Monday, June 25, 2007

Developing MP3 Collections through iTunes

MP3 Collections


Why have an MP3 collection?

-It’s how teens are listening to music
--CD sales are in a 7-year long decline.
---Down 20% from last year.
--MP3 sales up 54%
--85 percent of 12-24-year-olds prefer MP3 players over traditional radio as their preferred option for music
--54 percent of U.S. teens now own an MP3 player (more than double from 2003)
---highest concentrated demographic

-Money, time, and space-saving
--Costs are roughly $10.00/album, rather than $14.00 (average Baker & Taylor price, with discount)
--Do not need to be replaced due to use
--Fits on the hard-drive of a computer.
---500 GB of space (8533 albums) costs about $150.
---The same amount of space in CD library furniture might run up to $22,000.
--Easy and fast processing

-Flexibility
--Purchase new singles while popular and complete the album later, if need be.
--Rich collection of free, creative-commons licensed music online.


Challenges with MP3 collections

-Compatibility
--Digital rights management (DRM) – technologies embedded in media such as music files and MP3 players that are designed to restrict their use
---iTunes Music Store purchases (AAC) only work on iPods
Most other purchases (WMA) work on nearly every player but iPods
---While a terrible option for consumers, DRM is still necessary for libraries to ensure fair use
--File systems on MP3 players and hard-drives
---FAT32 (Windows, Mac, & Linux-compatible)
---HFS+ (Mac compatible only)

-Sound quality
--Lossy audio compression greatly cuts the amount of data used in sound frequencies and volumes that aren’t expected to be heard (MP3 or AAC)
---Numbers such as 96, 128, or 192 kb/s include how much information is contained within each second of an audio file
---In comparison, audio stored on a CD has 1411.2 kb/s
--Reduces both space on a hard drive or MP3 player and the sound quality
--Lossless audio compression algorithms (like FLAC [Free Lossless Audio Codec]) are not available through these services
--However, most teenagers don’t care about the difference

-Services constantly changing
--Many providers adding subscription-based service
--Untangling new features and price structures difficult
---Services often obscure purchase options they are not promoting

-Technical Services
--Acquisitions
---Largely require payment by credit card
--Cataloging
---While downloading is almost immediate, cataloging is not.
---Catalogers may be without any access to information about the material or downloadable MARC records.
----Who will supply necessary information concerning the record?
---Requires advance planning and procedures with cataloging
----Granting them access to music store interface so that they can “see what you see” when ordering
---Coordinating with cataloging to ensure that the ID3 metadata is updated (with “barcode” information or other necessary information)

-Accessibility
--Ensuring MP3 collections are accessible at multiple points in your library
--Ensuring MP3 collections are accessible at multiple libraries in your system
--Networking and syncing your MP3 collections across multiple computers over a network is possible, albeit convoluted
---Likely requires IT involvement
--Barriers to online access—currently no online delivery mechanisms for libraries


MP3 collections and copyright

-Section 109, the “first sale” doctrine, doesn’t apply to loaning MP3s.
--Superceded by contract and license law enacted upon purchase.
Important to verify that the license provides room for libraries to circulate materials.
--While “first sale” doctrine doesn’t apply, using the “first sale” doctrine is still helpful as a general guide to ensuring fair use for MP3s with liberal enough licenses for library use
---“What if this were a CD?”

-DMCA
--Circumventing technical copyright protection measures such as DRM is illegal
--Exemptions related to libraries:
---Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.



The iTunes Solution


Why iTunes?

-Market share leader amongst teens
--82% replied that they owned some variation of Apple's iPod
--73% said they would purchase some form of iPod in the next year
-Flexible purchase options
--Libraries can pay by credit card
--Libraries can also pay for iTunes gift certificates with a purchase order

-Flexible terms of sale
--“You shall be authorized to use the Products only for personal, noncommercial use.”
--“You shall be authorized to use the Products on five Apple-authorized devices at any time.”
---For a library to fully exercise this agreement establishes “commercial advantage” and is in violation of fair use.

-Excellent selection


Preparations

-Download, install, and configure iTunes
--Install on both public access and staff computers or network profile
---Public computers can use default settings, while staff computers will need reconfiguration
--Set the location of your music folder
---A folder on a closed network drive provides access to all public access desks that are accessible to the network
---If additional departments are interested in MP3 collections, you might wish to have your collections folder in separate subfolders and open different libraries on start-up as access needs dictate
--Create your account
---Acquisitions might wish to do this for you, as an account can not be created without a credit card on file
---Credit cards do not have to be used to purchase material
---If necessary, set your budget with an iTunes Gift Certificate
----Fax a purchase order on company letterhead to 1-866-821-7947
----Include:
-----Phone number & e-mail
-----Ship-to address
-----Bill-to address
-----Signature
-----Products and quantity
------iTunes Gift Certificate ($10-500)
------iTunes Gift Card ($15, $25, $50)
-----Calculated total (no tax)
---If applicable, redeem your Gift Certificate
--Set your store preferences
---Store preferences should be set to shopping cart, so that purchases can be reviewed before purchase.
--Install on patron computers, turning off auto-sync off if the option presents itself

-Consider purchasing Mediafour’s XPlay (http://www.mediafour.com/support/xplay/)
--Allows transfer of music to Mac-formatted iPod

-Develop sign-up sheet/waiver
--Summarize collection
--Explain technical needs
---Require connecting patron’s iPod to a computer
---iPod shuffles require all files to be deleted when being used (or “linked”) with a new computer
---If using Windows
----Music must be transferred with third-party software (i.e., XPlay)
----Otherwise must get a firmware update on Windows, which deletes all files, converts to FAT32, and slows the functionality of the iPod on the Mac
--Loan period
--Fine information
--Return info
--Waiver for any damages or lost files on iPod
--Collecting serial # important to verify that files were removed!
---Add as note in patron record


Collection development

-30 second previews

-Customer reviews

-Front page
--New releases
--Top songs
--Top albums

-Album view
-- “Listeners also bought”
-- “Alert me”
---Sends e-mail when new releases by purchased artists become available.

-Browse


Acquisitions & processing

-Purchase

-Submit to cataloging
--Easiest way to see when a file is available is to have its “Grouping” tag updated with the barcode or item ID.
---Set the “View” options of your iTunes to include grouping for easy access
Circulation – it’s easy!

-Open iTunes.
--If you need to select a specific library file:
---Hold the shift key while opening in Windows
---Hold the option key while opening in Mac OS

-Insert patron’s iPod
--You must keep the iPod from auto-syncing, or your patron’s files will be deleted!
---Immediately press and hold the Shift + Alt + Ctrl keys (if on a Mac it's Command + Option)
---If you forget, iPod will open a dialog box asking if you want to sync; say “no” or “do not sync”
---If your patron has an iPod Shuffle, syncing is necessary to use the iPod
----choose “yes” or “sync”
----warn patron that syncing with their home computer will erase their library files
---For any other iPod go to the iPod settings window
----make sure that “Manually manage music and videos” is checked

-Upload and check out
--Drag and drop!
--Use “barcode” or other information from the files to link the files with the patron’s account

-Delete and check in
--In the settings panel, verify that the serial # is that which is linked to the patron’s account
--Delete the files which are being “returned”
--Remove the records from the patrons account


Promotion

-iMix
--iMixes are widgets that share iTunes playlists with the world wide web
--While signed into the iTunes music store, simply click on the arrow to the right of your playlist and follow the easy instructions

-Network streaming
--This allows computers on your network (the same subnet) to play the songs in your music library.
--Limitations:
---Only five users can connect over the course of a day.
---Computers must be “authorized” to access the protected files
----Only five computers can be authorized at a time—so choose wisely
--On the computer which contains the files to share, make sure that “Share my library on my local network” is selected
--On computers which are going to be playing the files, make sure “Look for shared libraries” is selected
---Your files will show up in the sidebar, ready to play.

Have fun!

2 comments:

PDLibrarian said...

Do you have your waiver and info sheets posted somewhere? I would love to see them.

Laura Wright

aazion said...

Do you find the Computer Career Institute to have helped you become a web publisher and are you making money at it.

I am new at it and I would be encouraged to know what your experience with the course is in general.