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About Me

last updated-3/1, 6:30 PM

Mp3

What is an MP3?

Mp3 stands for Moving Picture Experts Group Layer 3(I think). MPEG layer 3 is a compressed audio format that greatly reduces file size with very little loss in the quality of the sound.

Playing an MP3

There are a couple of different applications out there for playing MP3's depending on your operating system. For Windows 9x, the only one I would recommend is WINamp. There is also a DOSamp. For Apple users there is MACamp. I think there is one for linux/unix called MPEG3play, although I have never seen it. I use winamp, with a Quake skin. A skin is just a graphics package that replaces the ordinary colors and display of winamp.

Creating MP3s

First thing, you have to get your data into a .wav or .aiff format. If your music is on CD, you have to use some kind of CD ripping program such as: WINDAC (Digital Audio Copier). There are many programs that will do this. Next, you need a program called an encoder to compress the file into MP3 format. A good one that I use is Audiograbber. Again, You can find these about anywhere.

Other

I should state that MP3s are controversial and can be illegal. For instance, I purchased a Panasonic CD burner sometime during Christmas. If I wanted to, I could download full albums off the net, use a program called Adaptec Easy CD Creator, and make my own CD's without having to pay for anything except the cost of a blank CD. Just the fact that MP3s are so close to CD quality sound that if you download one, you have to delete it from your hard drive within 24 hours. I don't know that anyone really enforces these things, so I guess it all depends on your ethics and beliefs about piracy..