Illustration by Brad Wolf

Beginner’s Guide to Digital Music, Part II By Erik Sherman, April 2006, May & June 2006 Learn about different types of players and how to find, buy, and organize your new tunes

Now that you have some of the basics of digital music down, it's time to get practical. And one of the first steps is to decide which players you want. Remember, there are two types of players: PC-based players that manage your music on your computer and portable players that let you take your music with you.

Let's start with the PC-based players. As we outlined in Part I of this series, all the leading software packages can rip and burn CDs, sync with portable music players, and manage a music file library on your PC. They all offer free versions that can handle these tasks just fine, but you'll pay to download individual songs or albums from their online stores, and you can subscribe to premium services that give you more functions. Each of the players has its strengths and weaknesses, and your choice will depend on your music preferences and listening habits. Here's an overview:

Windows Media Player from Microsoft

• Internet radio: A mix of North American radio stations that stream over the Internet. There are also collections of streaming channels of particular music genres that are available only to subscribers to a premium service called MSN Radio Plus.
• Online music store: Over a million songs available from MSN Music, including singles for only 99 cents. Music cuts do not work when downloaded to Apple's iPod, though they are compatible with many other devices.
• Functionality: Optional MSN Radio Plus service includes CD-quality music and eliminates the need to hear ads. Player allows users to choose from over a dozen music stores other than MSN Music.

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RealPlayer from RealNetworks

• Internet radio: North American and international radio stations as well as access to third-party Internet-only streaming sources (that are not attached to radio stations). A premium service called RadioPass provides otherwise unavailable streaming channels of specific music genres.
• Online music store: Over a million songs available through Real's Rhapsody service, with single tracks generally costing 99 cents. Music cuts are compatible with many portable players, including iPods.
• Functionality: Aside from the standard free features and the option to avoid ads with a subscription to RadioPass, the company's premium service, the software has a "favorites" feature that lets you save favorite locations for music, including Web page locations.

Musicmatch Jukebox from Yahoo!

• Internet radio: Has "radio," but not Web broadcasts of real-world stations. Instead, you can choose from free streaming channels of particular music genres or, in the case of rock, specific decades from the '60s to the present day.
• Online music store: Musicmatch Music Store has more than a million songs. Downloads are 99 cents and most albums are $9.99 for CD-quality sound.
• Functionality: A subscription to the premium service, Musicmatch On Demand, adds such additional services as CD-quality sound for the radio broadcasts, an end to banner and audio advertisements, and the ability to listen to some music from the Musicmatch Music Store (though not save it). Purchasing the Plus version of Musicmatch Jukebox adds such things as faster CD burning and ripping and the ability to rip music from any source, including records and cassettes.

iTunes from Apple

• Internet radio: Offers a range of genres with either traditional radio stations that stream on the Web or third-party sources of online streaming music.
• Online music store: Charges 99 cents for most single tracks and various prices for albums. Has some exclusive tracks from well-known artists as well as some free songs from lesser-known artists.
• Functionality: Has an easy-to-use interface, and all features are available in the free version, without the need for a premium version. Compatible only with iPod portable players.

Acquiring and Playing Music: Internet Radio

Once you've selected and installed a player, it's time to play. Listening to Internet radio is surprisingly easy. It's typically free, and you can pick from a vast selection of genres and stations. Of course, once you hear a song, it's gone from your computer (until it eventually plays again on the station), and replaying an earlier track usually requires subscribing to a pay service that allows you to play music on demand and not depend on the vagaries of the streaming playlist. The advanced services often allow you to create personalized streaming channels with artists of your choice.

Here's how to use the radio function on Windows Media Player and Musicmatch Jukebox.

Windows Media Player

1. Start Windows Media Player. Click the Radio tab.
2. The boxes next to the categories allow you to expand any one.
   
   
   
   
3. We've chosen jazz. Pick a station and click on the start button, just as we're starting the Jazz Essentials station.
4. Now the music plays. The main screen shows the particular track you are currently hearing, along with the album cover image. Toward the right-hand bottom corner you see the track that will play next.
   
   
   
   

Musicmatch Jukebox

1. Start Musicmatch Jukebox and click the Radio choice on the left-hand menu.
   
   
   
   
2. This time we'll expand the classical listings.
3. Click on the Baroque option, then click the Play this Station button.
   
   
   
   
4. The top right portion of the player shows the current track along with the image of the associated album cover. While there are DVD-style controls, not all work. You can't pause the playing, for example, though you can skip to the next track here or by double-clicking on the next track name in the playlist window.
   
   
   
   

Acquiring and Playing Music: Online Stores

You also can download music from the player's online store (or from free sources elsewhere online) to your hard drive. Keep in mind that all the music is copyrighted and you need permission to be able to use it. Unless the copyright holder has explicitly provided permission, it is illegal to swap music with others or to download tracks from unauthorized sites; the recording industry has traced and prosecuted some individuals for illegal use of music. The pay services have permission from the music labels to sell tracks individually.

1. Open Windows Media Player and click on the Music tab. You're now seeing the music store.
2. If you aren't signed in to Microsoft's Passport system, you will need to do so by clicking the Sign In link at the top of the player. If you don't have an account, click the Create Account button and follow the instructions.
3. To shop by genre, choose one from the Browse Genres drop-down box.
   
   
   
   
4. If you see something you like, then choose to purchase that song by clicking the appropriate price tag button. The button turns green and changes to read Confirm. Click it again. You will then be prompted to agree to the purchase by typing your name and clicking I Accept.
5. You will now see the purchase screen again with the green Confirm button. Click it one more time and you'll be prompted to decide whether to confirm each purchase or not. We're choosing to confirm each time and to save that choice in our settings.
   
   
   
   
6. The button next to the track now says Purchased. If you click the Library tab on Windows Media Player, open the Purchased Music category on the left, and then highlight MSNMusic, you'll see your new musical property, which is now ready to play.
   
   
   
   

There are many other online sources of music where you can download for free and without legal problems. For instance, many musicians offer sample tracks on their own websites. In addition, there are sites that offer free music that musicians and labels have made available for promotion. For example, Amazon's music store has a section of free MP3 tracks. (Go to www.amazon.com, click the Music link under Browse on the left, and then click Free Downloads at the top.)

The popular technology website CNET has a special site with samples of many songs, some of which are available in their complete forms as legally downloadable MP3 files.

1. Point a browser to http://music.download.com and look around for something that catches your interest. We were taken with the idea of Delta blues coming from Australia.
2. Click the MP3 button to download the cut, though you could hear it streamed from the Web as well.
   
   
   
   
3. A dialog box asks whether to open or save the file. You want to save it to your My Music folder, realizing that the price of free music is a bit more work on your end. You could try to duplicate the way your system uses folders to put files into the right place, but it's easier to let the software do the filing.
4. At this point you have added the new music to your PC, but not to your music library. When you have saved all the files you want, open Windows Media Player and choose Add to Library>Add File or Playlist from the File menu.
   
   
   
   
5. Go to My Music in the file open box and click Open.
6. The music player will add your new track to the library. The new MP3 file is now part of your library and you can play it whenever you want. (Note that you may need to do something similar with every player you use so each knows where the file is.)
   
   
   
   

Organizing Your New Digital Music

When you load music onto your computer, it's just a file of compressed sound. But to really manage your collection, you need information about each file, such as its name, the album it's from, and the artist. Such information usually accompanies songs that you've purchased from your player's online store, but you may have to enter this info for some songs that you've loaded from CDs or acquired from other online sources.

1. Start by highlighting a track; we'll use the one we bought and downloaded off the Internet last time.
   
   
   
   
2. Right-click the track and click on Find Album Info. The player will use an online source of information about recorded music.
   
   
   
   
3. If the information doesn't seem to be available, you will get a choice of refining your search or editing the track information yourself.
   
   
   
   
4. Sometimes you need to refine a search by adding some information; the player needs something it can look up, like the album name or the performing musician. To refine the search, click No Matches Found and edit the information. Note how the album in this example is listed as http://music.download.com. That was where we downloaded the track, but it's not the name of the album. Try erasing this misleading album name and then clicking Search.
5. You will probably find yourself being prompted again to either refine the search or edit the track information. Now we're going to do the latter, providing the information ourselves and saving it by clicking Save & Finish.
   
   
   
   

Now you have everything you need to start creating your own mixes of songs. To do that, you need to create a "playlist." You can add any number of tracks to a playlist, but keep in mind that there will be a limit to how much can fit onto a CD (about 60 minutes of music) or a portable music player (the amount depends on the make and model). The following are directions for Windows Media Player.

1. Click on Now Playing List on the right side of the player. (This can get confusing, as there's a Now Playing link on the left side.) Highlight New List and then click Playlist.
   
   
   
   
2. Now you are prompted to drag tracks over to the right-hand side of the player. Left-click on a track and drag the cursor to the area prompting you to add tracks. You will see a little box with a plus sign. When it's over the area, release the mouse button. The title now appears on the playlist.
   
   
   
   
3. If you want to change the order of the playlist, click on a title in the playlist area and, while holding the button down, drag it where you want, then release the button.

Once you've settled on a set of tracks, you will need to save the playlist, or you will lose all your work when you exit the player. Here's how to save it:

1. Click New Playlist on the right and then click Save Playlist As....
2. Windows Media Player will open a save dialog box so you can keep this playlist with others you may create.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose a name that will mean something to you. Perhaps these are your favorite songs to listen to while on a long car trip. In that case, call it "Traveling Music" and click Save.
4. Notice how the New Playlist spot now reads "Traveling Music." That's because you have that playlist loaded. But clicking that spot still opens the menu that lets you create and save new playlists, as well as edit existing ones.

Now you are ready to either burn a CD with your music or download whatever is on the playlist to your portable music device.

In the next installment of our Web-exclusive Beginner's Guide to Digital Music, we'll check out portable music players and guide you through the process of loading music to take with you. Sign up for our eNewsletter to get first word on when new content is added to the site.