Libraries and Music?

[RandomPodder]

I was reading another thread where someone said something about checking CDs out of a library, and I was wondering what that's all about. I haven't been to a library in ages, but can you really check CDs out? In the USA?

[ipodman720]

In some librarys you can but usually the music is not that great.

[podgirltessie]

Yeah, you have to really look sometimes, but it is also a great way to try listening to a new style of music or a different artist with no risk. Plus, when I actually find something interesting I feel like I hit the jackpot.

[iSoldier17]

Yup I have been doing it recently and it is awesome!

[Capital R]

Yeah most libraries that carry CD's have them available for checkout. I found some Joe Satriani, Metallica, Rush, and Killswitch Engage at my library.

[Macromedia]

Some times you can find old cds that are very hard to find in stores like led zepplin or pink floyd. I found bleach by nirvana in the library and thats a very hard ablum to find

[skruggie]

In Los Angeles the choices are endless - I check out about 30 cd's a week from the various counties. In Glendale alone there is a arts & Music library with a collection of 25,000 cd's.....

[bdb]

If your library has the ability to hold items, that works best. Some of the newer stuff will usually be checked out. The really new stuff is usually held so much that it takes months to get it. The library really works best for music thats a couple of years old.

[bakari]

I was the one who posted about checking out CDs from libraries.

My daughter actually was the one who hipped me to it. And yes, there's not always a wide selection, but I've found some good jazz and R&B CD's (Tupac, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Mayfield, Joshua Redman, and about 10 others) that are good, especially since they're on loan---if you, erruw..know what I mean.

I've hit up 3 libraries so far, but I think the downtown central one will have the most. I figure, I'm a tax payer, so I'm entitled.

BTW, I also buy music from ITMS and Dimple Records. I think it's important to buy music legally as well as get it for free.

[skruggie]

If you live in an urban city, check out to see if the libraries are run on different systems - because in Los Angeles everything is segregated out, I have cards for Burbank, Glendale, L.A. proper, Beverly Hills.....and there are other counties that I haven't applied for.

Since every library has different music it really gives you a good variety of different music, depending on which county you go to. When I do my Saturday library round robin I end up with about 30 cd's at a time.

[bakari]

I've been just using the same library card at different branches. You can only check out 5 at a time, but hey that's cool. I don't like adding too much music to my iTunes collection at once anyway. I like adding appreciating as I go along.

[skruggie]

I started out with just the L.A. public library, untill I found out that different counties have their own seperate branches.

Collecting music has become quite the addiction for me.....

[Macromedia]

The libraries where I live are pretty limited to stuff 15 yers and old but theres still some pretty good stuff

[bakari]

Yeah, I figure if it's free and I would like to have it but wouldn't want to pay the money for it, it's a pretty good deal. It's just like getting free Tuesday ITMS songs. Some cuts I would never purchase, but having them apart of my collection helps me listen to music I may not never have heard or listened to, e.g. Kyle Riabko, Billy Miles, and Citizen Cope & Santana.

I got a copy of Diana Kroll's CD from the library (plus Mark Isham's album that I'm now listening to) and I'm lovin' it, but I may not have ever bought it. So I figure, it's my tax dollars well spent. Long live libraries.

[bakari]

Originally posted by skruggie
Collecting music has become quite the addiction for me.....

iTunes (and now my iPod) has got me back into the music addiction. I'm still amazed at how I can carry my entire music collection with me and get any song I want.

[ipodphoto30]

bring them home and copy the CDs. hehehehehehe

[bakari]

Okay, ipodphoto30, I'm going to report you to moderator. Be good.

[skruggie]

well that's what we do...burn them, return them, reuse, recycle.

Isn't that the point of checking out music from the library?:)

[bakari]

skruggie, hush now. you're not supposed to tell everyone... dang, you gonna mess it up for all of us.. heheh

[skruggie]

Can you even imagine - in this day and age - if public libraries were first invented?

The idea would never get past the copyright police....

[DC12112]

See you don't burn them you rip them on to your iPod, therefore its ripping not burning. Oh yeah I just got back for the libaray with 6 new cds.

[skruggie]

I'm on my way tonight.....the library I'm going to lets you take out 15 at a time.

It is such a candy store for me!

[bakari]

Well, it might not be candy--depends on what they have to offer. I went to the central library in my city yesterday and though they had a fairly large collection, the pickings were slim in terms of the music I was interested in checking out. I ended borrowing three CDs but each one of them turned out not to be that good.

For some reason I found better CDs at the smaller library. Also, be sure to check the condition of the CDs before you check them out. If there are scratches on them I have a very hard time importing them into iTunes--even when I use error checking.

Good luck. Let us know how it comes out.

[skruggie]

I'm stoked - found The Beatles White album - I've been looking for that forever. This particular library I'm using has a 25,000 cd collection, definetely something for everyone. The emphasis is on older music from the 70's-90's though, it's definetly not for people looking for current Billboard stuff.

I know what you mean about the scratches, I find that problem on quite a bit of the cd's depending on how popular they are. But I've noticed that when they won't read on my ibook, the emac will generally take them.

[bakari]

What's everyone's best library find so far?

Mine was the Best of Black Street.

[Macromedia]

Mine's one of the first Jimmy Hendrix cds and A really old Led Zepplin

[skruggie]

If I told anyone what I consider to be my best find they would laugh at me:)

[kirkpod]

Originally posted by skruggie
If I told anyone what I consider to be my best find they would laugh at me:)

come on skruggie tell. :D

i too am enjoying finding cd's at the local library system. i'm into jazz and movie soundtracks and found albums by david benoit, chris botti, dianne reeves, diana krall, kevyn lettau, john williams, hans zimmer, jerry goldsmith, howard shore and others. im lovin' it! :D

[bakari]

I also found a Jimmy Hendrix cd that's pretty good. A Macy Gray was also another good find because I would have never bought her CD. She has a few good cuts I like.

[bakari]

I wonder how CDs get chosen for the library?

[skruggie]

My taste is really eclectic....from Barry Manilow to Green Day – so I like a little bit of everything. The public library system has really allowed me to explore that, expecially with cd's that I normally wouldn't have payed for. It really doesn't bother me that they don't seem to have much in current stuff, I'm working my way through the collections of the different cities in Los Angeles. Right now I just came back from Burbank and Glendale, each are on a seperate system so I have 35 cd's at the moment to burn. Some music will end up deleted, most I'll keep.

I really love exploring different kinds of music this way. Oh and my favorite finds, the ones I have been searching for for years and finally found? the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack and the soundrack to a childrens program called Free to Be You & Me (from the 70's)

See, told ya you'd laugh:)

[kirkpod]

Originally posted by bakari
I wonder how CDs get chosen for the library?

Some are donations, but most public libraries just depend on recommendations from vendors or from the patrons themselves. In some public library systems, like in the bay area, you can actually make recommendations and they willl buy it, the librarian will make you fill up a request and they will even notify you once the purchase has been made. You can also do this online in some of them.

[kirkpod]

Originally posted by skruggie
My taste is really eclectic....from Barry Manilow to Green Day – so I like a little bit of everything. The public library system has really allowed me to explore that, expecially with cd's that I normally wouldn't have payed for. It really doesn't bother me that they don't seem to have much in current stuff, I'm working my way through the collections of the different cities in Los Angeles. Right now I just came back from Burbank and Glendale, each are on a seperate system so I have 35 cd's at the moment to burn. Some music will end up deleted, most I'll keep.

I really love exploring different kinds of music this way. Oh and my favorite finds, the ones I have been searching for for years and finally found? the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack and the soundrack to a childrens program called Free to Be You & Me (from the 70's)

See, told ya you'd laugh:)

cool! I like soundtrack fromt he 70's and the 80's since most are symphonic. I also saw a rare musical Pippin from the 70's I think featuring Ben Vereen, it was like a muscial that was on when i was in high school. :D But you would not believe the vast colection of jazz music just lying on their racks in most public libraries. Same with anthologies of known musicians, i.e. like the four album anthology on The Police.

[skruggie]

In the Glendale library that I've been referencing, they have on their website that they take donations and that they are tax deductible.

I also have a feeling that the record companies make direct donations to the local library systems as well, at least in Glendale, because they have a couple of bins of cd's that they sell directly that have never been opened up, which includes promotional type stuff that you would not find in stores. It's a really good deal if you have an interest in the music, they average about $3 a cd.

[KG21TheKid]

I check CDs out from libraries all the time and i find some really great music there. I have gotten a lot of my music through the library

[bakari]

Lol. I'm now wondering if and how illegal is it copy files from CDs borrowed from the library? I was just thinking about that when I checked out another five very good CDs (two early Blackeyed Peas and three 70s jazz artists) from the library yesterday. I mean, no one has said anything about it, but is it because not that many people have figured out how to do it?

[skruggie]

As far as I'm concerned its no different than when we used to have boom boxes and copied cassettes from our friends.

Of course people have figured out how to do it, people have been copying tapes/cd's for decades.

[Glenn Wolsey]

I get music from the library all the time. and copy it......

[NawdaKh]

Originally posted by Blackcaps Rule
I get music from the library all the time. and copy it......

So in other words, you steal music too. ;)

[skruggie]

Call it stealing if you want, I really don't care. I'm really tired of how since the proliferation of the internet and p2p, all of a sudden everything that we ever did prior to these two inventions are put under a microscope.

I copy music from the library, I copy music from my friends, and I share my personal music library with my friends. I do not participate in p2p, however my habits have not changed since I was a teenager using a dual cassette boombox.

And they aren't going to either.

[bakari]

I guess the way I justify it is that if file sharing is going on, someone in the chain has purchased the original source, and for it be massive sharing (if that's ever the case beyond a few friends) then there would also have to be massive purchases of music CDs. I'm not really sure the industry is hurting as much as it says it is.

[NawdaKh]

Who cares if it's hurting, I humbly believe it is stealing. It's theft. Put copyright restrictions on the CDs for all I care, just let me put the CD on my iPod.

[skruggie]

I humbly believe that the only reason this topic gets so much attention is becasue the internet. Music sharing has been going on since recording media has been invented.

The recording industry has made it thusfar...somehow I think they'll survive.

[NawdaKh]

Originally posted by skruggie
I humbly believe that the only reason this topic gets so much attention is becasue the internet. Music sharing has been going on since recording media has been invented.

The recording industry has made it thusfar...somehow I think they'll survive.

I couldn't agree more.

[kirkpod]

I wonder why the Public Libraries have not wised up on this? I see alot of people borrowing cd's by the 10's or 20's and noone seems bothered by it.

[NawdaKh]

Originally posted by kirkpod
I wonder why the Public Libraries have not wised up on this? I see alot of people borrowing cd's by the 10's or 20's and noone seems bothered by it.

Because most of them deem "sharing," A.K.A. "stealing," is okay.

[skruggie]

Public libraries are completely wise on this...they get their funding by how many of their items are checked out - the more people check out, the better the library does. So it is in their best interest to let patrons take as much material at a time as they can.

I was told this directly by one of the librarians, in fact that particular library has a 10 at a time limit on cd's - but you that is just at the point of checkout, once you have 10 cd's at that particular branch, you can go down to the branch a few miles away and check out another 10.

The library has no control over what you do with the media while it is in your posession, any more than they can stop you from photocopying or scanning a book.

[NawdaKh]

Originally posted by skruggie
Public libraries are completely wise on this...they get their funding by how many of their items are checked out - the more people check out, the better the library does. So it is in their best interest to let patrons take as much material at a time as they can.

I was told this directly by one of the librarians, in fact that particular library has a 10 at a time limit on cd's - but you that is just at the point of checkout, once you have 10 cd's at that particular branch, you can go down to the branch a few miles away and check out another 10.

The library has no control over what you do with the media while it is in your posession, any more than they can stop you from photocopying or scanning a book.

You're very right.

[bakari]

Hey I've wondered the same thing. I know they must see the list of CDs I've been borrowing. Every time I turn a set in I'm checking another set out. It's not every week, but I've checked out at least 20 in the last month or so.

[kirkpod]

So it seems that as long as they benefit from that action (i.e. increase funding) they will turn a blind eye. I would guess that the public library should also be the best venue to educate the public on legal issues concerning copying of music and other intellectual property, but I gues most of them are also confused or find all these issues too abstract. Note that it is only in the last five to ten years that people are becoming conscious of intellectual property rights, I can still remember a time when recording music via cassette or photocopying a book for a school term paper as not considered illegal acts. Time do change.

[skruggie]

well gee since this is SO illegal and SO immoral, perhaps we should be execting the copyright police to be knocking on our doorsteps? Perhaps there are already warrants for our arrests.....

By the way, if as you claim fair use laws no longer exist and it is no longer legal to make photocopies from books, magazines, etc......been to Kinkos lately?

[NawdaKh]

Hmmm. I know I didn't say it was illegal.

You can copy books. You can copy CDs. You can copy your favorite television show.

I don't care if you do or not. But I do think it's wrong unless it's for personal use only. Copying a book for a repot is fine. Copying a CD to put in your car just in case the stereo gets stolen (like mine) is fine.

No one's stopping you. I just sincerely think it's wrong to "share" music like you guys are doing. Have fun.

;)

[bakari]

I don't do p2p and I do pay for a lot of downloaded music, so in a way I think it equals out in the end.

[NawdaKh]

Well, that's a different story. At least you pay for your music.

[bakari]

Interesting. I went to check out a few more CDs at the library today and the clerk and I noticed that one of the CDs was a little scratched. When I told her I would get it anyway, she said yeah sometimes she puts "these" CDs on her computer and they upload okay despite the scratches. Go figure.

[chuckley]

make sure it a main library. u get bare new releases there :D

[bobb-mini]

U people are such kids. :cool:

Have u notice u can check out DVDs too?

Watch out though, u may actually get hooked by BOOKS <gasp> too!

[jonnny]

Originally posted by skruggie
In Glendale alone there is a arts & Music library with a collection of 25,000 cd's..... Where in Glendale is it?

[itsallgonnabeOK]

I love you people. You gave me the idea to go to my public library's website- Guess what? they have EVERY SINGLE NIRVANA CD. EVER!!! Including Bleach and Insecticide, From the Muddy Banks of the Wiskah, and they even have the 3-disc set, With the Lights Out. I am putting them ALLL on hold. I LOVE MY LIBRARY!!!! THANK YOU ILOUNGE FORUMS FOR GIVING ME THIS IDEA!!!!!!


PS- this is pretty cool considering I live in a town of almost 200,000 people. I wouldn't exactly call Springfield MO urban. hahaha.....

[rachwah]

Up until now I had been using Limewire.. I never really sat and thought oh this is illegal..and stuff..I know you will say but how can't you have - I seriously haven't. My friends turned me onto Limewire ( I don't know how I hadn't used it before because I'm a massive music collector ) and now I just deleted it, I felt bad!!

If I made a cd I'd want people to buy it, not be cheapass and scab it off someone else halfway across the other side of the world.

[frogger]

I have not checked out music from the library (my personal CD collection is pretty big and I have most of what I want) but I find it a great source for audio books. I borrow them, rip them, listen to them on my iPod and return them. I don't believe this is stealing since I borrowed it to listen to, and that is what I did. I do not re-listen to them over and over like music. I only do it this way for convenience. This way, I don't have to worry about the due date. I usually return the audio book within a few days of checking it out, but it may take me a week or more to listen to it.

[HDerik5]

Checking out music is at the library is great, I found some pretty cool old Pink Floyd, but they also had some new releases like the current Audioslave.

[kirkpod]

:d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d :d