SolveYourProblem eLearning Series
iPods & MP3 Players

How Do I Use or Play an MP3?
by my-tech-guide.com

MP3, industry shorthand for "Moving Picture Experts Group audio player 3." It's a compression system, used to slim down audio files so they may be transmitted quickly without loss of quality when expanded back to their original form.

A typical 3-minute song, for instance, takes up about 30 megabytes of disk space. Compressed into MP3 format, the file is about 3 megabytes.

Making MP3 files from your CD collection is easy. Just follow these instructions and you can encode your favorite tracks on to your computer for easy listening while surfing.

Step 1: Rip that CD

The first step is to copy a song from an audio CD. This is called "ripping". Not all CD-ripping applications work with all CD-Rom drives, and not all CD -Rom drives can rip audio, so finding the right program can take a bit of time. However, a good collection of CD ripper applications and compatibility charts can be found at http://www.mp3.com/.

When you run your CD ripper program, you will select a track (or tracks) from your favorite music CD and the application will begin to convert it into a standard WAV audio file. Although the WAV can be played on your computer with crystal-clear sound, the files have the problem of being very large, usually tens of megabytes in size.

Step 2: Slim Down with MP3

Next, you need to download an MP3 encoder application. These convert the WAV files from your CD ripper application into highly compressed MP3 files. Again, http://www.mp3.com/ has a good collection of MP3 encoder software.

To start encoding, choose the directory where you CD-ripped your songs, then click on a WAV file or select several .wav files and click on your MP3 encoder's "compress" function. The application will then start to convert the big WAV file into a slim MP3 file. When the conversion is completed, test the resulting MP3 file with your MP3 player, and then delete the original WAV file - it will just take up space on your hard drive otherwise.

You can download songs from the Internet and play them on your computer for fantastic sound. Just follow these steps.

Step 1: Download a player

Although there are many MP3 players available, the most popular choices are WinAmp for Windows and NT-based computers and MacAmp for Apple Macintosh computers (get it at http:winamp.lh.net/).

These applications have become something of a standard among MP3 enthusiasts, and provide a solid range of features. They are all shareware - meaning you can try them before you finally purchase a registered copy.

Step 2: Install the player

Next decompress the file you downloaded and run the installer or setup.

Step 3: Download some songs to play

Download a few sample music tracks from the Internet. Good sites for MP3 files include: http://www.mp3.com/, www.via.nl/jonie/, http:home1.stofanet.dk/ skyfer/mp3.html, and many others.

Step 4: Time to rock!

Start up your MP3 player, open the download MP3 file and bingo - music to your ears.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007

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