I saw that you've begun using the Freegal service. My initial response was excitement, and I went and used up my three downloads for the week in about ten seconds.They, as they always do, answered me...
On doing some research about Freegal, however, I found that not every librarian is thrilled about the system...
http://blog.libraryjournal.com/ljinsider/2010/07/19/the- debate-over-freegal-does- innovative-free-music-service- represent-the-downfall-of-the- library-lending-model/
http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2011/04/just- say-no-to-freegal.html
...and it made me curious about the cost to PLCH for the use of Freegal.
Would you be willing to provide details of the contract that PLCH has with Freegal. I am, in particular, curious as to the total yearly cost of the contract, the total limit on the number of system-wide downloads, and the number of downloads that you expect to actually be used per year.
Thank you for your time.
Hello Mr. Dusch:I love PLCH.
Thank you for taking the time to submit your comments and questions to the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
It is fantastic to hear that you have already taken advantage of the new service we’re offering for downloading music! The Library has a long history of offering customers options for enjoying music in a variety of formats as technology has evolved, from tapes to CDs, and we are thrilled to provide our customers a chance to enjoy music in this latest downloadable format, too.
The blog posts you mention in your email reflect the experience of some libraries, I believe particularly those who were/are using a pay-per-download model of service that had previously been the only option offered to Libraries. Freegal recently added an option for a subscription-style model of service for providing access to SONY artists which is what our Library is using. This subscription model works more similarly to our other subscription service models for databases and allows us to offer unlimited system-wide downloads to users rather than rationing out a certain number of downloads per week or year. The new subscription service model from Freegal has generated quite a bit of additional interest in the Library community with hundreds of libraries across the country now offering the service to their users.
Other Libraries of similar size to our Library have realized up to 9,000 downloads a week after introducing Freegal. If we follow this pattern of use, we anticipate our cost per download to be a little less than $.40 (40 cents). To offer context, our current average cost per circulation of our physical items is approximately $.42 (42 cents). Unlike physical items that require additional processing that increases costs, Freegal downloads do not incur additional processing costs – as you know from using the service you simply enter your card number and download your song!
Since you clearly have an interest in the downloadable format, I wanted to mention that we also offer books and audiobooks for downloading (through a different service) – details are available at: http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/downloadables/ebooks.html
Again, thank you for your feedback and for using your Public Library!
Paula Brehm-Heeger
Library Services Manager-Central
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Love them...
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