Digital Audio Collections

This paper is about the possibility of libraries creating digital music or audio collections based on the current state of the digital music industry, and in comparison with the difficulties librarians have found in adding e-books to collections. In comparing the e-book and digital music markets, factors such as digital rights management (DRM) and the differences in both markets’ relationships with customers are examined. This juxtaposition suggests that where e-books have been difficult to include in library collections because publishers want to maintain control over their content, music publishers have had to resign some of the control over their products because of file-sharing, and so may work with libraries to develop these collections in a more constructive way than e-book venders. At the end of the paper, some models are suggested for developing these collections.