LC Announces the National Jukebox: Largest Collection of Recordings Ever Made Available To Public (Free)

• The National Jukebox launch announcement was made today by the Librarian of Congress, James Billington and singer/songwriter, Harry Connick, Jr.

The National Jukebox is Now Live at: http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/

Fast Facts:

• At Launch Jukebox Contains 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925.

• “Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which has granted the Library of Congress a gratis license to stream acoustical recordings.”

• “Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others.”

• Build Your Own Playlists, Share the Lists With Other via Facebook.

• The Collection Also Includes Spoken Word Material Including Political Speeches
  Hat Tip and Thanks: In Custodia Legis

Cool:

• Access and Listen to Recordings by Date When Recorded)

• E.g. Recordings Made on May 10th

Search and Browse

• Simple Search Box (Keyword, Title, Artist, Genre)

• Robust Advanced Search Page
  Includes option to limit by date
• Both Search Options Allow You To Narrow Results Using Facets in the Left Column of a Results Page

• Browse All Recordings Using The Following Top Level Categories (Narrow Using a Number of Sub-Categories):
  
  • Category
  • Vocal
  • Language
  • Place
  • Target Audience
  • Label
  • Date Range
  • Composer
  • Author
  • Lyricist
  • Performer
  • Genre

• Browse by Recording Artist (A-Z)

• George Gershwin as Recording Artist

• Browse by Genre

• e.g. Blues

Help

• How To Create and Share Playlists
  
• Glossary of Terms: If you’re not familiar with historical recordings, you might not know what “matrix,” “master,” and “take” refer to. Find out about these, and others, in the Glossary of National Jukebox Terms

• Technology: It took a team of people – and a lot of technology – to digitize these recordings and make them available to play online. For a look at what was involved, see The Making of the National Jukebox.

• Victrola Book of the Opera: The Victor Talking Machine Company published this book to help sell recordings. It summarizes the plots of well-known operas, lists the most popular vocal and instrumental selections from each, and includes photographs of performers in costume. We’ve digitized the complete 1919 edition of this book and linked to the recordings, so you can listen in context and compare different performances of the same work. See the Victrola Book of the Opera

See Also: Great Background About the Preservation of Sound Recordings at LC’s Mt. Pony Location: “Library of Congress Builds the Record Collection Of the Century”

Source: @librarycongress, National Jukebox Website

Filed under: Libraries, News, Preservation