Ever heard of Amanda's Bored, a musician from Georgia? Or how about a Bavarian group called Cerebral Suppression? The first plays a rendition of the Itsy-Bitsy Spider while the latter offers techno-electric heavy metal. Both sets of musicians have one thing in common—their music can be downloaded from the Web as a compressed audio file, and listened to using Windows Media^TM Player in Windows 98.

Shipping container
Maybe you have stumbled upon downloadable music files and wondered what they're all about. Think of these files as being like ready-to-assemble furniture that is disassembled to fit in a container for easier shipping. There are several popular "containers" for shipping audio files on the Internet, such as Windows Media Format or MP3. But to hear Amanda's Bored sing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," you'll need an audio player, such as the Windows Media Player that is built into Windows 98.

Windows Media Player can play a range of audio files, including Windows Media Format and MP3 files. It does so by using codecs; the name is derived from compress/decompress. Codecs were developed to overcome the limitations of most modem connections. Since audio files are naturally large, codecs eliminate all but the most essential part of the recorded audio. In the process, they can compress stereo sound by a factor of 12 without losing audio quality. This process allows audio files to transmit easily using standard modems and then be decompressed after transmission to allow them to be played. Codecs are mostly invisible to you because they are embedded in the player that will finally render the audio files into music you can listen to on your computer speakers.

Streaming to a speaker near you 
Windows Media Format provides many benefits over other audio codecs, such as MP3. The typical MP3 file is encoded at 128 kilobits per second (Kbps), which provides near CD-quality sound. Meanwhile, Windows Media Format is capable of delivering superior audio quality at only 64 Kbps—half the size of typical MP3 files. You get the same quality of music, faster downloads, and less space taken up by music files on your hard drive.

A plethora of Web sites have converted music into Windows Media Format files for quick and easy downloading, which has proved a boon to musicians of all sorts who use the Web to distribute their music. Many major record labels and some of the most popular recording artists in the world have selected Windows Media Format to encode and distribute their songs online, since the sound quality meets their professional standards and the secure digital format meets the industry standard for commercial distribution.

The Web is alive with the sound of music
To find music on the Web, look no further than WindowsMedia.com. WindowsMedia.com provides thousands of music files, videos, and the latest music news from thousands of artists in just about any category you can think of—all in one place. You'll also find hundreds of virtual radio stations that will stream audio directly to your computer. For more information on listening while you work, take a look at our article on Web radio.

Whether you choose music from the latest platinum-selling artist or the garage-techno-punk outfit that lives next door, Windows Media Format or MP3, the Windows Media Player is your front door the diverse range of media on the Web. Now, what's your listening pleasure: tiny spiders, gothic metal, or something else entirely?

New computer speakers are now on order for Gordon Black's home.