
The Ann Arbor, MI library has bought a bulk license to the Magnatune catalog of Creative Commons licensed music; the license fee of $10,000/year goes to Magnatune and the musicians, and gives the library's patrons the right to listen, download and copy the music. Libraries are one of the last havens for DRM-crippled music, but Magnatune presents an alternative to the take-it-or-leave-it DRM deal the big labels demand. This is a library first, and Celeste Choate, the library's associate director of services says, this provides "fixed costs, unlimited downloads and annual licenses. The library is interested in getting the most use out of its collections, she said, while containing costs - they don't want to pay per download."
Especially impressive is the fact that the Library's IT department has made a gorgeous browsing/streaming/downloading interface, with social networking features and musical categories from our information data feeds. They even noticed the Creative Commons licensing that applies to our paid downloads and applied that same license on their library music site and allows the library members to reuse our music as they see fit.
Ann Arbor Digital Library: Magnatune
Library uses Magnatune for All-you-can-eat music
Ann Arbor Library Signs Digital Music Deal
(Thanks, John!)
Bernie wants to break up ISPs like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
Women and girls, Uber at your own risk.
“Chinese technology companies are shaping new facial recognition and surveillance standards at the UN, according to leaked documents, as they try to open up new markets in the developing world for their cutting-edge technologies,” reports the Financial Times in a piece making the rounds on Monday.
Walk through any office, and you will likely spot a few bobbleheads. These wobbly figurines are great fun to have around, although most celebrate people we will never meet. For something a little more personal, try Handmade Custom Bobbleheads. These mini caricatures are sculpted and painted by skilled artisans, based on any photo you provide. […]
In the early days of the web, everyone wanted a .com domain for their site. As a result, all the good ones got snapped up. But .com no longer has the cachet it once did. In fact, many new businesses and individuals are opting for other top-level domain extensions. One of the most memorable is […]
When the SNES launched back in the early 1990s, it changed gaming forever. One of the innovations was a gamepad with four action buttons — something that has remained a constant on controllers ever since. The 8BitDo SN30 Bluetooth Gamepad brings that iconic design up to date, with Bluetooth connectivity and support for multiple platforms. […]