Music on the Net

MP3 actually stands for MPEG 1, layer 3. MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) is a standard for motion picture technology on the web, while 3 stands for layer 3 of that standard, or the audio layer.

This standard is unique because it gives CD-quality sound in a file that only requires about 1 megabyte for every minute of sound (compared to the format used on CD's for recording that requires about 11 megs for every minute). This means, if you make your own CD's, you can get 10-11 hours of music on a single CD, versus the normal 60 minutes. It also means, most importantly to the music industry, that such high-quality sounds can be downloaded much more easily from the net. Along with the actual music, MP3 files frequently contain other items such as text (notes, lyrics, biographical info), pictures (perhaps of the album cover), and even opportunities to buy the full CD. Many search engines list MP3 as one of the top topics used for searching. MP3 is truly revolutionizing the way music careers are made and music is distributed and sold.

What Do You Need?

	Hardware - A CD-ROM drive, 16-bit sound card, speakers or headphones, Pentium 90 for playing, or 133 for recording, 16 megs of ram, Win 95 or 98; on a Mac you'll need a 68020 or Power Mac, System 7.5, Apple's Sound Manager 3.1, a CD-ROM drive, and external speakers or headphones.
	A player - we'll use MusicMatch today, a shareware program available on the net (link listed below). You can start by just using the Windows Media Player that comes with Windows 95/98 if you have the multimedia components installed, but MusicMatch is a much more versatile player, including many other features as listed below. Winamp is another popular player, and MusicMatch can use Winamp as its player, if you wish it to.
	A playlist editor - also available in MusicMatch, MP3 Explorer for Windows or Trax for Macintosh are standalone playlist editors.
	A ripper and an encoder (optional) - if you wish to create your own MP3 files, a ripper removes the music from the commercial CD and the encoder turns the ripped files into MP3 files. Again, MusicMatch does both analog and digital rip and encoding. (See below for discussion of the legality of this method.)
	Music - you can download lots of music off the net (see links below), or you can record from your own CD's, tapes, or even vinyl (records, for you youngsters), or you can even record your own musical talents!

Freeware, Shareware, and Piracy!

The MusicMatch software and others are freeware or shareware. Freeware is just that--free. It is written by someone with talent who then makes his/her product available for free on the net. Shareware is an opportunity to test drive the software for free, but after a designated period you are asked to license the software for a fee. For instance, MusicMatch registration costs $29.95, and you get "lifetime upgrades." The download program is limited in several ways--for instance, you can only rip 5 tracks and you can't convert existing WAV files to MP3 format with the unregistered version.

You should concern yourself with issues of copyright if you download music from the net or even record it yourself. If someone creates an MP3 file of a song and posts it to the Internet without permission of the owner, they have committed a federal copyright law violation and a violation of the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997, which makes it a felony. Even without financial gain, the potential penalties are up to 3 years in jail and $250,000 in fines. Most MP3 sites have become pretty legitimate in the last year, due to the extensive oversight of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The legality of creating MP3 files from CDs at home is still under question. The Supreme Court has ruled that creating videos at home for purely personal use is okay, but there is no opinion yet rendered on CD music. In the 1970's there was a similar issue regarding recording from records to cassette records, but this is a much larger issue, because of speed and sound quality issues. The bottomline--it is legal to record your CD's to tapes, but apparently not to MP3, until this issue is clarified and fully addressed by our legal system/Supreme Court.

Software Download Sites

MusicMatch Home Page
The site to download a trial version of MusicMatch.

Music Source Sites

MP3.Com
This is the major site for downloading MP3 files. It's very extensive, with a section for beginners, all kinds of resources, Top 40 and Bottom 40, lots of other fun stuff.

Songs.com
This site features MP3 files, but is also a promotional venue for artists themselves. Search by name, category, and other criteria, just as on MP3.com

Dimension Music
This site focuses on providing artist support, but also showcases popular bands and maintains a large library of MP3 files for download.

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