The Computer Guy

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...changing the world, one computer at a time. Today's Sites 1) Santa Delivers? 2) Christmas Sites Did you know that... ...the poinsettia, a traditional Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico where it is known as the 'Flower of the Holy Night'. It was first brought to America by Joel Poinsett in 1829. 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 Christmas Eve Dec 24, 1931 First Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center CLICK to enlarge BACK to return	Today's Word Navidad "Merry Christmas, unfortunately you've given in to temptation and lost your computer." This would be the message you get if attacked by the latest virus spreading on the NET. An Internet virus, W32/Navidad@m, also known as Navidad is sending early Christmas greetings and if not rid off immediately is capable of crashing computer systems. Solution: As always, make sure that your virus definitions are updated.

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.