[ARSCLIST] More on cataloging

[Karl Miller <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As I continue researching alternatives to MARC, I came across an article
from the 7 August 2005 NY Times. I quote a portion of it below.

While I realize that the 1.9 Million catalog entries for recordings in OCLC are
not limited to individual song titles, and that the points of access are
limited in the commercial databases, when I read this quote below, it did
give me food for thought...perhaps comparing apples and oranges (pun intended)...

 "If it comes to that, they'll find
that a lot has changed in the online music business since Apple
opened its wildly successful buck-a-song iTunes Music
Store in 2003. In that time, Apple's catalog has grown
from 200,000 songs to nearly 1.5 million, Apple has
sold half a billion songs and it has been joined by
similar stores run by Microsoft, Yahoo, Sony, Real
Networks, MusicMatch, Dell and even Wal-Mart."

My guess is that people are able to find what they want, and it took
the for-profit sector less than 2 years to create a database of 1.5
million records, when it has taken OCLC 40 years to create a database of
1.9 million catalog records for sound recordings. I wonder, what am I
missing in this comparison...besides the fact that I would guess the various
labels are supplying their own information, information which is created
digitally (40 years ago I would wager all record companies
were probably using typewriters), hence a great deal of information in the
early years did not exist in any digital form, hence the time required to
enter that information, which would require more time to get information
in the database...yet the information created by the
companies these days could possibly be shared by OCLC/RLIN or whatever, a
notion which several have suggested is not viable...that the information
in the commerical databases is not subject to authority control...etc.
Further, iTunes is not describing an object...

However, I would assume people are able to find what they want.

What else am I missing in my admittedly flawed, but for me (and I hope
others), thought provoking comparison?

Thoughts on the subject are most welcome.

Karl