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Frequently
asked questions
1.
What
is Mp3 in the first place?
2.
How
can I play Mp3 songs?
3.
How
can I download Mp3 songs?
4.
How
come my downloads are always incomplete?
5.
Download
managers....what are they?
6.
Help...the
file I downloaded just now
doesn't play!?
7.
How
to change file extensions to Mp3
format?
top question!
8.
Why
are some file extensions not .mp3
and .gif or .jpg?
9.
What
do I do with zip files which don't unzip!?
10.What
am I supposed to do with these 3 bit
files of yours?
01.
MP3 is the file extension for MPEG Audio Layer III
compressed files. MP3 files are compressed about 12:1 for
CD-quality sound. If you record raw CD audio, it takes up a lot
of space - about 60MB for a normal length song. But with MP3
compression, you can turn it into a single 5MB file!
MP3 audio works by using psycho-accoustic compression, which
removes information from the signal that your ears can't pick
up, like the sound of a cat walking during a thunderstorm. Due
to their extreme compression, MP3 files need a lot of CPU
horsepower to play back. It was thought that the playing of MP3
files required at least a Pentium 90 processor, however there
have been reports of individuals playing MP3s with Pentium 75
and even Pentium 60 processors!
02.
Mp3 songs
are played on Mp3 players. There are 'n' number of players
available on the net. But the best one I have (and probably for
the rest of the world too!) used is
winamp.
Also try Musicmatch
for its beautiful interface!
03.
There are
2 ways of downloading Mp3 songs...First, just click on the link
and depending on your browser the file will start downloading in
your system after you enter where the song is to be stored.
Second, you can right-click on the link, and choose 'save target
as' (for IE) or 'save link as' (for netscape).
04.
Incomplete downloads may be because of erratic connections to
the internet. If the connection snaps in between a download, the
process has to start from scratch, all over again.
05.
Download
managers help you download a file in total, well almost! All you
need to do is to get the download manager, configure it with
your internet connection. It automatically downloads the file
you select. Probably the best advantage of using a download
manager is 'resume'. It actually resumes snapped downloads from
the point it stopped, instead of starting from the beginning.
The best download manager I have used - which also happens to be
free - is
gozilla.
The other popular one is
getright
which is available for a 30 day trial.
06.
The most
probable reason might be that the file you downloaded does not
have the file extension - .mp3
07. To change
a file extension from .anything to .mp3, just right-clicking the
file and choosing would not help! So try this instead....
a. Open any folder in your system
b. Click on 'view' - 'options'
c. In options choose 'view'
d. You'd see an option 'Hide MS DOS file
extensions for file types that are registered'
e. Uncheck this option and you'd start seeing
all the extensions of your files!
f. Now try renaming the extension!
08.
Some
files dont have the .mp3 extension because most of the mp3s
available on the net are illegal. So some servers prohibit
people from uploading mp3 files. So clever poeple change the
file extension to .anything and upload the song! So you'll find
most of the links in my site with .gif extension. When you click
on it, it'll obviously not lead you to a .gif picture, cos its
not, in the first place. So you need to right click and 'save
target as' and download the file. Then follow point 07 and
chnage the file extension!
09. The
general thumbrule for music download on the net is that the file
you downloaded could have any extension. So if you've downloaded
a .zip file and it doesnt unzip, chances are that its a .mp3
file camoflaged as a zip file! So stop trying unzipping it and
follow the procedure explained in Q.07 to rename the file
extension.
But do this only after you try unzipping it at least once. The
message you might get is 'Cannot open file...It doen not appear
to be a valid archive'. So you now know how to deal with it...eh?
10.
These
3 bit files exist 'cos the files are too large for me to upload
in the geocities server! So I have split the files into 3 of
which one is a self uniting exe file. All you need to is this...
01. Download all the three files.
02. Copy all the 3 files into a new folder.
03. Dont do anything to the .gif files (files 01 and 02).
04. Change the file extension of the '.jpg' (file 03) file to '.exe'.
05. Double click on the .exe file to get one whole mp3 file.
If you still have a problem, feel free to
email
me! |
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