to give access to multiple formats of the file. EPUB3 has the capability of looking through a series of links and only using the one that works best in a given ereader. Including multiple versions of a video file in an EPUB file would result in unnecessary bloat. (Of course, this is a bit of a moot point in a world in which video and audio in EPUB mostly works in iBooks, but that is changing with Readium, and surely with newer ereaders. The fact that there is no agreed upon codec for video is also an important factor.)
