The first 100 records from BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel's vast and varied collection have made their way online, with more to follow in the coming months. As we reported in February, a project backed by the BBC and Arts Council England is digitizing Peel's collection of 25,000 LPs and displaying them here. Every week between today and October 1st, the first hundred titles from each letter will be released, complete with album art and Peel's corresponding catalog card.
Due to copyright issues, you'll only be able to listen to the music if it's on Spotify or a similar service. However, it's fairly amazing to get a look at what one of the most influential musical tastemakers saw fit to put in his collection. The interface isn't the easiest to use, but it does provide a useful browsing (rather than searching) experience akin to actually thumbing through a shelf full of records. We didn't see any of the Peel Sessions live recordings yet; hopefully those will show up before too long.