"So many things can
go wrong," says Lukas Hauser, whose rap band Commodore 64 has legal MP3s
posted on sites like mired.com and
rioport.com. Ever since
recording-industry watchdogs started hunting and shutting them down, the
pirate sites have had to make themselves trickier to access, he explains.
"Most people trying to download MP3s off these sites will have a success
rate of maybe 1 in 5." I should be that lucky. I still haven't been able
to download Kravitz again -- which makes me think the record comp anies
have little to worry about.
Step by Step guide to MP3:
DOWNLOAD and install an MP3 player, such as WinAmp (for Windows) or QuickTime (for Macs), or a full MP3 software kit, such as MusicMatch Jukebox.
VISIT an online music portal, like mp3.com, or a search engine to look for songs.
CLICK individual song links to play music in real time as streaming audio or to download and store on your desktop or portable device for future listening. Your player will decode the MP3 file as it transfers
to your PC. Not satisfied getting tunes this way? Go right...
LAUNCH FTP (expert way)program independently of your Web browser; open "Connect" window; fill in address, user name and password for the FTP site with the MP3s you want. This info is often embedded in the lin
ks displayed by Web-based FTP search engines like oth.net. Find the file you want; click to download; save to hard disk. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
A DOWNLOADED SONG can be attached to an e-mail message or burned onto a recordable CD. To do either, you'll need an encoder/decoder program–MusicMatch has one for Windows, MacAmp Deluxe for Mac users–
;to convert the MP3 into the right audio format for your system.
