| *Rankings courtesy of MP3now.com. Check them out at: www.MP3now.com |
| 1 MediaFind -- One of the best MP3 search engines with excellent interface and good results. |
|
| 2 Scour.net Media Search -- Nice clean interface. Good results. One of the best with reliability index in every download link. |
|
| 3 mIRC-X MP3 Search -- One of the oldest MP3 search engines. Good interface and good results. |
|
| 4 Zabnet Media Search -- New Search Engine from Russia. Looks very good. |
|
| 5 MP3 Box -- Nice clean interface. Doesn’t have direct download links for ftp sites. |
|
| 6 Kermit -- Simple interface. Doesn't have direct download links for ftp sites. |
|
| 7 FAST FTP Search v3.7 -- Searches FTP Servers. Search for ‘mp3’ to get best results. |
|
| 8 Project Borg V2 -- Looks nice with reliability rating next to each link. Under construction but operational. |
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| 9 Mediabot -- A new search Engine. Not so many files but reliable. |
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| - MP3Site.Com Search Engine -- Still preparing a new version of the Search Engine. |
|
| - Mpeg3 Search -- Good results but unstable. |
|
| - OmniSearch -- Excellent Interface. Quality results but not working the last days. |
|
| - Veconsulting MP3 Search -- Fast. Good results. Not working the last few days. |
*Are you new to the world of MP3, if so continue downward to the bottom of
this page for a small seminar class...MP3 101*
Learn about:
Find out about the MPman
check out this site-->www.mpman.com
MP3 101
-- Info:
| *This section in part by MP3.com, one of the best sources of MP3 news, info and software on the web! Check them out at: www.MP3.com |
| General Info | Playing MP3s | Making MP3s | Troubleshooting |
MP3 Basics
General MP3 Info
Q: Are MP3s legal?
A: Yes and no, its legal if you encode MP3s from you own CDs and keep them to
yourself. But it's illegal to encode MP3s and trade them with others unless
you have the permission of the copyright holder of the music. To put it another
way, MP3 is simply a file format that can be used either legally or illegally.
Q: How do I find MP3's
A: This is usually a long and tedious process, especially if you're looking
for one particular MP3. I recommend starting with the MP3 search engines
at the top of this page.
Playing MP3's once you find them
MP3 is a music format with great CD quality sound. You can download songs from the net (or make your own) and play them right on your computer and they sound fantastic. Just follow these steps:
Step 1:
Download a player
For Windows, I recommend WinAmp, and for Mac try MacAmp. There are others
available but this is the most popular and preferred. You can download
the player at www.winamp.com.
Step 2:
Install the MP3 player.
Follow the instructions for the MP3 player to install it and you're ready to
play those MP3's!
Step 3:
Now you'll need some songs to play.
Keep at it and you'll eventually find the MP3 you're looking for. I recommend
getting an FTP program that continuously tries to reconnect to an FTP site if
it is full.
P.S. Be sure and install good speakers on your computer to fully appreciate the great quality of MP3 songs! I found it extremely worthwhile to connect the -sound out- on my computer to the -aux in- on my home stereo system.
Q: Is there a player that will run on a 486 66Mhz or lower?
A: As far as I know, you must have at least a 486DX4 100Mhz for playing full
stereo mp3 files although winamp has some settings that will lessen the strain
on your computer's CPU in exchange for some loss of quality.
Q: I have downloaded some Winamp plugins. How can I use those?
A: Copy the .dll files into your winamp directory then start winamp, go to the
prefs then to plugins, there you can select the plugin you like.
Step 1: Where to start?
The first step is to copy a song from an audio CD. This is called "ripping".
Not all CD rip programs work with all CD-ROM drives, and not all cdrom drives
can rip audio. It's just trial and error on this one. Once you have
a CD-ROM drive that can rip audio and have downloaded a CD ripper, you are able
to copy audio tracks from a CD to your harddrive. Although they will be
quite large until encoded into MP3's
Step 2: Choose an MP3 Encoder
Now download a MP3 encoder, you need that for encoding the .wav files you get
from the CD ripper. There are encoders for almost all operating systems.
Step 3: How do things work?
Now you have all the tools for making your own MP3's. It's sometimes tricky
to get the MP3's to come out without any skips or flaws...you just have to play
around with the ripper and encoder settings until the finished product doesn't
have any flaws.
Q: Is there a way to convert MP3s into WAVs?
A: Yes there is, you can decode a MP3 into a wav file with L3dec. But
there are also mp3 players that can decode MP3s into WAVs. Winamp is one of
them. Go to the "prefs", then "output" and select "WAV file output".
Q: Is there a way to convert MP3s into audio CD?
A: Yes there is. You can decode a MP3 into a WAV file with L3dec. But there
are also MP3 players that can decode a MP3 into a WAV file, WinAmp is one of
them, go to the 'prefs', then 'output' and select 'wav file output'. When you
have a WAV file you can record that on a audio CD with a CD recorder program,
like Easy CD Creator.
Q: Can I encode an MP3 straight from the CD?
A: Yes, if you have mp3 compressor or mp3 producer installed, you can with windac32
copy a track into a mp3, go to the menu 'DAC' then to 'select wave format' and
choose Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional).
Q: I have tried all the CD rippers, but none of them are working!
A: You must have a CD-ROM player that can read RAW, not all the CD-ROM players
are able to do that.
Q: I downloaded an MP3 with Netscape, but now the sound is very bad.
A: Download always (if possible) with a ftp client like cuteftp. But you can
fix that bad sound with uncook.zip.
Q: I have MP3s on my page but if I click them I only see ascii text!
A: You have to add or change the MIME settings for MP3, ask your sys admin to
set them to : audio/mpeg mpga mp2 mp3.
Q: I try to log on a ftp server, but it say that the password is not correct
or anonymous user access not allowed or no more users in your Class/Group/Account.
A: Most of the times when that happens, the server is just full, try again later.