What is MP3?

MPEG Layer 3 technology became publicly popular in late 1996. In a nutshell, MP3's are full songs recorded in CD quality that don't take up very much space. A typical 4 minute song takes up 4-5 megs of space, as opposed to the 40 or so megs it would take up in .wav format.

What do I need to use MP3s

To use MP3's you need three things: a CD ripper, an MP3 encoder and of course an MP3 player. A CD ripper does exactly what its name says...it copies or "rips" a song of off a CD. After ripping the song, it needs to be compressed. That's what and MP3 encoder does. Encoding a 4 minute song can take anywhere from 3 minutes to 80 minutes, depending on the encoder that you choose to use. Typically, the slower the encoder, the better quality music you get. After encoding the song, you can play it. MP3 players decode and play a song simultaneously, that way, you don't have to wait for the song to decode then listen to it.

This sounds too good...what's the catch?

Well, there is a catch...as you might imagine...the distribution of MP3s violates copyright laws...which makes it illegal. It's legal to rip and encode songs off of cds you already have, but if you decide to download songs that you don't have on CD, you're breaking the law. Right now, I guess you can say "the shit's going down" in the world of MP3s. Geffen Records has set the stage for record companies to shut down FTP and HTTP sites by asking the webmasters of over 100 large FTP sites to shut down. If they refuse to shut down, criminal charges may be brought against them. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is taking a slightly different approach. They're not being as "nice" as Geffen. They simply shut down the sites and press charges (Which is why I'm anti - RIAA). If you do decide to distribute MP3s freely, do yourself a favor and be as discrete as possible about it.