Before digital music became the norm, the only way to get hold of a particular piece of music was to go out and physically buy or copy a record or tape. The only knowledge necessary to listen to the music involved how to turn on and use your record or cassette player. These days, to be able to use the latest technology in portable digital music requires at least some familiarity with and access to a computer.
For many consumers, especially those who have become to computer literate later in their life, or work in a field that is not directly concerned with Information Technology, the finding and downloading digital music can be daunting.
There are many formats available and it depends what style of player you use as to the format you require. There is a format specifically for MP3 players and another for iPods. Then there are ACC files, AIFF and WAV. Confused? These acronyms all have to do with the way digital music is encoded and compressed so as to take up as little memory space as possible while maintaining sound quality.
Fortunately for most users, it is not necessary to understand the details as most files can be converted to whatever format your player uses and this can be done automatically by your PC or iMac. However, for those who want to understand more and get the most from their player, there is a lot of information available on the internet which may help you decide which digital music files are best for you to download.
For many consumers, especially those who have become to computer literate later in their life, or work in a field that is not directly concerned with Information Technology, the finding and downloading digital music can be daunting.
There are many formats available and it depends what style of player you use as to the format you require. There is a format specifically for MP3 players and another for iPods. Then there are ACC files, AIFF and WAV. Confused? These acronyms all have to do with the way digital music is encoded and compressed so as to take up as little memory space as possible while maintaining sound quality.
Fortunately for most users, it is not necessary to understand the details as most files can be converted to whatever format your player uses and this can be done automatically by your PC or iMac. However, for those who want to understand more and get the most from their player, there is a lot of information available on the internet which may help you decide which digital music files are best for you to download.