Feature Articles

The Song Remains the Same: eMusic, eBooks and the Format Blues
by Rick Lugg, (R2 Consulting)

The Music Internet Untangled: Using Online Services to Expand Your Musical Horizons
Author: Andy Breeding
Publisher: Giant Path Publishing (2004)
ISBN: 1932340025 (pbk) $19.95
1932340033 (eBook) $7.95
Available from: http://www.giantpath.com; Amazon; Powells.com; YBP

The world just won't stand still. Sale and delivery of digital music morphs and mutates continuously, moving from venerable old CD's to streaming audio, satellite and Internet radio, MP3 and WMA downloads, and even back to custom vinyl for the nostalgiac and the pure. Cable companies slip dozens of digital music channels into their TV offerings. Hardcore music fans dedicate hundreds of gigabytes of hard drive space to music storage and routinely tote 20GB (300-400 hours) of tunes around on their iPods or other portable devices. Listeners can try before they buy, subscribe to "celestial jukeboxes" and purchase individual songs as readily as "albums", a concept in as much danger of obsolescence as song titles: "Number 7 is awesome!" "Play number 3 again!"

As recently as two years ago, Internet music was mainly the province of students with too much time on their hands-what music critic Robert Christgau once dubbed "sloppy college boys." These SCBs used file-sharing software such as Napster and Kazaa (and now eDonkey) to build invisible towers of song, often bypassing those pesky copyright laws. But gradually, as Napster was co-opted and the RIAA filed a few high-profile lawsuits, the download and streaming space filled with products and services that were legal: Rhapsody, eMusic, Live365, MSN Radio, LAUNCHCast, and ultimately, WalMart, iTunes, and a rehabilitated Napster. As a result, the customer base broadened to include not only sloppy college boys, but former SCB's like me, and faint-hearted parents who didn't want to be sued because their kid had nicked the latest Snoop Dogg track.

Just because something is legal, of course, doesn't mean it's fun or easy to use. As a librarian, my friend Andy Breeding saw opportunity in the chaotic eMusic market. During his tenure as a corporate librarian/researcher/Intranet dude, Andy had honed his skills at information discovery to a near-lethal level. He kept a clear head about technology and software, and not only saw through digital music hype, but could explain things like "buffering" and "tethered downloads" without resorting to geek-speak.

Since his own SCB days, commercial radio had convinced him that all current music was homogenized pap, and he had drifted into his own version of Plato's Republic, where there is no music. Enter the Internet, the best invention of our lifetime. In this brave new world, Andy found that he could use those near-lethal discovery skills to revive his passion for music. In a Web minute, he had assembled a veritable Smaug's Cave of treasures: gigabytes of surf guitar, psychobilly, tone painting, ska, reggae, dub and other major nutrients. He also came across one of the all-time great band names: Pollo del Mar: "Tell 'em Charlie sent ya!"

A generous man, Andy decided to share this newfound wealth by drawing a map. He founded Giant Path Publishing, and drafted Throwing Open the Vaults, the working title for a book that would eventually become The Music Internet Untangled. This book is a Hobbit for the treasure-loving Dwarf in all of us, guiding us to the sonic riches and quirky gems that make life worth living. TMIU offers service profiles of all the major legal Internet radio and download sites, from Rhapsody and eMusic to iTunes and MusicMatch. It doesn't try to be comprehensive, but instead focuses on the best services in terms of music discovery, usability, and value. Pros and cons of each service are described; and a series of "music diet plans" are outlined to help answer the question, "What do I do first?"

Most importantly, the perspective remains that of the music explorer: how to find, understand and appreciate artists old and new. Background and review resources such as MetaCritic and Allmusic are profiled. The book is well worth purchasing, not just by orthodox and reform SCB's, but by anyone with interest in music. It should especially appeal to librarians, because of its emphasis on discovery, respect for copyright, and narrowing the field to the best of breed.

That a guide such as TMIU is necessary attests to the volatility of the digital music market. Sales of CDs have declined for three straight years. Large companies such as Real Networks and BMG have purchased digital pioneers like Rhapsody and Napster. Everyone suspects there is money to be made, if only the interfaces and devices were more user-friendly. Some users prefer the simplicity of CDs. There is much concern about digital rights and unauthorized reproduction. Some services allow only online access, but not downloading of content. Some services support music by subscription rather than outright purchase. If this all sounds a bit like the situation facing eBooks, well, consider the evolution of the book in question!

Like its subject, The Music Internet Untangled has undergone numerous format changes. It began life in the ordinary way, as a Word document, though Andy did have a few choice words about the perils of using Microsoft style sheets. Early on, he decided that this should be published as an eBook, because digital music changes so rapidly that frequent updates would be needed. He also wanted to link readers directly from the text to the sites and services profiled. And of course, an eBook requires less investment up front (just add time and software!) than does a print book. He chose Adobe's eBook format because its the most ubiquitous (handily installed in every copy of Acrobat) and offers the most authoring tools.

To build his first eBook, Andy used PageMaker to lay out the text and optimize it for onscreen reading: narrow page width to accommodate Web browsers, larger fonts, live hyperlinks-the whole bag of tricks that are supposed to make eBooks superior to print. From Pagemaker he distilled the file to PDF, and the eBook version was born. About two days later, Apple's iTunes service launched, necessitating an immediate rewrite, and proving his hypothesis about the kinetic nature of this content sooner than was strictly necessary.

The original business model involved purchase and download of an Adobe eBook edition, with quarterly updates, for $19.95. It soon became apparent that quarterly updates would be unsustainable, and Giant Path revised the model to an eBook with semi-annual updates, for $9.95. Giant Path built a Web site to promote and sell TMIU, and that Web site also included regularly updated content. Eventually, the price came down to $7.95 for the eBook, which included no updates. The barrier, not surprisingly, was the eBook form. People wanted print.

Despite its much-vaunted transferability to print, the PDF-based Adobe eBook (optimized for the screen, remember?) could not serve as a basis for a print version. Giant Path contracted with Lightning Source for short-run digital printing, and the PDF file had to be adapted to one of Lightning's available trim sizes. Resolution had to be higher. Fonts could be reduced for the printed page. Our hard-working publisher returned to Pagemaker, and created a completely separate layout for print. Faced with maintaining two sets of files, he came to a sensible decision: Don't! (There are content management systems -usually expensive-that enable a publisher to author once, and produce in multiple formats from the same file. This could lighten the maintenance load, if style and formatting for both versions were rigidly standardized, and if the system's expense were amortized over many titles. However, this is Giant Path's first title.)

Thus the eBook version is now a replica of the printed edition, but retains a couple of its former features: URL table of contents and index hyperlinks. This more limited eBook version sells for $7.95, while print sells for $19.95.

The problem of updates, however, persists. Although Lightning can print in batches as small as one copy, it's impractical to update for every customer, especially since Lightning strikes with a new charge for every upload and update. So Giant Path has introduced another model: buyers of either print or eBook can access the Web site, where new content is frequently added. They can, in fact, subscribe free of charge to an electronic newsletter that delivers regular updates to their e-mail inboxes. Or if they prefer, they can add an RSS or My Yahoo feed from the Giant Path site. These updates not only enhance the book's value, but become, in effect, the working draft of the next edition of TMIU.

To recap, then, the format history of this fine work goes something like this: