Music and your computer By Tracey Peacock for Rochford Computer Club

Getting music on your computer Transfer the music from CDs you already own – called ripping. Individual tracks and albums can be downloaded from the internet. Record your own music directly onto the computer – various instruments can be plugged in via USB sockets. It’s not just music: radio shows, books on tape, book reviews, any audible data – also see podcasts.

Ripping CDs Insert a music CD into the CD or DVD player on the computer. Usually it will automatically start reading the CD and open a window asking what you would like to do with the data. Choose rip CD. The media player will open. The tracks will be transferred to the computer’s music library (see My Music) one at a time. Usually the track titles will be part of the data transfer. And that’s it!

Internet sites There is a few popular legal sites for downloading music – see handout. For a good example go to the BBC for stream ‘live’, listen again, download or subscribe to a podcast which is like having a magazine delivered. Also becoming popular is TV programmes online to watch or download – but that’s another subject!

So what are the advantages? You can listen to audio data through the PC – providing you have speakers connected! Transfer to removable media such as an MP3 player, phone or CD/DVD. Create play-lists and update & change them as often as you like. Album covers and track titles are usually recognised automatically.

But…. there are issues Copyright & legality – it is not legal to copy CD’s for your own use but it is unlikely you will be pursued* Cost – tracks cost about 79p each There are virus threats from downloaded data If the site is willing to operate illegally, what will they do with your personal information? Type of internet site – you may need to download software to use the website, so you need to check your system’s specifications. * Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, told the Commons select committee for culture, media and sport that he wanted to "make it unequivocally clear to the consumer that if they copy their CDs for their own private use in order to move the music from format to format, we will not pursue them“ Consumers would only be penalised if they made duplicates of songs for other people. Source BBC website Jun 06.

Want more information? Try the following websites for more information on downloading music: whatsthedownload.com bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts