What is MP3

MPEG layer 3 is a type of audio codec where processed by significant compression from the original audio source with very little loss in sound quality. The compression up to 12:1 produces a very little degradation. Tighter compression can be achieved, but it will effect in sound degradation results.

To obtain certain compression, we must adjust the bit rates. The standart bit rates (near cd quality result) is 128 or 112 kbit/s. Many people claim that low-rate MPEG layer 3 files sound better than Real Audio files with similar bit rates.

The advantage of MP3 is that it can be broken up into pieces, and each piece is still playable. The feature that makes this possible (headerless file format) also means that MP3 files can be made to stream across the net real-time (assuming the playback bitrate and speed of the Internet connection are compatible).

What is MP3?

MP3 is a near-CD quality file format for sound files, and is very popular for music on the web.

It's becoming more popular as people use it to swap music online because of its powerful compression.

For example, you can get hundreds of songs on a single CD using the MP3 format.

MP3

MP3 is a digital music format which allows CD tracks to be reduced to around a tenth of their normal size without a significant loss of quality.

This means that for the first time it's become practical to make music available for download over the internet as download times have been drastically cut.

MP3 strips out a lot of the information recorded in a song that our ears aren't able to hear and uses complicated maths to reduce the file size.

How to play MP3s

MP3s can be played on your computer using programs like RealOne, WinAmp or Windows Media Player.

Lots of people download MP3s and then burn them onto CDs. They also sometimes load their CD collection onto their PC and convert the songs into MP3s before putting them back onto CD.

That's because new walkmans are also becoming available that can play MP3s as well as normal CDs.

Controversy over MP3s

The MP3 controversy comes from the fact that it is able to be downloaded over the net so easily.

This means that it could be great for the music industry, as MP3 files could be used to distribute music cheaply.

It also means that music piracy has become hugely popular - especially though file sharing programs.

A number of sites that have offered MP3 music files for free download over the internet have been sued for breaking copyright as a result.

As a result, some record companies are putting special software onto music CDs that you buy from stores to make it more difficult for people to copy them onto their PC.

The name of the file extension and also the name of the type of file for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses perceptual audio coding and psychoacoustic compression to remove all superfluous information (more specifically, the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal. The stuff the human ear doesn't hear anyway). It also adds a MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) that implements a filter bank, increasing the frequency resolution 18 times higher than that of layer 2.

The result in real terms is layer 3 shrinks the original sound data from a CD (with a bit rate of 1411.2 kilobits per one second of stereo music) by a factor of 12 (down to 112-128kbps) without sacrificing sound quality.

Because MP3 files are small, they can easily be transferred across the Internet.

MP3 is a revolutionary digital audio format developed by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Thompson Multimedia in the late 1980s and brought to the mainstream through the Internet in 1997. MP3 is short for MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) Layer - 1 , the group that help make MP3 an international standard.

MP3 is a compressed audio format that allows for smaller file sizes with similar sound quality to PCM WAV format, the format found on normal music CDs you would buy in a store. Thompson and Fraunhofer helped develop the coding algorithm, or system of rules and processes, that encoded audio to this incredible format. For more on exactly how this encoding technology works, see our section entitled Inside the MP3 Codec.

The popularity of MP3 comes from its practical uses. Music tracks in WAV format are extremely large in file size, averaging around 50MB in size. Since it is so large, it is not practical to send WAV files through email or offer them for download on the Internet. MP3, however, compresses WAV audio on average of 10 to 12 times smaller than the original size. The result is audio tracks around 3 to 4 MB in size, perfect for downloading and sending through the Internet. Thus, custom MP3 format CDs can be created with 10 to 12 times the amount of tracks of a normal 12-15 track audio CD, producing CDs with over 100 tracks easily. The format is also popular for turning your PC into a jukebox of hundreds or thousands of songs or loading them into a portable mp3 player and taking your music collection wherever you want.

As of now, you cannot buy MP3s in a store on a CD. Therefore, you can either make them yourself or get them from others who have made them.

Making MP3

To make your own MP3s, you need a CD with music, a computer with a CD ROM that supports digital audio extraction (also called ripping, most CD ROMs support this), space on your hard drive, and mp3 ripping software. The process than is simply putting your CD in your computer CD drive and then running the mp3 ripping software. Each software program has its own way of letting you do this and you will need to become familiar with each program. I recommend Easy CD Ripper as one of the easiest rippers to get started with and use.

Getting MP3s from Others

If you don't want to make your own MP3s, you can get them from someone else. The most popular ways include using file sharing software (similar to Napster) and downloading them from someone else over the Internet. Although this method is popular, there are some risks. Most music is copyrighted and if you don't own the CD of the songs you want to acquire, you will technically be breaking the law. Also, there is the risks that downloading files over the Internet will contain viruses or other unwanted material although the majority of files will probably be safe. Other ways of getting MP3s is from free MP3 sites like EMusic or by copying files from another person's MP3 format CD that they have created.

Since MP3 is a data format and not an audio format, you cannot listen to these files in a normal CD player. MP3 needs a player designated as an MP3 player to decode the audio and produce listenable music from the data.

There are many free mp3 players for download on the Internet. Winamp is the most popular and fairly easy to use. I personally like dbPowerAMP and the ability to rate your tracks so that the most popular get played more often. Take a look at our page with the above players and a couple more free mp3 players to choose from.

Other ways to play mp3 include portable mp3 players, newer home stereos and DVD players with denoted MP3 playback ability, and car mp3 players.

Is MP3 Legal?

Since there have been so many lawsuits like the high profile suit involving Napster, many people are not sure whether MP3 is legal or not.

The issue surrounding MP3 legality is copyright. The same premise behind the copyright laws governing books and other printed material are behind MP3. The law is trying to protect artists from not getting paid when people copy and distribute there music.

In and of itself, MP3 as a format is completely legal. MP3 is merely a technology that Thompson Multimedia and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft own a patent on. MP3 files become illegal when someone has taken copyrighted music, made copies of it, and distributed it to others without the rightful consent of the owners. Many argue that if they have bought the music they can do whatever they want with it as long as they are not making a profit. Under Digital Millenium Copyright Act, this is not true. Solid application of these laws however gets sketchy. What if you own the music and want to make copies on your computer or make your own custom CDs? Many believe, including myself, we have the right to do so. It is up to you to research the law and act according to your own ethical standards.

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