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Table of Contents
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Music: My Daily Entertainment
A Helping Hand
Favorite Freeware
Featured Download

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Music: My Daily Entertainment

I do not know about you, but I like to listen to music, especially while I am working. It can make a slow, mundane day turn into an enjoyable day of work, at least some of the time. And, in today's age, listening to music at work is very easy and convenient. I cannot stand lugging around my CD's everywhere I go, so I am very thankful for MP3 files. All I need to do is take my music CD's, convert the songs to MP3's on my hard drive, and I can then leave my CD's at home and still enjoy the music while I work. Another recent innovation which I am sure many of you are familiar with is downloading music files off the internet. Many of you have probably heard of and used Napster. Now, Napster is in some trouble with the record companies because of copyright issues, but, despite this, Napster helped to jumpstart the concept of quickly downloading music from the internet without having to purchase a CD. One other innovation I have enjoyed is the ability to listen to the radio online. I have enjoyed listening to some of my favorite sports' teams play even though I was a couple thousand miles from the nearest radio station that broadcast their games. Well, I am sure some of you have taken advantage of the latest in technology for music, but, hopefully, you might find some of the tips below useful.

John Saddler
info@setsystems.com

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A Helping Hand

• I really enjoy listening to my MP3's at work, but you have to be able to convert your music on your CD's into MP3 files. In order to do this, you need to have the right software. You can find many programs that will "rip" your CD's into MP3's for free. I happen to use the basic version of Real Jukebox. It will convert my CD's to MP3 files at near stereo/CD quality which is not too bad for a free product. You can check CNet and search for other excellent programs that will "rip" your CD's.
• Okay, now that you have some MP3's on your computer, how do you listen to them? Well, you also need software to listen to MP3's. Most of you probably have one of two programs that came pre-loaded with your computer: Windows Media Player or Real Player. These programs are functional, but I do find those programs rather annoying. That is why the Favorite Freeware section contains my recommendation.
• Well, if you like listening to music online or to other radio broadcasts, you will need one of those two products listed in the previous tip: Windows Media Player or Real Player. Either one of these programs should work for most if not all online radio content.
• Some of you may like to download MP3's through services such as Napster, Aimster, Scour and other similar services. I will not get into the copyright issues, but I just want to caution you to make sure you know what you are downloading. You should scan your downloaded MP3's with your anti-virus software to make sure they are clean. The reason why I caution you is because you are usually downloading the files from another user's computer and not a company's central server.

By the way, if you would like to learn more and stay informed about music, mp3's, video, graphics, and other multimedia information, you should subscribe to Lockergnome's Digital Newsletter. Lockergnome Digital Newsletter. I find its content very helpful and informative.

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Favorite Freeware - Winamp, 2.2 MB - Nullsoft

http://www.winamp.com
Download Program
Specs - Win 95/98/ME/NT/2000, Sound Card

Winamp is my favorite MP3 player. It is quick and easy to download compared to many other MP3 players, and it is more than sufficient for playing MP3's. You can play many different media types with it, setup playlists, choose from thousands of skins for the player, and, of course, listen to music. If you want something that's free and a great product, you should definitely download Winamp.

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Featured Download - MusicLabel 2001, 5 MB - code|aero

http://www.codeaero.com
Download Program
Specs - Win 95/98/ME/NT/2000 - Shareware $35

Many of you, including myself, probably have a large collection of music whether it is contained on CD's or in MP3 files. When your music collection begins to be overwhelming, this is when MusicLabel can help. It is a great cataloging tool for virtually any music collection that you need to organize. It also has some great features that eliminate much of the time you could spend in manual entry of your music titles.

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