Customer Reviews

Virtual Music: How the Web Got Wired for Sound

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

William Duckworth's Virtual Music could have been featured in our Computer Corner area but is reviewed here for its strong study of how music came to the Web as a blend of interactive sound bytes, and how it moved into cell phones and now iTunes. This history covers everything from file sharing and the creation of one of the first interactive works of music and art on the web by composer/musician Duckworth to the possibilities of nanotechnology and controversial new musics developing in the online world only. An intriguing survey of the science and music's of sound in a new environment.

Virtual Music is a solid primer, an introduction really, to how music came to be put on the web as a discrete medium. He begins with a brief history of the development of the type of ideas needed to make the conceptual leap to technology, then describes how particular artists, including himself, made music that is specifically for the medium of the web. The accompanying CD has examples of all the music discussed.

What the book is not, however, is any kind of set of instructions for how to make music for the web. Duckworth is very specific in not touching on this topic - that's up to the musician. That's not a fault, but a focus. However, the book is rather thin, there is much more history to describe, and much more discussion about each topic. The writing is serviceable, nothing more. This is an important part of contemporary music history, and Virtual Music competently lays the foundation for filling that gap.