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Learn the Net News--a free weekly service from Learn the Net.com
http://www.learnthenet.comVol. 2, No. 32 -- Week of August 20, 2000
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Welcome to Learn the Net News.
Not too long ago, businesses had to be convinced that having a website made sense. These days, many businesses, from car dealers to veterinarians, not only have a website, but also are providing web pages for each of their customers. For instance, your dog Fido can have his own page detailing his vaccinations and other medical history. It’s a terrific way to provide personalized service. Find out how your business can benefit from this new service:
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/features/larry.htmLast week’s Web Tour was devoted to creatures of the sea. This week we take to the skies for a look at sites for birdwatchers. As fall approaches, annual migrations will soon begin. Discover the secret life of our fine-feathered friends:
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/features/folks.htm---------------------------------------------
"Top Ten Things You Can Do on the Net This Week" include:
- Learn the history of the Macintosh computer:
2. Take harmonica lessons:
http://www.harmonicalessons.com/3. Help protect animals in danger:
http://www.uan.org/4. Join the art cows on parade:
http://www.cowparade.net/5. Interpret your dreams:
http://www.dreamlife.com/course/course.asp?course_id=1200&cat=56. Visit the elephants at the National Zoo:
http://web2.si.edu/natzoo/hilights/webcams/molerat1/elecam/elecam10.htm7. Amuse the kids during your next road trip:
http://www.pathfinder.com/travel/klutz/8. Get the latest jargon from Word Spy:
http://www.logophilia.com/WordSpy/today.html9. Discover what holds the universe together:
http://www.particleadventure.org/english/index.html10. Enjoy the Daily Feed, satire from National Public Radio:
http://www.dailyfeed.com/
Do you have a favorite site? Let us know, please.
mailto:comments@...------------------------------------------------
New to the Net? Know someone who needs helping getting online? Our new guidebook, "The Portable Learn the Net" is an economical way--just US $9.95--to get friends and family connected.
Learn more and order online at
http://www.learnthenet.com/books/book.htm.------------------------------------------------
You’ve probably heard about Napster, the Internet service that lets people around the world share digital music files. Napster has music industry executives up in arms because they claim that the service infringes on their copyrights and cuts into their estimated $38 billion of annual profits. If songs are available for free, who is going to pay $15 for a CD?
I decided to try out Napster to try to see if it’s as dangerous as the music honchos claim. Here’s what I discovered. While Napster and similar services have the potential to profoundly change the recording business as it currently exists, at the moment, I don’t think it’s as threatening as they claim. The available selection of "free" music is very limited and you have to work very hard to get it.
Once you download and install the Napster software, you can search the music files on all the hard drives of members of the Napster community that are currently online. If you find a song you want, you can then download it to your computer. By searching around, I found that most of the available songs are pop hits. You rarely find complete CDs. If you’re looking for some obscure tune, even for a popular group, you will probably come up empty handed. It’s not that different than Top 40 radio.
Music files in mp3 format run about 1 Mb for each minute of music. (A five-minute song is about 5 Mb.) To download songs efficiently, you really need a high-speed Internet connection. With a modem, it could take hours.
I tried to download about 20 songs, but about half of the downloads failed for various technical reasons. Of the ones I did download, the quality varied markedly. Two songs ended abruptly. One had weird popping sounds. The audio levels of the songs differed.
Unless you have a portable mp3 player, you have to convert the music files to .wav files and burn them on a CD in order to play them on your stereo system or in your car. I think by now you are starting to get the picture. The process takes time and patience. Frankly, I don’t think the results warrant it, at least not yet. But the concept of downloading music from the Net to create your own CDs is terrific. By eliminating the middlemen, the packaging, shipping, and inventory, the final price of a CD should be much less. If a CD cost $5 instead of $15, would people be less inclined to pirate music? Let me know what you think.
If you want to give Napster a try, you can download the software at
http://www.napster.comTo see what tunes are available on the Web, try the music search service from Lycos:
http://music.lycos.com/. You can download some songs from many websites without the need for special software.------------------------------------------------
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Michael Lerner
Publisher
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