MP3 Book Review

by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club
April 2000

In April 1999, the term "MP3" surpassed the term "sex" as the most-searched-for term on the top Internet search engine. In a very short period of time, by Internet standards, the emerging MP3 technology, a new digital music-encoding algorithm, has changed the dynamics of music distribution.

Author Scot Hacker, former music reviewer for "The Utne Reader" and "The Cadence Journal of Jazz and Blues," and now content manager and production editor at ZDNet, says "Most of the music we hear is handed to us by the recording industry, and this industry treats music exclusively as a business. But amazing people making music are all around us."

He continues, "I believe great music will bubble to the top on its own merits. We will discover great music, we'll tell our friends, and before long, the charts will be topped by artists chosen by listeners, rather than pushed by record labels. For the first time in history, artists and musicians can potentially be heard by anyone on the planet with Web access, and those artists don't need any part of the recording industry to make it happen."

In short, MP3 represents one of the most significant challenges to the music industry since the transformation from vinyl to digital CD. However, in this case this change is more than merely a move from one medium to another. MP3 represents a basic, fundamental change in how music is created, distributed and sold. For musicians, this technology is as important to them as it is to the major record label companies.

As of the publication date of this title, March 2000, the MP3 "revolution" has really just begun, and aficionados of this newly emerging trend can expect many ongoing changes over the next few years, as this new concept continues to grow and develop.

Hacker's thorough and many times complex guide to this newest new thing on the Internet introduces us to all aspects of MP3 technology. He delves into detail on obtaining, recording, and optimizing MP3 files, using both commercial and Open Source methods, and covers four platforms: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and BeOS. Nine (9) In-depth chapters describe all aspects of the MP3 experience, from distributing, streaming, broadcasting, converting and playing, to archiving your own collection of MP3 files.

The author also explains how to test your own MP3 equipment, optimize your encoding times, evaluate playback options, control and organize a collection, and even burn your own CD's or distribute your own music to an audience via the Internet. He also explains the many legal issues surrounding MP3 files.

There is also an excellent buyer's guide to the myriad of MP3 hardware players, including portables and kits. You can now listen to MP3 files on your own personal digital assistance (PDA), car stereo, or even a rack-mounted system.

This book about the latest state-of-the-art progress in this highly volatile MP3 industry will answer most every question, frustration or problem anyone might have had while creating, using, or listening to music in the MP3 format. The levels of use of the book range from novices, to experts with extensive experience with and knowledge of this rapidly developing new technology that has the music industry very concerned.

As is always the case with an O'Reilly title, readers will find reliable, no-nonsense solutions to this technological topic that is heating up the charts within the music industry. Hacker has written a fast-moving thorough guide to the inner workings of MP3, and readers can begin with a superb introductory chapter to this concept that is followed by chapters with extensive technical explanations, all extremely well organized and conceptualized. With the extremely dynamic nature of this technology, it would be logical for readers to anxiously await new editions of the work that would incorporate the inevitable continuous changes with MP3.

Book Contents

400 pages; photos, screen shots, charts, diagrams, figures, tips and suggestions, cautions and warnings; appendix; glossary; index; about the author; cover colophon

Author

Scot Hacker

ISBN

1-56592-661-7

List Price

$29.95

Publisher:

Contact: Lisa Mann
1-707-829-0515, ext 230
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
101 Morris Street
Sebastopol, California 95472
1-800-998-9938
1-707-820-0515
FAX 1-707-829-0104
www.oreilly.com