On the way back from Indy Friday, I finished up the David Allen book David King suggested. It was incredible! Then I switched the iPod over to The Future of Music : Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution by Dave Kusek, Gerd Leonhard. I only made it through the first hour or so but let me recommend this title to all librarians who want a glimpse of what the future of music and content dlelivery might be! The more I think about it, the more I discuss it with my colleague Joe Sipocz (who gets stuff like this) and the more I read articles like this one about Yahoo! Music: http://playlistmag.com/weblogs/todayatplaylist/2005/05/yahoodamn/index.php? — and how music services might meet folks’ needs.
Then, I discover this: http://www.stretta.com/~matthew/resources/music_server/. A music server for the whole house, most cool! To take it further, then, Kusek and Leonard propose by 2015 a huge jukebox of all music..available anytime and virtually anywhere as an inexpensive monthly subscription… music flows to ear phones, receivers, everywhere…like water!
In their vision of 2015, Music streams to you via wifi wherever you are… your “TasteMate” remembers your favorites and keeps those songs in rotation in your personal playlists…news and entertainment are available as well…and the music companies have a model of business that is fair and profitable!
Where do libraries fall in this mix of the ubiquitous jukebox connected to subscribers? For one thing, the CD collections will slowly fade away like VHS is now. I wonder if the next step will be vendors of digital content offering a subscription to libraries — like many vendors do now. In this vague “Music like Water” future, will the public library pay yearly for streams or downloads of stuff to their patrons devices and home media servers? I want to see this future!
WOWZA! I need to contnue listening. Please let me knowhat you think if you have read the book!
More about Yahoo! Music here: http://playlistmag.com/features/2005/05/yahoomusicunlimit/index.php
(*paraphrase of a Moby lyric..)