Okay, so you’ve come here because you’re
curious about this .mp3 craze, right? You’ve
heard that somehow you can download almost cd-quality
music from the internet, but you’re not sure
how to go about finding it.
Well, let me tell you the
good news: It’s all true, and it really is
easy once you get to know where to look and how
to go about downloading the files.
Out there are all the
timeless classics, jazz greats and easy listening
tunes, country and christian music, comedy
parodies, solid gold 60s and 70s hits, dance
grooves, hard’n’heavy rock, as well as
all the latest chart-toppers you could ever want,
just a mouse click (and of course a 20 minute
download session) away, and best of all…
They are FREE for the taking!!!
There are several ways to
obtain .mp3 music on the internet.
By far the best in terms of
finding a paricular song is Napster, a
stand-alone application that not only plays your
existing .mp3 tunes, but also acts as a file-server
so that other users can locate and download from
your computer any tunes that you might have, and
they want. Similarly, their own music files are
yours for the taking. The software enables you to
specify a minumum bitrate and frequency, and
shows the speed of the connection at the other
end. Songs you desire are "queued" in a
list, and may all be downloaded, two to three at
a time, overnight as you sleep. There is a resume
facility, but the song donor must be back on-line
to do so. The music industry is currently
pursuing legal action against Napster's
developers, and if they succeed then this
valuable source of music will possibly be with us
no longer.
FOR: Huge Variety (a quarter of a million songs
to choose from at peak times); versatility.
AGAINST: Slow download speeds; instability;
Broken connections due to users disconnecting.
Some listed files may be incomplete - check sizes.
Second best method, and far
more reliable even if not as variety-wealthy, is
via an IRC
chat client, the best
of which is mIRC.
From any of the many mp3 channels on either
Efnet, Dalnet or the Undernet, you can find
almost any tune you wish by typing in a find
command, such as @find queen bohemian rhapsody.
Once found, a download command is entered into
the channel window and the file will be retrieved.
FOR: Good variety; Resume facility; Comprehensive
progress windows.
AGAINST: Likelihood of disconnection if transfer
rate falls too low; Interruption by netsplits.
There are also many millions
of .mp3 files on the World Wide Web, though these
are considerably less easy to find. Threats from
the music industry have forced many of the sites
offering copyrighted music (popular chart
material) to close, leaving behind them broken
links and phantom search engine results. Also,
for this very reason, many of the files stored on
the web are disguised as .class, .zip, .viv or .doc
files, and need to be renamed once downloaded. A
download management application such as Getright or
Mozilla is recommended, because with files of
this size, broken connections are inevitable.
FOR: Fair variety; Stability (site always on-line);
Easily searchable.
AGAINST: Broken links; Filename extension
confusion.
Many .mp3 files can be found
on FTP sites. These are best found with a client
like CuteFTP. I
have personally found many popular current and
classic complete music cds on ftp sites. One
downfall with ftp sites though is that many of
them require a password for entry. Furthermore,
most of them work on a ratio basis, meaning that
as well as downloading from the site you must
also upload some of your own. Other ftp sites
feature a large number of .mp3 files, but
membership must first be obtained via the web
before the files can be unzipped.
FOR: Availability of full albums; Stability;
Resume facility in ftp clients.
AGAINST: Difficult to locate specific songs,
Password entry hassles; Imposed ratios on some
sites.
There are search
applications that will seek out the song you are
looking for, or any title by a nominated artist.
Some of these, however, do not inform the user
sufficiently regarding the ratio or membership
status of the sites featuring these files, and
the results can often be less than reliable.
FOR: Wide variety.
AGAINST: As with both web and ftp methods; Many
listed sites actually password-blocked; redundant
links.
In order to play .MP3 files
on your computer, you must first download and
install software to play them on. Some, such as
MusicMatch Jukebox, allow you to edit your own
wavefiles and convert them to mp3 format, while
others are simply specialised music players.
Winamp is the most commonly used mp3 player, and
is both stable and versatile, allowing you to
compile your own playlists and to alter the sound
output with a useful graphic equaliser. It will
also play wave files among many other formats.
CLICK
HERE to download the
latest version of Winamp (a virtual juke-box for
your computer!).
Now we are ready to download
a few MP3 files to play on your newly installed
Winamp player... FOLLOW MEto
the MP3 downloads page...
Call Me Today on:
Mobile: (025) 2686963, or
Waikato callers: (07) 849 4988
Auckland/BOP callers: 0800 TO EMAIL (86 36 24)
to book me for your personal internet tuition
lessons.
