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MP3 and the
Digital Music Revolution
technical guide for recording, playing, and editing audio
First off, what's MP3? Answer - a group of standards for compressing and storing audio and video [pronounced 'EM-peg' by the way]. It's one of the latest and most popular forms of data transfer. You can download free sound tracks off the Net to assemble your own CDs, and the compression algorithms allow you to fit ten times as much information into the same space as you would with conventional .wav files.
The Diamond 'Rio' seems to be player of choice for these files - a Walkman-sized device with no moving parts which can store thirty-five minutes of sound, with a flash memory card for doubling this capacity. This is one facet of the Information Revolution which is changing our culture not at some point in the digital future but right now as you're reading this. It's serious enough to have the music business very worried - particularly at a time of falling record sales.
John Hedtke describes his approach to the phenomenon as 'a fast introduction to MP3'. He certainly explains all the basics of file transfer, recording, and editing in a direct and user-friendly style. He covers the equipment you need to get started [most of it free]; how to create playlists; and recording from your computer to your audio system. There's much talk of 'ripping', which is converting existing sound files to MP3 format; and 'burning', which is recording your own CDs - now within reach as CD-recording equipment has fallen in price.
I would have liked a bit more on the copyright, piracy, and intellectual property rights issues. It is the unstoppable effects of digitisation which are putting these aspects of the music industry under a lot of strain right now. However, this is a how-to-do-it book, and at least he draws the reader's attention to these matters. All his examples come from the realm of American pop and folk, but the principles are the same for any kind of music.
He ends with a survey of future possible developments in terms of format, distribution, and the upside-down world of e-commerce in which people get rich by giving things away. The text is well illustrated with screenshots, plus lots of helpful marginal notes and tips. There's also a full listing of online resources, a glossary, and a good index. The book also has its own Web site, and there's a CD with all the MP3 software you need for recording and playback, plus more than ten hours of music. Top Floor publishing has the knack of seeing what's going to happen next in the world of Net commerce, so this could be a guide for music fans - and musicians - which has arrived just at the right moment.
© Roy Johnson 1999
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John Hedtke, MP3 and the Digital Music Revolution, Colorado: Top Floor, 1999, pp.247, ISBN 0966103246
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