Libraries, being publicly funded institutions, always seem to be one, if not several steps, behind the latest technology. My library, Naperville Public Library, held onto its VHS collection until 3 years ago. (I should note that we thought we were getting in front of the curve by ordering copies of all films in DVD and Blu-Ray format only to see the economy tank and the demand for Blu-Rays flatten). Also, there is the question of new and competing technologies. Remember the VHS/Beta days? I think that libraries prefer to see which way the technological wind is blowing in order to make the best use of the few dollars they have available.
Such is the case at my library. Now that eReaders such as the Nook have caught on we are adding 50 to 100 titles per month to our virtual collection. However there has been little increase or even expressed interest in increasing our virtual music collection. Most patrons seem to realize that aside from some operas and other classical pieces of music, the selection is meager.
With regards to downloading to an iPod from a public library, my library does have a station that allows the downloading of eAudiobooks to an iPod. Music, however, cannot be downloaded. Even if it could be, currently iTunes only allows you to (easily) access songs on the computer to which they were downloaded. In other words, when my laptop died, I lost all the songs I had on my computer and my Shuffle did not allow me to transfer them to my new laptop. So, given these restrictions (which I doubt that Apple will waive for fear of losing revenue), even if a credit card payment device were attached to a public library's download station as my library has at its self-checkout stations, I doubt there would be a great demand for it.
Unless there is a monetary savings for patrons, I don't think that they will be looking for MP3/iTunes downloads through the library.
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