The Computer Guy

	FeedBack (see below)	THU 12/21/00
...changing the world, one computer at a time. Today's Site This to That (great RAM site... type in your brand of computer) Did you know that... ...before 1800 there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet. 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 Steven ©2000 Computer Guy CLICK to enlarge BACK to return	Today's Word Avatar A graphical icon that represents a real person in a cyberspace system. When you enter the system, you can choose from a number of fanciful avatars. Sophisticated 3D avatars even change shape depending on what they are doing (e.g., walking, sitting, etc.). Avatars are very popular in chat room environments.

Naa... I "steal" them. Whenever you see any graphic on a web page, all you have to do is RIGHT CLICK on it and then choose SAVE IMAGE AS. Change the name, if you want. Take note of where you are saving it to. Click SAVE. You now own it.

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.