--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 19:14:30 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum               <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #4988.3 summary of responses #4924 audio cassette distribution
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

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Re. duplication--

I must admit that where a textbook has a CD or a small tape series (1-3
tapes) which covers the entire book, I can see why they would be ready to
ask students to purchase this with the book. It simplifies matters. But
it's a matter of scale--what is simple for a tape or two is NOT simple if
there are a dozen or more tapes.

It's seemed to me (perhaps in my innocence!) that the lab provides a very
real service to the textbook companies by duplicating the tape series.
After all, churning out all these copies requires expensive equipment and a
good deal of labor, which the University essentially provides free to the
companies and students. By providing the tapes one at a time during the
term, in a convenient on-campus site, we in fact reduce the number of
copies of the entire set that would have to be distributed from some more
distant production site to the students (requiring also huge amounts of
packaging, and shelf space from the campus store or an active mailorder
fulfillment business). 

I assume that the textbook companies make their money back--amply--through
the textbooks; the workbooks are required to do the audiotapes and there's
no such thing as a usable used copy of a workbook, so the companies are
directly profiting from the audio lab requirement. 

That said, of course we have to have permission to copy the tapes. The
textbook company that provides our University of  Florida elementary
Spanish textbook is very generous indeed with permissions of all kinds,
plus workshops on how to use their books and auxilliaries, extra copies of
materials, updates on new stuff, and all kinds of support. It seems to me
likely in my less innocent moments that small schools would be less likely
to get these generous permissions, because they have less leverage with the
companies.

Judy Shoaf
University of Florida Language Lab