The Computer Guy

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...changing the world, one computer at a time. Today's Site MAD Magazine (great RAM site... type in your brand of computer) Did you know that... ...the brain in a developing fetus grows by about 250,000 cells per minute. Today's Animated Gif Email Your FeedBack The Computer Guy Sign up for daily mailing. Click Here and type "SUBSCRIBE" as the email subject. (and if you want to be removed from this daily mailing, just Click Here and type "REMOVE" as the email subject.)	Today's Pic Actual Fishing Fly put in scanner ©2000 Ben Sherman CLICK to enlarge BACK to return	Today's Word Digital Certificate An attachment to an electronic message used for security purposes. The most common use of a digital certificate is to verify that a user sending a message is who he or she claims to be. Occasionally, while you are on the Internet, you may receive a message asking for permission for a website to modify something on your computer. The digital certificate proves that the person (or company) is who he or she claims to be.

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.