July 3, 2011

The National Jukebox from The Library of Congress

Posted by Dr. Laura Guertin

One of the research projects I have with an undergraduate researcher involves embedding audio clips from the Smithsonian Folkways website into Google Earth placemarks (see Teaching World Music with Geospatial Technology).  But a May 2011 article from The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus reports on the new National Jukebox, “the free online music repository features streaming versions of recordings from Victor Talking Machine Co. that were made between 1901 and 1925, a period predating the use of microphones in recording. Sony Music Entertainment provided the music from its catalog. More recordings housed by Sony, from Columbia Records and OKeh, will be added to the jukebox.”

What I have found is that each of these audio files includes an embed code, and I was able to successfully embed these audio clips into Google Earth.  I’m excited, as this now provides more quality music files to include in Google Earth projects.  (example Google Earth file)

The Library of Congress National Jukebox:  http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/

Chronicle article “The Library of Congress Adds a Jukebox”  (article link)