NetMusic: Your Guide to Rock and More on the Internet and Online Services

Abstract

NetMusic: Your Guide to Rock and More on the Internet and Online Services. By Ben Greenman. (Net Books.) New York: Random House Electronic Publishing and Michael Wolff & Company, 1995. [xii, 393 p. ISBN 0-679-76385-6. $19.00.] Bookstore shelves overflow with volumes from publishing's most recent growth industry: the computer and its associated technologies. One can discover how to get the best from the most recent hardware platform or the latest version of software. Increasingly, this shelf space is devoted to books on the Internet and other online services such as America Online. CompuServe, or Prodigy. Specialization exists within this subgenre of computer books and these subject specific volumes lead to corners of cyberspace devoted to taxes, travel, or Star Trek. Music, long a popular topic of discussion groups, e-mail lists, and Web sites, has not been ignored by publishers. In addition to NetMusic: Your Guide to Rock and More on the Internet and Online Services, readers may choose from books such as Ted Gurley, Plug In: Guide to Music on the Net (Upper Saddle River. N.J.: Prentice Hall. 1996) or Brad Hill, Virtual Musician: A Complete Guide to Online Resources and Services (New York: Schirmer Books, 1996). These volumes offer an alternative to simply getting online and exploring, an option available only to those with unlimited time and free computer resources. Moreover, many of us, still slightly distrustful of the Net and doubtful of our own capability to navigate in cyberspace, will draw comfort and confidence from having the physical book as a guide. NetMusic opens with Frequently Asked Questions about the Net, addressing basic issues of connectivity and the types of activities that take place on the Internet and other online services. main body of the volume is divided into six sections: Overture (general music resources, including reference works, magazines, charts, radio stations, and stores); Fandom (lyrics, memorabilia, concerts and festivals, bootleg recordings); Artist Guide: Complete A--Z Encyclopedia of Pop Stars (comprising a majority of the entries); Genres; The Musk Industry (music business, managers, agents, studios, and record labels); and, Musicians Only (instruments, MIDI, education, and therapy). Each entry is annotated with a description of the site and complete address information. Well-chosen photographs taken directly from the Net enliven the text and spur the reader to go online and see more. …