Easy as MP3

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The MP3 format makes huge, uncompressed audio files small enough to be downloadable over the Internet. Because songs and other audio clips are digitized, you can make as many copies of them as you like without any loss of quality. Take that idea, throw in millions of people with Internet access (many of them with broadband), and you get a service called Napster.

Napster let you share MP3 files on your hard drive with other users running the Napster application, and you could access their music files. Napster's servers acted as a catalog, matching searches with the files on users' hard drives. At its peak, Napster had more than 70 million users (according to Napster's own figures). The Recording Industry Association of America, however, soon obtained an injunction against Napster, forcing the service to filter out copyrighted works. At present, Napster is still offline as it strives to comply with the court order and to launch its subscription service (see "Pay for It").

In the wake of Napster, other peer-to-peer file-sharing technologies, such as Gnutella, have arisen. Aimster, Audiogalaxy, Kazaa, and Morpheus all allow music file sharing as well. (Check out "Napster Alternatives" for more information on these services.) But all of these music-sharing applications potentially violate copyright law too, because downloading music through them without paying for it means that the musicians don't get paid; it is possible, therefore, that the RIAA may take these services to court as well.

Fortunately, you can download legal digital audio files for free, and doing so is just as easy as using Napster, though the selection is far less extensive. Sites like Amazon.com, Listen.com, and Yahoo Music offer free tracks from popular artists. MP3.com also has a huge selection of free tracks, but you've probably never heard of many of the artists represented there. MSN Music has an interesting service that recommends new music: You type in the name of a band you like, and the service compiles a list of other bands that you might also enjoy. It even provides access to a preprogrammed streaming-audio broadcast of similar songs.

Music news sites such as RollingStone.com and Billboard maintain large archives of top artists' downloads. Artists and record companies have also discovered that giving away a free track is a great promotional tool, so check the sites of your favorite artists to see if they've gotten with the digital audio revolution.

Downloading music from such sites does have some drawbacks. Songs can come in several different formats, including MP3, Windows Media Audio, RealAudio, LiquidAudio, and Bluematter. To play files saved in various formats, you may need to download new plug-ins or player programs. Even the tracks that you get from Napster and similar peer-to-peer services occasionally have problems: You can end up with an unplayable or shoddy-quality file because someone encoded it badly.

With the end of the free Napster service, you might have thought that there was no more free music, but plenty of free tracks are out there if you know where to find them.