George L. O'Brien
Our web site now has over 225 Irish song lyrics (plus links to several outstanding lyric sites such as Mudcat Cafe). However, recently we have added links to a number of web sites that deliver music you can liisten to over the internet. This has generated a number of questions which I will try to address.
WHAT DO I NEED TO PLAY MUSIC ON MY COMPUTER? At minimum, the computer needs a "sound card" and a set of speakers. Almost all new computers are equipped to play music or other sounds (speech, sound effects, disco, etc.). Some older computers do not have sound cards, but they are relatively easy to add. Typically, older, slow computers (Pentium 90's for example) do not handle sound very well, but the will play. Sound files are generally quite large, so a large hard disk is essential if you plan to keep very many of these files.
CAN I PLAY MY MUSIC CD'S ON MY COMPUTER? If there is a sound card and speakers, the answer is "yes". Just put the CD into the CD-ROM drive and should start automatically. If it doesn't, it may be necessary to go to the "Multimedia" section of the "Control Panel" to up the player. It may be necessary to download a "Media Player" from the Microsoft web site or from some other source such as Real Audio.
CAN I SAVE SONGS FROM CD ONTO MY COMPUTER? It depends. Some CD's have special software that prevents the files from being easily copied.
Even with permission, it takes special software. The "native" format of music CD's are in "wave" files which can be identified by the "wav" extention. Wave files can be extremely high quality, but are extremely large. This is not a problem when the information is being transferred from the hard disk or a disk drive. However, they are very slow to transfer over the internet.
Newer CD-ROM "burners" have software that permits the creation of CD's that will play on your music CD player. This is useful for bands that want to make a few demo disks, but it is not cost effective for larger numbers of disks.
WHAT IS MP3 AND WHY SHOULD I CARE? MP3 files (which are also designated as MPEG) result from the compression of wav files. While still relatively large, the compression has made it feasible for music to transferred over the web without loss of data (ie sound quality). This has opened a number of issues relating to copyright violations. We link to MP3.com which has been pretty good about getting the permission of the artists. We do not link to napster because it appears they have permitted widespread copyright violations.
On the plus side, MP3 technology has made it possible for people to sample the music of artists they may not know very well (or at all). Some of our local artists have MP3 tracts on their web sites. Our main internet music partner, CDNOW, provides MPEG segments of a high percentage of the CD's they offer, without giving away entire tracts. The typical CD will have MPEG clips of three or four tracts.
Not every computer has MP3 software. There are several kinds that can be downloaded free of charge off the internet such as "Windows Media Player" from Microsoft and "Real Jukebox" from Real Audio. You can find links to these sites on most web sites that offer MP3 downloads.
In addition to being able to play MP3 files on the computer, there are now stand alone MP3 players that can be used the same as portable CD players. One attraction to this is that specific tracts can be put together.
WHAT IS STREAMING AUDIO? When a wav, mp3, or other file must be completely transferred before it can be played. This can be time consuming. With streaming software, such as the Real Audio Player, you can start listening before the entire file is downloaded. This is especially useful when listening to on-line radio stations. (Just click on their Real Audio button to download the software).
In most cases, the information is sent faster than the line can carry it. This means the computer creates a "buffer" which collects information before playing it. Slower modems such as 28.8k will experience periodic interruptions while the buffer has to be refilled.
We are trying to provide a useable list of Irish broadcasters. This is not always easy because many do not webcast all the time and many do not do a lot of Irish music. .On the other hand, "Live Ireland.com" is a purely internet based broadcast that comes from Ireland and does mostly Irish music.
WHAT ARE MIDI FILES? MIDI is a format for providing music information. A MIDI file can be created using an instrument or sound system with a MIDI connection. This information can be played back on a MIDI instrument or player with MIDI software.
Unlike MP3, which is primarily designed to be played by fans, MIDI is used primarily by musicians to communicate with other musicians. For example, MIDI files can be converted into sheet music using software such as Cakewalk Score Writer. Some web sites will show the sheet music while the song is being played. This kind of software can be used to change the key and other wise change various aspects of the song and then play it back on a MIDI player. (I met one composer who writes entirely using Score Writer and then listens to it on a MIDI player).
WHAT ARE ABC FILES? ABC is a relatively new format for transferring information about songs over the internet. It is similar to MIDI in that it provides a way to communicate music information, but differs in that it creates data that can be inserted into a simple e-mail message. There is shareware software that plays theses files and other programs that convert ABC files into MIDI files. (Look at some of the sites with ABC designation under the MIDI category).
There is a lot more to this subject than I have outline, but I hope this proves useful.
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Arizona Irish Music Society
