The Book of Linux Music and Sound

One of Linux's chief attractions has always been the wealth of fun toys available to its users. For people who like to play with wonky software that's emerging from some hacker's brain, the open-source operating system has no peer. Linux Music & Sound explores one of Linux's rougher facets and the software that's emerged to enable audiophiles to combine their interests in sound and Linux. The book is primarily a survey of what's out there, and one might conclude that a careful scan of Linux software archives and some attention to documentation files would reveal most of what Dave Phillips covers in these pages. That's probably true, but Phillips (who includes most of the software he talks about in the book on the companion CD-ROM) has done a service to readers by saving them the trouble of tracking down the information themselves and also providing informed criticism of the software.

Coverage of a given software package--Phillips documents several score of them--typically begins with a data capsule that explains where to go for the latest version and some instructions on how to install it. From there, he explains how to use the program. The form of this coverage varies, for obvious reasons, among the packages he covers. However, it's universally rather deep and reflects his honest understanding of what each program is good for and how it fits with other software. Taken in concert with his instructions on how to set up and configure (in both hardware and software) Linux machines for audio work, this book is a fine resource for Linux users with an interest in sound. --David Wall

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