Mp3 - A Quick Glance

The Benefits of Mp3

Mp3 music is becoming very popular on the web. What makes it so different from all the other formats out there?
There are many benefits to using the Mp3 file format. The first, and greatest is that Mp3 files have a high compression rate. This means the files are very small compared to other formats. For instance an audio .wav file of a CD track might be 30mb +, where an Mp3 file of the same track might total around 3mb. This is great for Internet download times. The quality of Mp3 files are also superior to most other file formats, especially for their compression rate. When compared to other files such as RealAudio the Mp3 is a clear winner. Mp3 files are near CD quality. When compared directly to CDs Mp3 files sound slightly hollow, but compared to other computer formats they sound great.

The Legal Issues Surrounding Mp3s

There are many legal issues surrounding Mp3 files. There has been a lot of media hype, in the real world as well as the net, about the ripping and distribution of bootlegged music. The Internet and the speed of distribution of the music makes it perfect for a black-market.

For example a person might post a couple of their favourite CD tracks they have ripped onto their personal web site. Before the music industry lawyers shut down the web site many people will have downloaded the file. The chances are that at least one or two of these people will post the Mp3 file on their personal sites, and give the file to friends. The speed at which these files move around the net makes it very hard for the law to track, and prevent the spread of these files.

The problem above is made worse by ratio servers that distribute Mp3 files. A ratio server requires a user to upload an Mp3 file in order to gain download credit, for instance for every 1mb uploaded 5mb may be downloaded. This means the person has to distribute in order to receive. Everyone becomes a distributor.

But what makes Mp3 files illegal? The Mp3 format is not illegal, not all Mp3 music files are illegal, but on the web quite a high proportion are.

What you can do legally is create your own Mp3 files from CDs that you own. You can also download a music file of a CD that you don't own for personal use, not distribution, for deletion within 24 hours of being downloaded. You can also create Mp3 files, and distribute them, if you own the rights to the music e.g. it's your music, or you are an official representative of the band who created the music.

What you cannot do is rip your CDs into Mp3 format then publish them for anyone to download. The distribution of music that you do not own the rights to is illegal.

The music industry is taking the Mp3 problem very seriously, it is shutting down sites, it is fining and suing, it is watching. There was a problem for the industry when home tape recorders became popular, many people just copied rather than buying. The Mp3 problem will be worse because more people will have access, and the ability to distribute the music. The Mp3 problem will be thousands of times bigger than the tape problem.

The 9th Of October 1998 saw one of the most controversial aspects of the Mp3 war happen. Diamond Multimedia was due to release its RIO Mp3 player: A Mp3 Walkman. The Recording Industry Association of America had a temporary restraining order placed on the distribution of the RIO.

Diamond MM had done nothing wrong, they had not committed any crimes, and neither did they endorse pirated music. There are millions of legitimate Mp3 files out there, for instance at www.mp3.com. The RIAA argued their case that the RIO did not support SMCS, a standard to prevent the playback of pirated files. Diamond MM argued back that although the RIO could playback pirated files it could not record them, even though there is now a piece of software available that lets people take files from the RIO, making the RIO a distribution tool.

There are many conflicts going to happen over Mp3s, but there are some hopes in the future of Mp3 files…

The Future of Mp3

There is a future for Mp3 files. There are lots of possibilities for the distribution of legitimate Mp3 music on the web bringing benefits to:

• The Consumers
• The Established Artists
• The new and unknown bands

The average consumer will receive great benefits from Mp3 files. This format, as I said earlier, is perfect for distribution on the web. With the growth of e-commerce it will allow a user to surf to an online music store, sample some tracks they have heard of, and for a small fee download these tracks onto their PCs. With the introduction of portable mp3-walkmans, such as the RIO, consumers will also be able to visit their local (real-life) music store and download mp3 files onto their mp3-walkman, or storage device for a small fee.

The reduced production costs in the creation of Mp3 files (no packaging, small distribution costs) will mean music may also become cheaper, and a higher percentage of the earnings going to the artists.

New bands will also be able to take advantage of the Mp3 music scene. They may spend a little money recording some tracks, make them into M3 files and post them on a personal web site, either for a small download fee, or for free to promote their music.

Mp3 music as well as threatening the current industry also offers the possibilities of creating a new industry and distribution model.

How to Use Mp3 Files

Now you have learnt about the legal issues surrounding Mp3 files, the benefits and the drawbacks you'll want to get some Mp3 files.

The first thing that you'll want to get is a program to play your Mp3 files. The most popular for the PC is WinAmp, available from www.winamp.com, it also has a MAC alternative from www.macamp.com. This program allows you to play Mp3 files, set up play lists and also store music information in the file such as artist, year released and music category etc. There are many other options that you can fiddle around with including specifying a 'skin', the appearance of the player. WinAmp is a shareware product; home users should pay $10 dollars for its use after 14 days of use.

Then you'll need to get your hands on some Mp3 files to play. There are two routes you can go here, either illegally: type in the name of the song you want in a popular search engine such as www.hotbot.com and "mp3" and you'll get a list of sites claiming to have the song. One of the greatest problems with getting illegal Mp3 files is that most of the links you will come across are broken as many sites are shut down after a few days. You can take the legal way that is either purchasing Mp3 files, or downloading the free ones from places such as www.mp3.com - a good resource for new artists.

Even though Mp3 files are quite small compared to other media 3-4 meg at a time can be a bit of a strain on a slow modem, and your telephone bill. A useful utility you might want to download is GetRight. This is a download utility which allows you to manage your downloads, you can pause downloads which GetRight can resume the next time you connect to the net. You can download the files in the background every time you connect to the net to do other things. GetRight is available, as shareware, from www.getright.com.

UPDATE: Also available is Go!zilla, another download manager. It is freeware at http://www.gozilla.com. It has a special feature, that is not enabled in the shareware GetRight that allows you to scan web pages for files and automatically add them to your download list.

UPDATE: 26th August 2000 - Documentation for Gnutella - A file sharing application commonly used to distribute mp3 files