MP3 is the most exciting thing that's happened to music since Les Paul invented the solid-body electric guitar in 1941. By compressing high-quality audio into files small enough to handle easily via computer and transmit via the Internet, MP3 enables you to turn your computer into the ultimate jukebox: store a huge amount of music on a medium-sized hard drive; transfer music files easily over a modem connection; enjoy high-quality music on tiny, skip-proof portable players; publish your own music as soon as you create it; promote your band with little effort and even less money; and more. Guy Hart-Davis, co-author of MP3! I Didn't Know You Could Do That… gives 10 tips to help you get started.

1. Understand what MP3 is and how it works

MP3 is simply a file format for storing compressed audio. Developed by Fraunhofer IIS, MP3 encoding compresses audio by discarding the bits that the ear can't distinguish.

Encoded at a bit rate of 128 kilobits per second (kbps) on a good encoder, MP3 files sound almost as good as CD audio but take up only about a tenth of the space. So where a three-minute CD-audio track takes up about 30MB, an MP3 file of the same track would take up about 3MB. Encoded at lower bit rates, MP3 files sound less good but can provide adequate sound for speech.

To get a CD track into MP3 format, you rip the audio from the CD using an application called a ripper and encode it using an application called an encoder. Many applications integrate ripping and encoding into one step; some also integrate playing and jukebox functions.

MP3 is not a secure format. When you make or get an MP3 file, you can make perfect copies of it using conventional file-management techniques. Various secure audio formats, such as a2b, ATRAC3, Liquid Audio, and MS Audio, are trying to compete with MP3, but they appeal more to record companies and artists than to consumers.

2. Understand the advantages of MP3

For the consumer, MP3 has nothing but advantages: high-quality music that you can easily store and play on your computer, transfer via physical media (CD-ROM discs or removable disks such as Zip, Jaz, or Orb) or the Internet, and take with you on a portable player or a car player.

For the artist, MP3 provides a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to promote their music. By posting tracks to MP3 sites such as Riffage.com and MP3.com, an artist can share their music with a worldwide audience in minutes.

For the record company, MP3 provides an effective promotional format. By posting MP3 files (or other audio files) on its Web site where people can download them at will, a record company can promote its artists far more cheaply and effectively than by paying for air time or store space. That said, most record companies prefer to use secure audio formats for any music they release.

3. Understand the disadvantages of MP3

For the consumer, MP3 has only one disadvantage: a rampaging need for more hard disk space on which to store MP3 files and a faster Internet connection over which to download them.

For the artist, the main disadvantage of MP3 is that consumers can create and circulate unlicensed copies of your music. For these, they get no royalties. In theory, one person could buy a CD and distribute it to everyone else on the Internet. In practice, many people still buy CDs, but some use MP3 to listen to the music first to make sure it's worthwhile.

For the record company, there are three disadvantages: First, the threat of unlicensed copies, just as for the artist. Second, a severely diminished revenue stream--people can get the music without buying it. Third, increasing irrelevance: as artists can publish their own music via the Internet, they may need the record companies less and less.

4. Know the legalities of MP3

You can legally create MP3 files for personal use from any music that you own. For example, if you buy the Flaming Stars' The Peel Sessions on CD, you can legally create MP3 files of the tracks. Personal use means that you use it yourself--you don't give it to someone else, sell it, or rent it.

This works the same way as taping a CD or burning a mix CD. If the result is for your own personal use, it's legal. Give it to a friend, it's illegal; sell it, it's illegal.

If you hold the copyright to a piece of music, you can distribute it however you wish, via MP3 or other formats or media.

5. Get the right hardware

To get going with MP3, you need only a moderately powerful multimedia computer.

For Windows or Linux, aim for a minimum of a 200MHz processor, 32MB RAM (preferably 64 or 128MB), and plenty of hard disk space (estimate 1MB for each minute of music you want to store). For best results, you need a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive capable of digital audio extraction and a sound card with 64 or more voices. Cards such as the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum and Videologic Sonic Fury Sound Card series can produce great-sounding music.

Pretty much any G3 Mac will be powerful enough to handle MP3 recording and playback. Again, get plenty of hard disk space.

Whatever your platform, get the fastest Internet connection you can get and/or afford. For most people, that'll mean either 56k dial-up (perhaps with multiple modems) or an ISDN service such as BT's Home Highway. If you can get a digital subscriber line (DSL) or a cable modem, do so.

Get good speakers or headphones--your ears will thank you--or pipe the music through your stereo system as discussed in point 9.

6. Get the right software

For getting started with MP3, get a ripper/player/jukebox. For Windows, eJay MP3 PRO offers a complete solution and it lets you encode at all bit rates. For the Mac, try SoundJam MP. A seven-day evaluation version is available on the Sound Jam Web site.

Later on, you may want to get a separate player, or a separate ripper and encoder, so that you have more flexibility. Two great--and free--Windows players are Winamp (www.winamp.com) and Sonique (www.sonique.com). A good free Mac player is SoundApp (www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~franke/SoundApp/).

7. Find the files you want

You can find thousands of legal MP3 files on the Web. Many of the files are free; others you have to pay for.

But the best way of finding MP3 files is to is to visit MP3.com.

8. Encode at the right bit rate

When encoding MP3 files, be sure to use a high enough bit rate to produce good-sounding music. For most people, this means using a bit rate of 128kbps or higher. Anything below that, and treble sounds tend to sound thin, as if part of the sound isn't there--because it isn't.

Bit rates above 128kbps give higher quality, but of course the file sizes are correspondingly larger. If you're not getting decent music at 160kbps, either you have fantastic ears or you need a better encoder--or both. Look at the paid version of MusicMatch MP3 Jukebox Deluxe 6.0 (which uses Fraunhofer's FastEnc encoder) or one of the Fraunhofer encoders (www.iis.fhg.de/amm).

9. Play MP3 through your stereo

If you have a good stereo system, playing MP3 music through it is as simple as connecting a cable from your computer to your receiver. Get a quality cable, or the sound will suffer. Use the line out socket if your sound card has one; if not, use the speaker socket and turn the volume down low on the computer until you find out how loud it comes out the other end.

Don't use the phono inputs on the receiver--they're designed for the weak signal a record player makes, and the signal from your computer will probably blow them.

10. Take MP3 with you wherever you go

With MP3, you can take music with you wherever you go:

• Portable players such as the Diamond Rio 800 and the Intel Pocket Concert let you load around two hours' worth of near CD-quality music onto a skip-proof device about the size of a pager.
• Hybrid players such as the Diamond Rio Volt SP250 and the Waitec Funky MP3 CD Player alow the playback of MP3 files stored on CD-ROM discs as well as standard audio CDs. Imagine over 20 hours of music on one CD.
• Car players such as the Diamond Rio Car put multiple gigabytes of music in your car. As can the Creative Labs DAP Jukebox with a Car Cassette Adapter.

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