LibraryLinks Fall 2007/Spring2008

Streaming Audio Music Offered Via Naxos Music Library

By Edward Shephard

Students and faculty now have access to a new streaming audio music resource through the Binghamton University Libraries. The Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. It includes the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues of over 274,000 tracks, plus a growing number of other labels. The tracks in Naxos Music Library include Classical, Jazz, World, Folk and Chinese music. New releases (currently around 200 CDs per year) are continually added to ensure that the music library is always complete and up-to-date. While listening to the audio tracks, users can view notes on the works being played as well as biographical information on composers or artists.

Through a sophisticated online search engine, the user can select works by composer, artist, period, year of composition, instrument or genre. Playlists can also be easily created for educational use by professors. Several faculty in the Music Department have already begun to use this feature for classroom instruction. This feature enables any number of students to access materials formerly available to only one user at a time on reserve. However, it is not possible to download or burn to CD any music on Naxos Music Library. Users can easily gain online access to the catalog number of the disc they need and purchase it at a local record store or order it through online retailers.

The Libraries’ subscription to Naxos Music Library is available to the entire campus and to off-campus users through the campus IP authentication system. Access to Naxos Music Library is through the metaLINK database list on the Libraries’ homepage.