I PAGLIACCI FOR THE iPOD SET.

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Author: Beucke, DanLehman, Paula

NET EFFECTS

Beethoven may soon find himself in the iPod Shuffle mix beside 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas. On Sept. 7 the largest independent U.S. distributor of classical music, Naxos of America, plans to sign a deal to allow the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) to digitize Naxos' 70,000-track catalog of symphonies and operas, making hard-to-find files accessible to more Internet consumers.

Naxos already has deals to sell music through iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody. However, the complexity and length of classical pieces means that fitting a lengthy Mahler symphony into one audio file is like "trying to fit a basketball through a garden hose," says Naxos President Jim Sturgeon. "There are just too many movements to download it the way you would a five-minute pop song."

New software will digitize Naxos' tracks more efficiently so that pieces can be found by artist, title, and genre. That is how listeners search the music networks, where classical tunes now account for as little as 2% of the available downloads.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Copyright 2005

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By Paula Lehman

Edited By Dan Beucke