ABOUT MP3 FILES

MP3 is a new technology using MPEG compression, shrinking down data by a factor of 12 and still retaining CD-like quality. Factors of up to 24 and more still allow for a quality significantly better than just reducing linearly the sampling frequency and the number of bits. This is realized by "perceptual coding" techniques taking into account the limited resolution of the human ear. Maybe you already heard about MP3. As interest in audio over the Internet increased, MPEG Layer-3 files, music files that are capable of storing long audio tracks with CD quality sound in a fraction of the space, appeared. With this ease of piracy, it's a shock to the entire music industry.

MP3 Legal information - MP3s can be owned legally, providing the following: you encode songs off of your own CDs and keep them for yourself, obtain written permission from the copyright holder of the music, or the music is available with the copyright owner's consent. It is Illegal to encode MP3 files and share them with any other entity unless you have written permission of the copyright holder of the music. It is also Illegal to download any songs or music off of the Internet for CDs you do not have in your own possession and rightfully own or have no copyright holders consent.

While it is still possible to download and share your songs with people all over the Internet, MP3s are becoming a highly debated issue between web sites and software containing MP3 files. Computer Hope cannot provide legal information to end-users or web administrators concerning MP3s; as a general rule we would recommend that users and administrators follow the above paragraph.