This work is a handy desk reference for academic and public library music reference collections as well as teachers, musicians, and composers. The more than 250 books discussed represent a core bibliography on this late 20th-century phenomenon that is very much in transition as the concepts of electronic and computer merge into a single music, whether acoustic or electronic in origin. Of special interest is an up-to-date listing of on-line sources found on the Internet, including World Wide Web sites and electronic discussion lists.

Topics represented include history, literature on synthesis and synthesizers, electronic music instruments and devices, electronic music composition, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), the teaching of computer and electronic music, bibliographies and dictionaries. Covered by way of appendices are major dissertations and theses, lists of periodicals that have dealt with the subject, and a compilation of electronic music instrument and device system manuals currently in print.