The Official MP3.com Guide to MP3

MP3 music files. Have you heard all of the hoopla and felt just a little bit left out? Does all the talk about this new technology leave you feeling sheepish because of your lack of knowledge? If you're confused about that new Netscape Communicator plug-in called Winamp, The Official MP3.com Guide to MP3 is without a doubt the book for you. Leaning toward the practical side of MP3s, Michael Robertson and Ron Simpson have written a book that will help the rest of us get a firm grasp on this emerging technology.

By using simple explanations and concise tutorials, the authors introduce us to the music compression format that has changed the face of the music industry. Each of the first four chapters in the book is a standalone unit designed to illustrate one or two basic concepts, for example, how to upgrade the encoder files of the shareware version of Audiograbber with a freeware MP3 encoder that allows 128 kbs rates and higher.

The book discusses some of the competition that MP3 is facing from other compression schemes such as Liquid Audio, RealAudio, and Sony's VQF. Robertson and Simpson also delve into the MP3 phenomenon from a musician's point of view, giving suggestions and tips on how any musician or band can use MP3 and the Internet to showcase and distribute its music to a vast audience with a minimum of fuss or expense.

Configuration options and basic functions are explained, as well as Winamp, Sonique, MusicMatch Jukebox, and some of the other players that get honorable mentions. All of the slightly more advanced concepts such as ripping, CODECS, editing ID3 tags, adding equalizer treatments, streaming, skins, and plug-ins are treated in the same easy-going manner, which is always lucid and never condescending.

One of the more useful topics involves using MusicMatch to convert directly from music CDs to an MP3 file in a one-step process. Without MusicMatch this involves a two-step process that creates a 10 meg-per-minute WAV file on your hard drive--which subsequently requires conversion to the MP3 format (a very handy trick that conserves hard-drive space).

Beginners will love this book with its easy-to-follow tutorials, and more experienced users will find helpful tips and tricks scattered throughout the pages. --Robert D. Gately

Topics covered: Introduction to the MP3 format; examination of the portable MP3 players on the market; the history of MP3; the legalities involved in creating your own MP3s from your favorite CDs; techniques for configuring your MP3 player; downloading from the Internet; and playing and ripping your own MP3 files.