It’s been floating around the blogotwitfaceosphere since Monday, but only really had a look now at the John Peel’s Record Collection site. Love the videos and photos, and small peek into his amazing collection. I hope at some point they allow access to the entire archive as a database, I’m sure some really good uses that could be put to (even if the site just goes and finds tracks off YouTube that would be good).
The downside is obvious – I think fans (well myself, extrapolated 
hoped to be able to look through the whole collection, although obviously lack of funds means that’s quite a big ask (BBC? Hello?). Also the lack of info about sessions and shows – it’s rather incomplete, for that I’d suggest the John Peel Wiki, which also has full shows that were lovingly taped by fans back in the day.
The lack of complete Peel shows reminds me – I wonder if with all the frequency/bandwidth that the BBC et al now has with the switchover, will they start nichecasting – ie. creating small stations about one subject or show, with maybe subscription basis. I think a good one to start with would be John Peel – I could imagine a station made up just of John Peel shows from different eras, I’d subscribe, and I think a lot of people would. Really the future isn’t a few main channels, or making them all 3D/HD, the idea of a monoculture is dead – it’s a lot of niche digital subscription channels serving everyone.
Oh and if you’re interested in his record collection and John Peel in general, and his famous ‘star’ system, watch this documentary for his 60th birthday where he explains it:
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