article on Freegal

Check out this article about Santa Clara County's launch of the Freegal music service.

Library first in state to launch 'free music' program
By Matt Wilson
mwilson@community-newspapers.com
Posted: 06/14/2010 07:34:11 PM PDT
Updated: 06/14/2010 07:34:12 PM PDT


The Santa Clara County Library has a long history of letting people borrow items, but now the library is actually giving patrons something to keep.

At the start of this month, the library system became the first in California to offer residents free music downloads.

The county library system, which includes the Cupertino Library, has a new digital music service that lets library card holders search for music and download songs permanently at no charge.

The service, Freegal, is an online database that provides access to songs exclusively from Sony Music Entertainment's catalog of artists. Each library card holder can download three songs each week in MP3 format. The file is permanently saved onto computers, smart phones and other devices with access to the catalog and MP3 capabilities.

"We have been waiting a long time for a service like this that delivers great music, compatibility with lots of devices and simplicity of use. We think this will be incredibly popular with our patrons and will help the library in marketing all its services to the community," said county librarian Melinda Cervantes.

The library system is the first in California to offer the service, which launched the first week of June.

"This is a brand-new type of product that has not been available to libraries before," said Nancy Howe, a deputy county librarian.

Offering music to library patrons isn't new, but this service is on a wider scale than what
is currently available.

"We've had CDs you can check out for a long time now and we have had some streaming music, but this is unique in terms of the range of offerings," said Howe. "The library has a been a place where you can check out music for a long time. The formats have been changing on us, and we have not been able to offer our patrons the [genres] that suited everyone."

Library officials estimate that there hundreds of thousands of songs available in the collection, which covers all of Sony's record labels.

"We wanted to offer something that everyone can enjoy. This is the one that caught our attention," Howe said.

Users can start downloading another three songs each Sunday at midnight when their account resets. Every song has a sample clip patrons can listen to before downloading. The service will work with any MP3 player, including iPods, and songs can be loaded into iTunes, according to library officials.

Currently the service is available remotely only. The county purchased a subscription to the service for one year at a cost of $23,300.

Howe estimates that there are about 1.6 million digital county-wide retrievals on the system's various collections each year, which include digital books and other media. The library system is trying to keep pace with the evolving technology of the day.

"We've had our toe in the water for a while now," she said.

Santa Clara County Library provides library services to residents in Cupertino, Campbell, Saratoga, Los Altos, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and unincorporated areas of the county. Howe reminds residents that anyone in the county can get a library card and use the system.

For more information about the service or to inquire about getting a Santa Clara County Library card, go to www.santaclaracountylib.org.