Column: Gift ideas for that music fan on your list

It's Christmas season, so you're probably frantically trying to round up gifts for everyone you know.

If there's a music guy or gal on your shopping list, they may enjoy some of the things that come across my desk.

Here are my picks for great music-related gift items in case you need some ideas (or in case anyone in my family happens to be reading).

"Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge" by Mark Yarm ($25)

Most people know Nirvana and Pearl Jam and probably Soundgarden, the three enduring acts from the Seattle grunge scene. But you don't know the whole story. Mark Yarm interviewed tons of people that were part of the grunge scene to tell the story from the early days with bands you've never heard of to the legacy of groups such as Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains. This is the best book on music I've read this year.

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Column: Spotify is great, but not perfect

All of the talk you hear about clouds and streams may not be about Mother Nature.

It could also be about music.

Google and Amazon already have cloud music storage services and Apple is following up soon. For those that don't know, they allow you to upload your music to "the cloud" (one of their servers) and then access your music anywhere

Spotify is doing something similar, but you can access any of their 15 million songs, not just the ones that you already own.

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