Turn Up Your Collections
September 23, 2005

Trade book publishers are finally jumping on the iPod bandwagon with playlist books. These suggest songs for any mood or occasion organized by musical genre, performer, or theme, like reader's advisory for the music set. At BEA, Simon & Schuster was pushing The Pocket DJ (October) by Sarah Lewitinn, a onetime music writer at SPIN and now a DJ who goes by the name Ultragrrrl. In addition to the usual organizations, her book boasts celebrity lists by the likes of DJ Junior Sanchez and novelist Mark Spitz.

To music snobs, a book like this may seem insulting and pointless--they don't need anyone to serve them up the best of Blondie!--but to those acquainting themselves with the iPod and getting back in touch with popular culture, it could be immensely helpful. Libraries with the funds would do well to order one or two playlist books, but playlists live in existing sources--try the "Music Maps" in the All Music Guides published by Backbeat and the "Moods," "Similar Artists," and "Followers" headings in artist biographies on the truly excellent (and free--all you need to do is register for an account) allmusic.com. Hell, why not hold an ultimate playlist contest to plug these versatile resources? Silence may be the best soundtrack for reading, but your library needs to tune into the iPod generation, especially with the recent release of the pencil-thin Nano model.--Heather McCormack

Posted by on September 23, 2005 | Comments (0)