The Computer Guy

	FeedBack (see below)	MON 12/18/00 TUE 12/19/00
...changing the world, one computer at a time. Today's Site ClichéSite (great RAM site... type in your brand of computer) Did you know that... ...the average person will consume one hundred tons of food and twelve thousand gallons of water in a lifetime. Today's Animated Gif Email Your FeedBack The Computer Guy (and if you want to be removed from this daily mailing, just email me with "REMOVE" as the subject of the email.)	Today's Pic Fruit Platter (c) 2000 HJBoitel CLICK to enlarge BACK to return	Today's Word Carpal Tunnel Syndrome A common form of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) produced by repeating the same small movements many times. As more and more people use computers, carpal tunnel syndrome and other forms of RSI have become more prevalent. Typical symptoms are numbness or burning in the fingers or wrist. If not addressed early on, the injury can cause permanent damage.

"Is the Mad Doctor photo a 'composite'... did you put two pictures together to make it?"

Nope. That's Doctor Mark Sherman's boat on the 4th of July in New York Harbor . Photo was taken from the shoreline near the Verrazano Bridge. I just added the text with Paint Shop Pro.

MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer 3) is an audio compression technology. Developed in Germany in 1991, MP3 compresses CD-quality sound by a factor of 12 while providing almost the same fidelity.

MP3 music files are played via software or a physical player that cables to a PC for transfer of music files. MP3 has made it feasible to download quality audio from the Web very quickly, causing it to become a worldwide auditioning system for new musicians and labels. Established bands post sample tracks from new albums to encourage CD sales, and new bands post their music on MP3 sites in order to develop an audience.

Copyrighted music is also offered for a fee, or sometimes for free (NAPSTER), creating a major legal issue. MP3 has revolutionized music distribution, since an hour of near CD-quality audio can be downloaded in minutes. Major publishers are trying to cope with this phenomenon by introducing copyright protection lawsuits.

There are numerous MP3 "rippers" and encoders (software) on the market that pull out raw audio data from a music CD and encode it into the MP3 format.

In Summary, music can now be copied (ripped) from commercial CDs. It can then be transmitted (traded) over the Internet. It can be used in compressed format for listening by using a small (wearable) MP3 player. And it can be re-recorded (burned) (with a CD-RW drive on your computer) to a regular audio CD for use in conventional audio CD players.