Perhaps this needs a thread subtitle of "Libraries under deluge." It looks like this bogus "settlement" has allowed all of these record companies to dump their unwanted overstocked CDs, free up warehouse space, and consider the unloading of this junk of libraries around the nation as some sort of payment. Give me a break! I heard an interview with someone in the Seattle or King County Public Library (Washington State) saying they were simply putting these things out for the public so anyone who wanted could buy any of this oddball collection. So the record industry went from consipiring to set minimum prices to unloading unwanted goods on the unsuspecting public and marking their accounts "paid." Looks like the record industry is still calling the shots.

What a crock.

Libraries getting CDs, but contents a mystery

By Paul Bourgeois, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Public libraries, schools and other agencies statewide will soon receive 409,000 compact discs in a lawsuit settlement against record companies. But it's anyone's guess what kind of music will be on the CDs. Kansas, for example, received 51,000 CDs, but the stash included 600 copies of a CD with one song -- Whitney Houston's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.

"We don't know what we're going to get, but we have seen reports about some libraries getting a zillion copies of the same CD," said Deborah Littrell, state director of library development.

Texas is expected to receive a list of its CDs in a few days, and distribution could begin within a month, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott. Of the state's allocation, 74 percent will be turned over to the Texas Education Agency to be distributed among schools, and 22.6 percent will go to the Texas Library Board to be dispersed among libraries. The remainder will be sent to agencies such as Boys and Girls Clubs.

The settlement came out of an antitrust lawsuit that accused major record companies and large music retailers of conspiring to set minimum music prices.

SRS