RR 2014/233 Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped Our Culture

摘要

This is another example of a publisher offering both print and e-book formats for its catalogue of information resources. This particular title has one of the longest subtitles I have ever seen; I guess that it is supposed to make it stand out from other resources that discuss music in the USA. In print, this reference work comprises four volumes; the e-book format, as here reviewed, provides the same. It is obvious that the proofs for this work (and most likely all other offerings) are linked up online, meaning that the power of technology is only meant to provide an online version of the print. No attempt has been made to get rid of the four indices for each of the volumes and provide one overall index, and no attempt has been made to provide video or interactive media content that is more suited to online access rather than one-dimensional print. Why is there such a thing as "volumes" with electronic resources?