Google Book Search - Access Song Books

Subject: Google Book Search - Access Song Books
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 05:50 AM

My son has just discovered Google Book Search and passed on these links to me. He was quite right that I would find Google Book Search very useful and a search in the Mudcat archive tells me that there is no reference to it yet in the Forum and so I am passing his links on. What Google Book Search does is make books with expired copyright accessible on line and this link explains this more fully and explains how to make use of it

HOW IT WORKS

This link is a search that should be interesting to many of us on Mudcat

Sample Search for Folk song English 0-1922

Subject: RE: Google Book Search - Access Song Books
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 07:46 AM

There's a lot of stuff on both Google Books and www.archive.org (I think I've got over 3Gb of downloaded books from these - over 200 titles).

Not unexpectedly (because of copyright), there's a lot of 19th century song and ballad related material, also some earlier collections too. There are a few 20th C (early mostly, but a few up to the 50s seem to have slipped through). (I've also downloaded some jazz-related material from these too).

There have been many references posted in various Mudcat threads to particular titles on both Google Books and Archive (select Text source for books on Archive); I'm surprised you haven't found any references to it. Google is (for me at least) usually faster for downloading. Archive varies a lot; if I download from there in the morning (UK) it's usually not bad. Later in the day it may become too slow to be worthwhile waiting (after the US wakes up I imagine!).

Mick

Subject: RE: Google Book Search - Access Song Books
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 08:51 AM

See these threads:

Google Books: New source of music
Old Scottish songs at Google Book Search
Old Irish songs at Google Book Search
Songbooks: Old English songs at Google Book Search

The Forum search hasn't been working properly for a long time. New threads are not being indexed.

Here are some ways you can sometimes find things at Mudcat that the Forum search misses:

1. Use the thread title filter either on the main forum page
(http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm)
Or on the Discussion Forum Enhanced Search page
(http://www.mudcat.org/forumsearch.cfm)
Where it is called the Full Forum Filter.
(I sure wish this site would use consistent terminology.)

2. If you're searching for a song, try the message subject filter on the Discussion Forum Enhanced Search page.

3. Try a Google search of Mudcat by adding the term "site:mudcat.org" to any Google search. The Google toolbar is very convenient because it does this for you with the click of a button.