Joining the Pack of MP3 Users

The majority of MP3 users love music. Although some MP3 files contain speeches or narrated books, most contain music. Why? Because converting music to MP3 makes the following tasks easier:

• Collecting and trading songs: Many MP3 enthusiasts head for the Internet's musical buffet trays, like LimeWire. Those programs enable visitors to copy MP3 songs from each others' hard drives, although the legality of the process falls in and out of question.

• Creating personal radio stations: MP3 "radio stations" allow people to listen to or create their own radio stations. Anybody with an Internet account can broadcast his or her MP3 collection to listeners anywhere in the world.

• Finding rare songs: Can't find an old, out-of-print song that's in the public domain? Chances are, someone has converted it to MP3 and uploaded it to the Internet for free downloading. The Internet's under-popularized newsgroups contain a wealth of older MP3 tunes, sorted by decade and genre.

• Making greatest hits CDs: The latest batch of inexpensive CD-RW drives read from and write to CDs, and software is available to help you convert your songs to MP3.

• Organizing songs: Computers organize huge numbers of songs much better than those tall, black CD racks. No more fiddling with plastic CD cases or home stereo knobs when you want to hear an old favorite. You can double-click that MP3 file's name and hear the song play for immediate satisfaction. Plus, a CD usually holds about ten songs, whereas hard drives hold thousands.

• Listening to music on-the-go: Get out of the way, Sony Discman. Most portable MP3 players don't have moving parts. That means skateboarders won't hear any sound skips or bumps, even when rail-sliding down the stairs at City Hall.

• Finding new bands: Today's record company agents don't seek musical talent as much as they look for music that sells, which leads to waves of newly signed bands with the same sound. Using MP3, undiscovered bands post their songs inexpensively on the Internet, giving the public the first chance to hear new talent.