A year after the bestselling 'The Cult of Mac', by Leander Kahney, his latest book 'The Cult of iPod' looks set to be just as much of a Christmas bestseller. Published by No Starch Press, the book takes an affectionate look at the ways in which Apple's iconic portable player has changed music, culture and listening behaviour for fans around the world. Kahney, who is also the news editor of 'Wired', traces the exclusive back story of the iPod's development and also looks at the some of the quirkier aspects of iPod culture.

Prior to the iPod, what we listened to at home, or on our Walkmans or CD players was a much more limited (certainly in terms of capacity) and generally private affair. Judgements on your musical taste could only really be made by those permitted access to your personal music collection, and they were generally trusted friends or visitors. But now that iTunes allows us to share our vast collections of music over a network, people's personal taste is far more open to scrutiny, and not all of it is necessarily going to be positive, as Kahney playfully reminds us. Pointing out the extent to which our taste in music (or lack of) is now being exposed in shops, cafes, homes, at parties, and even - horror - in the workplace, he draws our attention to new iPod related phenomena - 'Playlistism', 'Playlist Anxiety' and 'Playlist Pruning.'

Playlistism is a new kind of musical snobbery. Some music snobs, he suggests, like to amuse themselves by laughing at other people's collections. Playlist Anxiety is, of course, a related issue. So, while we might be thrilled initially at the possibility of uploading a lifetime of personal musical treasures onto our new, beautifully designed players, in order to avoid Playlist Anxiety we should perhaps also consider carefully guarding our collections from prying eyes - or ears.

And for those of us who do succumb to peer pressure and agree to share our music collection with work colleagues, how many can honestly say that they haven't 'pruned', or been tempted to prune, their collection prior to a workplace 'airing'? Not many, perhaps. Kahney suggests that some people are so preoccupied with their image that they actually groom their collections to present themselves in the best light. He supports this with reference to office workers in California, saying, "Researchers in Palo Alto recently studied office workers and found many were anxious abut their image as revealed by their music library - and managed it appropriately."

The entertaining subject of musical snobbery and the effect it is having on iPod fans, however, forms just one part of Kahney's fascination with all things iPod. In the book he also covers the booming industry of iPod related accessories and add-ons, such as iPod skin designs, (one of which features a weiner-riding dominatrix), the growth of MPJs (ordinary people using their iPods to become DJs), Podjacking (users plugging into each other's iPods to discover new music), 'Podcasting' and even 'Godcasting.' 

Stylishly designed and well laid out, with a striking cover image and great four-colour photos, if you're stuck for ideas for Christmas presents for an iPod-owning loved one, Kahney's 'The Cult of the iPod' may well be the answer.

For more information on on other titles published by No Starch Press, who describe themselves as 'the finest in Geek entertainment', click here.

Alternatively, to buy the book on Amazon, click to the left.