626 Chapter 21
orchestral music (let’s face it, what system does?) but for many other applications it
offers a sound quality that is at least as good as anything that can be transmitted by FM
radio or obtained from a high-quality cassette.
● The advantages are many. You can load the memory up with music that you like,
deleting anything you don’t want to hear again. You can play tracks in any order,
select tracks at random, and store other music on your PC until you want it on
your MP3 player.One other attraction is rather an illusion, that music is free. Many Internet sites offer
MP3 fi les at no direct cost, but you have to pay for the large amount of telephone time
you need for downloading them. Unless you want only fairly small-scale works you will
need a fast Internet connection, such as you get with cable TV fi rms. The alternative is to
spend a lot of your income paying for BT phone calls, although alternatives are appearing
almost daily. If you really want to download a lot of music it makes sense to take out a
fast line or use one of the offers of a fi xed charge for unlimited Internet use. Either way,
your music is not exactly free.
In addition, “ free ” music is often made by unknown artists in strange places. Sometimes
you will fi nd an excellent recording made by a Russian orchestra that is unable to raise
the money to make CDs or to go on tour. Other recordings may have quite awful quality,
and there is always the suspicion about some of the worst recordings that some tracks
may even be acquired illegally, using miniature recorders taken to live concerts. Some
may even be copied from existing CDs. However, the MP3 system is an excellent way
for any person or group to make and record their own music and distribute it worldwide
without the costs involved in making a CD.
● There is nothing illegal about possessing MP3 fi les, no matter how they were
obtained originally, on your computer. If you make copies and distribute them,
that’s another matter, and the usual laws of copyright apply. It is certainly
illegal to convert CD tracks and distribute the music in MP3 format without the
permission of the copyright holder.21.6 Transcribing a Recording by Computer ................................................................
The standard hi-fi methods of copying music for your own use include cassette recording,
DAT, and now CD-R or CD-RW. With the help of a computer you can go considerably
further by editing the music (cutting out scratches, for example, in old vinyl-disc