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MP3 is the short name (and the file extension)
for a
file type which is actually called MPEG ("Motion Picture
Expert Group") Layer 3. MP3 files are popular because
they allow the encoding of high-quality media with high
compression. They are most commonly near-CD-
quality sound files, usually full-length songs.
Of course, relatively small files of high
quality sound
are ideal for the transfer of music on the Internet.
In fact, MP3s have already become the standard
for this purpose. I believe that we are witnessing
the dawn of a revolution of digital music. As MP3s
become more widely available, and as memory and
other storage media become less expensive, it makes
sense to assume that digital music will become a less
tangible, more fluid commodity which may very well
even threaten the compact disc.
I started getting into MP3s in May of 1999.
I was
immediately amazed by the vast availability of songs
on the Internet. I downloaded a player for them and
a piece of software known as a ripper which reads
audio tracks from CDs and encodes
them into MP3
format. I was very happy with the beginnings of my
collection, but there was one big problem. I could
only listen to these songs on the computer. My
computer isn't exactly portable. I though it would
be perfect if only I could take these songs with me
wherever I go. Well, guess what I found...
This is Diamond Multimedia's
Rio PMP300, and it's
exactly what I needed! Unlike a CD player, the Rio
can't skip because it has no moving parts since it
stores the music in flash
memory. With all the
functionality of a CD player, including repeat, random,
and equaliser presets (Normal, Rock, Jazz, and
Classical), it has everything I need to listen to my
tunes on the go. All this in a unit only about the
size of a deck of playing cards which takes just
one AA battery.
So now, I can get MP3s either from the
Internet
or from my own CDs and painlessly transfer them via
parallel cable to my Rio. My biggest complaint is that
the Rio comes with only 32 Mb of internal flash memory.
Although MP3s can be encoded with less quality to
save space, I'm not satisfied with anything less than
128 kbps, meaning that I can usually fit only nine
songs on it. I was tempted to buy one or two extra
flash cards, but the cost just isn't worth getting a
few more songs in there.
To learn more about MP3s and to get everything
you
need to start getting them and listening to them,
I recommend that you visit MP3now.
This is a great
site for everyone interested in MP3s, from the
uninitiated to the expert. You'll even find a list of
MP3 search engines should you want to start looking.
To find a specific song, I suggest you try one of two
methods. Search using AudioGalaxy
which has an
excellent interface that shows you where you will find
your song along with that site's speed and reliability.
You can copy and paste the address into your FTP
client. Alternatively, you can find MP3s on IRC.
Try joining a channel with "MP3" in the name and type
@find whatever or @locator whatever (where
whatever is a word or phrase in the artist or title
of the song). Sooner or later, a bot (or a few bots)
should automatically message you with your search
results and a string for you to copy into the channel
to initiate a transfer, provided that there's an available
"slot". It sounds complicated, but you'll get the hang
of it. It's often the best way to get the song
you're looking for.
