How to Do Everything with MP3 and Digital Music

by Dave Johnson (Conducted by)

Overview

The authors show novice users as well as more tech-savvy music fans and musicians all they need to know about MP3 and digital music. They give thorough coverage of all the latest and best MP3 players, both desktop and portable. This book shows the basics of finding and downloading online music, choosing the best MP3 player and setting it up to work with your PC. It also shows musicians and music fanatics how to get their music uploaded and available for other listeners on the Internet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780072194135
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
Publication date:	11/26/2001
Series:	How to Do Everything Series
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.19(h) x 0.85(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xvii
	Introduction	xix
Part I	The ABCs of MP3
Chapter 1	Welcome to MP3 and Digital Audio	3
	A Brief History of Recorded Time	4
	What Is MP3?	5
	What's the Big Deal about Compression?	6
	Where Do MP3 Files Come From?	7
	What Can You Do with MP3?	8
	What about All the Legal Stuff?	8
	How to Listen to MP3 Files	9
	Your Computer	9
	Portable Players	9
	A Car Player	11
	A Home Stereo	12
	Our Favorite TV Show Theme Songs	13
	The Difference Between MP3 and Digital Audio	14
Chapter 2	Getting Your Computer Ready	15
	Must-Have Hardware	16
	Processor and RAM	17
	Notes for Macintosh Users	17
	The Hard Drive	18
	The Sound Card	19
	Speakers	20
	Universal Serial Bus Ports	20
	The CD-RW Drive	22
	Operating System Issues	26
	Our Five Favorite Funky Songs	27
	MP3 in Windows 95	28
	MP3 in Windows 3.1	28
	MP3 in Macintoshes	28
	Your Internet Connection	29
Chapter 3	MP3 and the Law	31
	A Brief History of MP3 Controversy	32
	Blame It on Rio	33
	The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of MP3.com	34
	The Napster Effect	35
	How to Not Break the Law	37
	Rick vs. Dave: MP3 Ethics	37
	Definitely Legal Activities	38
	Illegal Activities	38
	"Legal" Alternatives to Napster	39
	The Dawning Age of Copy Protection	39
	Our Favorite Songs from the '80s	40
Part II	Playing Digital Music
Chapter 4	Finding Digital Music Online	45
	Music Sites	47
	Amazon.com	47
	What Is Liquid Audio?	48
	MP3.com	50
	Our Favorite Portable MP3 Players	54
	The Best $13.98 You Can Spend on Your Kids	55
	File-Sharing Services	58
	File-Sharing Fundamentals	59
	How to Use LimeWire	60
	If I Share My MP3 Files, Can Someone Hack into All My Files?	60
Chapter 5	Listening on the PC	69
	How to	70
	Choosing an MP3 Player	70
	Finding an MP3 Player	71
	Music Players for Windows	72
	Get Hip to the Lingo, Digi-Cat	73
	Winamp	75
	Windows Media Player	76
	RealJukebox Plus	80
	MusicMatch Jukebox 6	82
	Music Players for the Mac	85
	iTunes	85
	MPLAY	87
	MusicMatch Jukebox	88
	Setting Your Volume	90
	Changing Skins	90
	See Your Music	92
Chapter 6	Dialing into Internet Radio	95
	Understanding Internet Radio	96
	Where Internet Radio Comes From	97
	How You Listen to Internet Radio	97
	The Importance of High-Speed Internet Access	99
	Internet-Radio Sound Quality	99
	Why a Slow Connection Equals Dead Air	99
	How to Find Internet Radio Stations	100
	Tune In with Windows Media Player	103
	Creating Your Own Preset Lists	103
	Searching for Stations	104
	Build Custom Radio Shows with RadioMOI.com	105
	Tune In with RealJukebox	108
	Should You Pay for MusicMatch Radio MX?	109
	Sharing with SHOUTcast	110
	Other Software and Sites	111
Chapter 7	Taking It on the Road	113
	Choosing a Portable Music Player	114
	How Much Memory Does the MP3 Player Have?	115
	How Does the MP3 Player Connect to the PC?	116
	What about the Batteries?	117
	What Other Goodies Does the MP3 Player Have?	118
	The MP3 Tree	119
	The Right MP3 Player for You	120
	MP3s on a Budget	120
	If You Need a Voice Recorder	121
	Longer Playing Time	122
	Listening in Your Car	122
	If You're a CD Fanatic	123
	Getting Massive Amounts of Music	124
	MP3 for Your Car	124
	In-Dash Receivers with MP3	125
	Hard Disk MP3 Players	126
	Cassette Adapters	127
	Go Wireless	129
	Understanding Memory Card Formats	130
	CompactFlash	130
	SmartMedia	131
	Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard	131
	Memory Stick	132
	Dave's MP3 Auto Experience	132
	What Do Memory Cards Cost?	133
	Playing MP3s on a Personal Digital Assistant	133
	MP3s on a Pocket PC	134
	Pocket PC Choices	135
	MP3s on a Palm OS Device	136
Chapter 8	MP3 Around the House	139
	From PC to Stereo (Same Room)	140
	From PC to Stereo (Different Rooms)	142
	Kinda Like Mr. Microphone--for MP3	143
	X10 Marks the Spot	145
	Make Your Stereo Part of Your Computer Network	145
	Internet Radio to Go	147
	From PC to Any Other Room	148
	From MP3 Player to Stereo	149
	Other Cool MP3 Options for the Home	150
	Where to Find It	151
Chapter 9	Getting the Best Sound	153
	Converting Your Audio Files	154
	Normalizing Your Audio Files	156
	All about Equalizers	158
	Using Winamp's Equalizer	159
	Using the Windows Media Player Equalizer	161
	Choose a Killer Set of Speakers	162
	Choose a Killer Set of Headphones	165
	Headphones That Roam Free	165
Part III	Creating Your Own Music Files
Chapter 10	Ripping Music from a CD	169
	Inside Digital Audio	170
	Sound Waves 101	171
	The Age-Old Debate: Digital or Analog?	173
	Digital File Formats	177
	WAV vs. MP3	179
	When to Use WAV and MP3	179
	Choosing a CD Ripper	180
	Ripping Music	181
	Using a Jukebox	182
	Dealing with Glitches	188
Chapter 11	Transferring Analog Sources to MP3	193
	Making the Connection	194
	Sound Card Inputs	196
	Analog Source Outputs	198
	Cabling It All Together	200
	Audio Recording Software	204
	Making the Recording	208
	Setting the Recording Device	208
	Setting Sound Levels	210
	Recording Audio	212
	Recording Strategies	214
	Do It All with Easy CD Creator	216
Chapter 12	Editing, Correcting, and Tweaking Your Audio	221
	Starting Clean	222
	Touring an Audio Editor	223
	Cutting Up Your Music	224
	Deleting Silent Leader	225
	Inserting Silent Leader	226
	Splitting a File into Tracks	228
	Gluing Tracks Together	230
	Fading Your Songs	231
	Taking Jazz Head On	232
	Cleaning Up Noisy Audio	233
	Optimizing the Dynamic Range	237
Chapter 13	Organizing Your Music Files	239
	Planning for MP3 Storage	241
	Organizing Your Songs	242
	Controlling Playback with Filenames	243
	Selecting a Folder Strategy	243
	Selecting Filenames	246
	Editing Music File ID Tags	249
	Changing Several Tracks at Once	252
	Fixing the File Type Association	254
	The Desert Island Test	257
Part IV	Sharing Your Digital Music
Chapter 14	Converting Music to CD and Streaming Audio	261
	Getting Started with CD Recording	262
	Prepping Your Computer	263
	Choosing Your Discs	265
	CD-R Speed	266
	Choosing a Data Format	267
	Recording with Easy CD Creator	269
	Choosing Recording Options	269
	Burning a CD	272
	Making an MP3 CD	276
	The Monkees Weren't so Bad	277
	Streaming Your Music from the Web	278
	Stream Without Extra Software	278
	Using Streaming Production Software	281
Chapter 15	Sharing Your Music Online	285
	What MP3.com Can Do for You	286
	The Premium Artist Service	287
	Payback for Playback	287
	The Copyright Wizard	287
	The Music Licensing Program	287
	The CD Program	288
	Promo Auctions	288
	Promoting Your Music on Ampcast.com	288
	Royalties	289
	The CD Program	289
	Five Best Band Names We Just Made Up	289
	Ad-Free Pages	290
	Ratings and Sales Data	290
	Fast Song Approval	290
	Concert and Event Calendars	290
	Getting Your Songs on Internet Radio	291
	Create Your Own Internet Radio Station on SHOUTcast	291
Chapter 16	Promoting Your Sound	295
	Selling Your CD	296
	Online Stores That'll Sell Your CD	296
	Accepting Payment	298
	Essential Resources for Musicians	298
	Finishing Touches for Your CD	300
	Promoting Yourself	302
	Write a Press Release	302
	Cool Things to Do with Your Site	303
	Write to Your Fans	304
	From the Experts	305
	Music That Burns Your Fingers	305
	Kristin Hersh	306
	Peter Himmelman	308
	Diana Darby	310
	Cherish Alexander, The Painkillers	312
	Dana Mase	314
Appendix A	Internet Radio Stations	317
	General/Networks	318
	News/Sports/Talk	319
	Classical	324
	Country	326
	Hip-Hop/Electronic/Dance	327
	JAZZ	332
	R&B/Soul	334
	Rock/Pop	335
Appendix B	Top Web Sites for MP3 Dowloads	343
	Napster	345
	Morpheus	346
	Aimster	347
	iMesh	348
	KaZaA	349
	Audiogalaxy	350
	BearShare	351
	WinMX	352
Appendix C	In Search of Storage Space	353
	Optical Storage	354
	External Hard Disks	355
	Online Storage	356
	Storage Schemes at a Glance	357
Appendix D	Portable Player Memory Cards	359
	Memory Cards 101	360
	CompactFlash	360
	SmartMedia	361
	Memory Stick	361
	Secure Digital/MultiMediaCards	361
	Security and Memory Cards	362
	Memory Cards at a Glance	362
	Index	363