_ _PULSE EDITOR: MONICA HANDE
Down about Napster? Log on to these music sites
■ A guide to online music
showcases Web sites from
which to download free music
By Josh Ryneal
Oregon Daily Emerald
Sure, anyone with a computer
can get online with Napster or
Scour and download free music.
However, the quasi-illegality of this
practice makes the future of such
online music somewhat doubtful.
You probably won’t get in trouble
for using Napster, but what hap
pens if it dries up or you somehow
develop a conscience and decide
that stealing Metallica’s songs is
wrong?
There is free, legal MP3 music
out there, but knowing where it is,
or how to get it, sometimes seems
like a lot of work. Just in case the
need arises, here is a quick guide to
online music services that don't
skirt stringent copyright laws.
A word of warning: As a rule,
these Web sites don't offer the in
stant gratification of Napster and
the majority of the music available
there is from unknown and un
signed bands. But take a chance
and give it a try; you might find a
diamond in the rough.
Mp3.com
This is the granddaddy of online
music Web sites, and it is MAM
MOTH! This site has every genre
you can think of, from spoken
word to Celtic music.
Mp3.com doesn’t just have
songs, but also lets you download
MP3 players and other software
necessary for listening to your new
found audio treasures. Mp3.com
also lets you play any song through
streaming audio before you down
load it, a useful feature that may
help weed out some of the undesir
ables.
The site also features
my.mp3.com, a service that lets
you upload MP3 and CD tracks to
an account for storage and retrieval.
This may not be available for long,
as it has come under vigorous at
tack from the recording industry.
Because the site is so huge, how
ever, it can be confusing for new
users to skip the ads and promo
tions and get straight to the music.
Confronted with so many options,
some may just give up and move
on somewhere else.
Mp3.com also requires users’ e
mail addresses so they can “receive
notification of special events at
mp3.com,” but then informs them
that advertisers’ and Web sites’ use
of this information is not covered
in their privacy policy.
Listen.com
Listen.com is more like a music
magazine than a straightforward
MP3 site. With its clean design,
quick-study reviews and “guest ed
itors” such as Lucy Pearl and
Spinal Tap, listen.com makes it
simple to get online music of every
variety.
It acts as a gateway to other sites
as well, so when the user searches
for an artist, it pulls results from
other Web sites. But listen.com suf
fers from the same malaise that af
flicts all sites like these: Search for
an Eminem track, and get maybe
three songs maximum, which don’t
even include the one you were
looking for. That's the record indus
try for you.
However, lesser bands that don't
have top-40 hits are better repre
sented. A search for Face To Face, a
California skate-punk band, turned
up 41 songs. A lot of them were
free, which is not too shabby for a
band that's almost famous.
Mp3yes.com
Mp3yes.com bills itself as the
“No. 1 source for MP3s on the In
ternet!” That may be true, but the
awful design might leave users
blind before they can get past the
first screen. Put on a pair of sun
glasses and squint hard, and you'll
find a rather modest site that offers
a wide yet shallow selection of mu
sic and plug-ins such as MP3 play
ers and screensavers. All this clut
ter makes it hard to get to actual
files, which requires clicking on
multiple links.
Instead of an intuitive interface,
the user is confronted with a per
plexing variety of searches and
links that resemble a hall of mir
rors. The searches aren't even on
the site itself; it uses altavista.com
to search the entire Web, which is
something you could do without
visiting this site.
There are a few useful things
here: a guide on how to convert
MP3s to CDs and vice versa; useful
utilities such as CD rippers, which
allow you to turn CD tracks into
MP3s; links on how to download
and install Napster. But these little
treats don't compensate for the
myriad problems that hurt
mp3yes.com.
Mp3now.com
Here’s another comprehensive
site that has links to music, MP3
players and useful online music
news.
If you are one of the unlucky
few who has been blocked from
using Napster, find out how to cir
cumvent that here.
As for the music, mp3now.com
doesn’t actually have much music
on its site, but instead acts as a
gateway to other sites that do.
Mp3now.com is a good place to
start if you want to learn more
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
about the technology and history
of MP3s, instead of ignorantly and
indiscriminately downloading
songs off of Napster.
Using these sites to get music
may be a bit difficult, but the stuff
you learn on the way could be use
ful and valuable. Time is a pre
cious commodity to students with
full schedules, but if you've got a
few spare minutes, these sites
might be worth a look.
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