MP3s: How to Make & Listen to Them
MP3, or MPEG level 3, is a compression program that squeezes the audio information of a song by about 90%. This makes it possible to archive 100-150 songs on a CD instead of 12-20. This also makes it possible to upload and download songs to and from the internet in one-tenth the time it would take otherwise. Song files end up being about 1 megabyte per minute of recording time. Depending on your modem speed, transferring a song can take between 5 and 20 minutes.
There is a lot of debate about the sound quality of MP3, which claims to only remove sound information that the human ear cannot discern. In my judgment, unless you are an audiophile, the losses are not very noticeable.
Most people will only need an MP3 player. Fortunately, there's a lot of free easy-to-use software that can be gotten with a few clicks. Windows users can now get the popular, multi-featured WinAmp for free. If you're a Mac user, your choices are more limited, but SoundApp, developed at Stanford, offers a good basic player for free. For other players, check my page of MP3 netlinks.
Using an MP3 player is refreshingly simple. You open song files the same way you'd open any file, and a simple CD-player display pops up (or can be selected from the menu). If you want to get fancy, some players offer a variety of customized "skins" for a designer-look interface. Go knock yourself out.
Musician/songwriters and technophile listeners will also want to find an MP3 encoder to create MP3 files from audio tracks on CDs. Since most studios these days have a CD-burner on the premises, musicians can save a mix directly to CD, stick it in a CD-drive at home, run it through an encoder and upload it the same night (actually, it'll be morning, at this point). Listeners can create MP3 files to store on their hard-drives or, with a CD burner, put up to 150 of them onto a single CD.
Encoding an audio track is actually a two step process. First a song has to be "ripped" from a CD - that is the Audio CD track has to be changed into a WAV or AIFF sound file. Once the song has been turned into a file (beware: a song file is typically 10 Megabytes per minute!) it can be encoded into the compressed MP3 format.
Commercial encoders like Sound Jam and WinAmp do both at once, saving you time and disc space. To use an encoder, simply use the program's dialog box to open a CD and choose the tracks - then select encode. There are several encoding options - mono/stereo, 64bit/128bit - but the usual default (128 bit stereo, 44.1 Mhz) is best for uploading to commercial sites. In any case, the ReadMe manuals tend to be very good.
Independently created freeware exists for both PCs and Macs, but you have to use two programs, one to rip the CD and the other to encode it into MP3. If you have QuickTime 4 and Simple text (both are standard with recent Macs), the ripping is easy: Just insert your music CD, launch Simple Text, choose "Open" and navigate to the CD track you want to rip. Then choose "Convert." Once you've created the sound file, you can encode it - then throw the huge sound file in the trash.
If you're a Windows user, check the software page at mp3.com. If you're a Mac User, again, your choices are more limited. Kyle De Graaf's page is an excellent resource for MP3 news - as is David Bradbury's page of Mac encoder reviews.
There are tons of sites around the internet where artists and labels have put up MP3s for free downloading - I've listed some of these folk sites at my MP3 links page. Most commercial sites offer just a few featured tracks intended to lure you into buying the CDs. However, some sites see the downloading of free MP3s as a way to transform the way music is made and distributed, and this subversive activity is the main attraction. The most popular of these is (no surprise) mp3.com. Since anyone can upload songs to their server, it's a festering underground of mediocrity, alternative-styled midi-noise, bad taste and worse. But there are also some wonderful things there, as more and more artists take advantage of its features. Artists get their own customizable webpage on which to publish a band bio, a picture and contact information. Also, with every song, artists can upload an album cover, lyrics and liner notes.
Browsing by artist is not very effective here, since - with rare exceptions - most commercial folkies you've heard of don't put their work here yet. Instead, I suggest searching by genre. For some interesting browsing, try world folk, world music, or folk rock. There are also some interesting things under satire and political humor. The top 40 under world/folk currently includes a whole set of traditional ballads like "John Henry," "Fenario" and "Old Paint" performed by Roger McGuinn and contemporary world tracks by the Palestinian group Women of Sodom (in Arabic).
Most songs you find on mp3.com offer full-length soundclips that you can listen to with Real Audio before taking the time to download them. Other bands post one or more sample songs that you can listen to or download and then offer complete collections on what are called DAM CDs. What happens is, you order the CD, mp3.com burns it for you and sends it. These CDs contain a) sound files so you can play it on an ordinary CD player, b) MP3 files, and c) special player software that plays the MP3s and shows all uploaded photos, lyrics. There's even a button to take you directly to the artist's website if you're online.
Prices for DAM CDs range from $5-12 per CD, which the site splits 50/50 with the artist. Shipping and handling charges have come down to $2.50 for regular mail. Depending on the quality of recording and graphics uploaded by the bands, the whole package can be surprisingly professional. I'm was very pleased with mine.
For more software and music sites, see my MP3 netlinks page. For more information on MP3 technology and software, see Kyle De Graaf's excellent page or check out http://members.home.net/pchan/mp3.htm.
As always, if you find anything of interest, please drop me a line.
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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