Transcript Naxos or Classical: Which Music Library is Best for You

Naxos or Classical: Which Music
Library is Best for You?
Chris Durman
SEMLA Conference
Columbus, GA
Oct. 13, 2006
Scorecard
Naxos
Repertoire
Searching Mechanisms
Player Functionality
Streaming Options and Sound Quality
Playlists and Static URLs
Text Resources
Extras
Pricing
Total:
Classical
Repertoire
Naxos
Classical
•8,800 titles, 130,000 tracks
•Broad selection of classical
music
•Other genres include:
Contemporary Jazz;
World/Folk; New Age; Chinese
Music; Pop and Rock
•50,000 tracks
•Classical and modern works in a
classical style benchmarked against
“A Basic Music Library”
•Many works incomplete
Score
Naxos:
Classical:
Search Mechanisms
Naxos
Classical
•Basic keyword search works best,
but leads to cd record as opposed
to track – can lead to miss-hits
•Title is not an option in the
advanced search
•Catalog number search
•Browse searching inefficient
•Browse search is most reliable
•Basic and advanced search
unreliable due to inconsistent
indexing
•“Beethoven” and “symphony”
brings up no hits in basic or in
advanced (even when symphony is
used as genre)
•Thesaurus unreliable.
Score
Naxos:
Classical:
Naxos Music Library
Advanced Search
Player Functionality
Naxos
•Basic music controls i.e. play,
pause, stop, skip forward and
backward (within work and within
track), and time counter
•Volume control and mute
•Playlist, track, and artist
information
•CD cover facsimile and access to
liner notes (when available)
•Add to playlist button
Score
Naxos:
Classical
•Basic music controls i.e. play,
pause, stop, skip forward and
backward (within work and within
track), and time counter
•Volume control
•Playlist, track, and artist
information
•Add to playlist and download
buttons
Classical:
Streaming Options and Sound Quality
Naxos
•“CD”: sound quality of 128
kilobits per second; broadband
required; additional charge for this
quality
•“Near CD”: 64 kbps; requires a
broadband connection.
•“FM”: 20 kbps; sound quality
similar to FM radio, suitable for
dial-up connection.
Score
Naxos:
Classical
•PREMIUM: 64 kbps; requires a
broadband connection.
•STANDARD: 22 kbps; suitable
for dial-up connections.
•I can’t really hear a difference
between the two services
•Neither Naxos or Classical work
well on my home dial-up
connection.
Classical:
Playlists and Static URLs
Naxos
Classical
•Playlists very easy to create and
rearrange
•Password for creating playlists not
unique – potential problem.
•Static URLs for playlists, CDs,
entire works, and individual tracks.
•Folders and playlists slightly more
difficult to create, but allows more
options for organizing materials
•Unique passwords for each folder
administrator
•Static URLs for folder, entire
works, and individual tracks
Score
Naxos:
Classical:
Text Resources
Naxos
•Liner Notes – most classical and many others have
full liner notes.
•Glossary and Fundamental Terms
•Pronunciation Guide - audio
•Text Search - very nice feature
•Opera Synopses – too condensed; liner notes offer
better synopses
•Opera Libretti – in original language; no translation;
to play the music and read the libretto you have to
open two sessions
•Audiobook Transcriptions - transcribed from
audiobooks about musical topics
Score
Naxos:
Classical
•Biographies – while some offer brief, but useful
listings, most do not have more than just dates and
nationalities
•Images - images sorted by composer •Discovering Music – works grouped to illustrate a
theme – only the links to start the music don’t work
•Glossary
•Historical Periods - a concise history of music
•Liner notes – not original liner notes to recording, but
they do include brief information on the work, track,
recording, performers, and composer
Classical:
Extras
Naxos
Classical
•Naxos – MARC Records available
for 3900 Titles ($875)
•Federated Searching possible
through Webfeat
•Usage Statistics – very detailed,
includes tracks listened to, total
login time, sessions, and turnaways
per month and average time per
session
•Students may purchase downloads
•Music Conductor in development
– a portal for all their music
products
•Usage Statistics – more useful and
processed, includes total sessions,
average session length, tracks
played, peak usage, and turnaways
Score
Naxos:
Classical:
Pricing
Naxos
Number of Users
5 (minimum)
10
15
20
25
Unlimited
Annual Rate
$750 ($150/user)
$1450 ($145/user)
$2100 ($140/user)
$2700 ($135/user)
$3250 ($130/user)
$3750
Naxos charges $60 per simultaneous user for the
Fantasy Jazz upgrade. They do not offer unlimited
access to this but suggest subscribing 25 or 30 users
for those wanting unlimited access. 25 x $60 = $1500.
$3750 + $1500 = $5250
Score
Naxos:
Classical
Simultaneous Users
Member Price
3
$898
4
$1,195
5
$1,495
10
$2,993
14
$4,192
unlimited*
$4,496
*unlimited access available only to academic libraries
Music Online (Classical Music Library, Smithsonian
Global Sound, African American Song, and, to-belaunched, American Song) unlimited per year - $8,996
Unlimited access to Smithsonian Global Sound $9,000
Classical:
Additional Considerations and
Bonus Points
• Promotion to faculty and students has proven to be a
necessity; difficult to get faculty to create their own
playlists; old habits…
• Naxos User Group
• Both companies are pleasant to work with, but Naxos
may be faster at addressing user complaints
• System requirements basically parallel; Naxos’s previous
difficulty with Macs seems to have been resolved
Chris’s Scorecard
Repertoire
Searching Mechanisms
Player Functionality
Streaming Options and Sound Quality
Playlists and Static URLs
Text Resources
Extras
Pricing
Total:
Naxos
Classical
9
5
8
9
6
9
8
8
62
6
5
8
8
9
6
8
7
57
Reviews Consulted
• Quist, Ned. “Naxos Music Library.” Notes 61, no. 2
(December 2004): 512-516.
• Scott, Darwin Floyd. “Naxos Music Library.” Notes
62, no. 1 (September 2005): 192-198.
• Cary, Paul. “Classical Music Library.” Notes 60, no. 4
(June 2004): 1009-1012.
• Cary, Paul. “Classical Music Library.” Notes 61, no. 4
(June 2005) 1057-1059.