If you're tired of listening to the same old CDs over and over again, it may be time for you to become part of the latest cultural phenomenon on the Internet: MP3. Join the more than 1 million visitors at sites such as MP3.com and Emusic.com who are downloading and listening to music each day.



Compression Power

MP3 is short for Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) Audio Layer 3. This file format compresses audio to one-twelfth its original size, while still providing CD-quality sound. It achieves this compression by removing sound outside the spectrum humans can hear.

You can create MP3 files at different quality levels that result in different compression rates, but typical CD-quality compression is 10-to-1, and a three-minute rock song at this compression quality is about three megabytes (MB) in size. This means these files are easy to download, and they won't take up much space on your hard drive.

Once you download the files to your PC, you can easily listen to them on your personal computer or a portable MP3 player as long as you have the appropriate software. In addition, you can convert MP3 files into a file format you can write to a CD using a writeable CD-ROM drive, so you can play your new music at the office or in the car.



Jailhouse Rock

Even though MP3 is probably the best thing to happen to music since CDs; it's not quite ready to go mainstream. One reason is that most of the music uploaded to the Web is illegal. Even if you legally create an MP3 file for your own use, it is definitely illegal to upload it to a Web site or a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site. It is also a violation of copyright law to download an MP3 file if you have not already purchased it.

The fight over what individual listeners do with MP3 files is just the beginning. An epic battle began earlier this year between MP3.com, one of the top MP3 sites on the Internet, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA; http://www.riaa.com), which is a trade group for the recorded-music industry. It started when MP3.com released Beam-it, a feature on its Web site that allows users to listen to their CDs online. Because of this, RIAA sued MP3.com for copyright violations. Then MP3.com filed a counter suit against RIAA, claiming unfair business practices on the part of the trade group.

Although the music industry bemoans illegal copying of music using MP3 compression, not all uses of MP3 are illegal. It is certainly legal to take songs you own and transfer them to MP3 for your own use. In addition, many people feel it is legal to download an MP3 file, rather than converting it yourself, if you purchased the song on another media. It is also legal to download MP3 files that the group or other copyright holder posted for downloading.

In the future, however, major labels will get in the groove with MP3 and digital music downloads, as well. In fact, by 2004, consumers will download 25% of the music they purchase online, according to Forrester Research, a leading technology research firm. Trauma Records (http://www.traumarecords.com), for example, already has released some songs from its artists in the MP3 format. You can even find free songs from Bush on the Trauma Web site and on Emusic.com (http://www.emusic.com).

Emusic.com is also showing us a glimpse of the future. It is a unique site because it licenses music from established labels and then sells the music on its Web site. (You can find a few free songs here, but most of these are well-know tunes that will cost you some money.) It has 75,000 tracks for sale, including downloadable songs from artists such as Patsy Cline, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, the Mighty Mighty Boss-tones, and the Goo Goo Dolls. Whole albums cost $8.99 to download; singles cost 99 cents.



Online Jams

For now, MP3 allows both artists and listeners to completely bypass the established music industry. This is why many new and unknown bands are using MP3 and the Web to post their music and build an audience. Listeners can download legal and illegal (pirated) songs without paying for them, making MP3 an easy way for listeners to test new bands. All this makes MP3 a major force in the music field.

In most musical areas, many popular songs are available for downloading on the Web. However, you will not find every song or even most songs. And the popular songs you do find for free were probably posted
illegally.

R CLEAR=ALL> You can easily play your favorite MP3 files while you are on the go with portable players such as the Diamond Rio 500.

File Creation

If you can't find a legal download, you can still create your own MP3 files for your enjoyment. The process of converting a song to an MP3 file is called ripping. Ripping is actually a two-step process. First, you must convert the song to an uncompressed WAV file. Next, you must compress (encode) the WAV file into an MP3 file. This used to require two separate programs, but now most programs, known as rippers, automate the process. You insert the CD, start the ripper program, click the songs to rip, and then go do something else while the software handles the work. When you come back, your MP3 files are ready.

(NOTE: If you use your computer for other tasks while ripping, the resulting MP3 file will probably have pops and clicks anywhere the computer was unable to keep up. These are difficult to correct, so you should do your ripping when you do not need the computer for anything else.)

You can rip any song or other audio source you can get into your computer. So, with the proper connections, you can rip records, cassettes, or even songs from the television.



Playback

Playing an MP3 file on your computer requires a sound card to convert the digital MP3 file to an analog file. It also requires the undivided attention of your computer. Start another program or do something computationally intensive, and the music will stop while the computer catches up.

The standard Windows Media Player will play MP3 files, but it lacks the features of more advanced players. Three of the best MP3 players are Winamp, Jukebox, and RealJukebox.

Nullsoft's Winamp (http://www.winamp.com) is a free download and has been the player of choice among the MP3 community. Winamp is a great player, but it does not rip. If you want to create your own MP3 files, you will need one of the other programs.

Both MusicMatch's Jukebox (http://www.musicmatch.com) and Real-Networks' RealJukebox (http://www.realaudio.com) are shareware programs that play and rip MP3 files. The free versions of both will rip an unlimited number of songs at near-CD quality. For both, CD-quality ripping requires a $30 upgrade to the registered version.

Portable players. You can also play MP3 files on portable MP3 players such as the Dia-mond Rio 500 (http://www.diamondmm.com). The Rio 500 starts at $269.95 and holds between one and two hours of music, depending on the level
of compression of the files. It has a sleek design and is about the size of a deck of cards. It uses Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology to quickly transfer files from your computer. (USB is the only supported transfer method.) The transfer software is a little quirky, but you quickly get used to it. The software also requires Windows 98. Because it has no moving parts, the Rio 500 never skips and can run for 10 hours or more on a single AA battery. Its controls are clearly configured and easy to use. It is a great way to play music on the go.



Finding Music

There are three main ways to get music from the Internet: the Web, FTP, and Napster.

The Web. MP3.com (http://www.mp3.com) has the largest collection of free and legally downloadable MP3 files. They are broken down into a variety of categories. The site also has links for downloading most MP3 software. Other useful sites for downloading legal MP3 files include Dimension Music (http://www.dmusic.com), Songs.com (http://www.songs.com), and Listen.com (http://www.listen.com). Stick with major sites such as these if you want to make sure your downloads are legal.

FTP. Most MP3 files are on FTP sites run by individuals off of their home computers. You search for the songs on the FTP sites using a Web-based search engine, but then you switch to an FTP program to download the songs. The best search engine is Audiogalaxy (http://www.audiogalaxy.com). You should also check out 2look4.com (http://www.2look4.com) and Media Leech (http://medialeech.m4d.com).

Once you find an FTP site, log on using an FTP program to download MP3 files. Windows includes a simple FTP program, but most users prefer a more sophisticated program. The most popular one is Global-SCAPE's CuteFTP shareware ($39.95 to register; http://www.cuteftp.com). CuteFTP uses a point-and-click interface similar to Windows Explorer that makes uploading and downloading a breeze.

FTP sites fall into one of three categories: leech, ratio, and banner. A leech site allows you to download MP3 files without doing anything first. A ratio site requires you to upload MP3 files before downloading. A ratio of 5:1, for example, would let you download five files for each one you upload. (Some sites base their ratios on bytes rather than files.) Most ratio sites do not remember your credits between sessions, so you must do all your uploading and downloading at once. A program, such as CuteFTP, that allows you to queue file transfers is a big help.

Banner sites require you to go to a specified Web page and click a series of banner ads to collect the terms you will need for the user ID and password. These banner ads are usually for pornographic sites. Many search engines have started banning these sites, and they are best avoided.

Napster. Napster (http://www.napster.com) is a special MP3 community and FTP program. When you start Napster, you connect to thousands of other Napster users. Each Napster user chooses what MP3 files they will share with the community. You can search the files of the community and download any file you find. When it works, Napster is one of the better ways to download popular pirate MP3 files. However, its servers are frequently down, and Napster lacks much in-depth coverage of less-popular songs.



Fixing MP3 Files

It is common for downloaded MP3 files to play too fast. This happens when you download them as text rather than binary code. This causes returns to be added to each line. A small and free utility called Uncook95 (http://watson2.cs.binghamton.edu/~jtesorie/uncook/uncook.html
) will fix this.

Users commonly want a utility that will level the volume at which MP3 files play. Other than Uncook95, utilities do not edit MP3 files. You must convert the MP3 files back to WAV files before you can edit them (and then recompress them back into MP3 files). This process degenerates the music, so most users do not try to edit MP3 files.



Get Your MP3

MP3 is a terrific way to play music on your computer and on the go using a player such as the Rio 500. Things will only improve as more groups sell or give away their material in MP3 format. Until then, it is important that all MP3 users honor the copyrights for the music they play.

by Ronny Richardson