Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

[tom poe <tompoe AT renonevada.net>]

Hi:  Enjoy, then thank them:

The buzz on digital music is on everywhere! Find out what's possible, get 
free downloads, and get smart about your rights as a consumer

Protect your rights
 Your Personal Rights & Responsibilities as an MP3 User
 How do I burn a CD?
 How do I download music from the Internet?
 What do I need to get started?
 Why do I need Broadband?
 
 
 
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 Protect Your Digital Music Rights
 Gateway supports your right to enjoy digital music legally. 
 
 Digital technology and the Internet have made music more accessible and of 
higher quality than ever before. Today you can discover new artists on the 
Internet, burn your own mix CDs, take music with you on a compact MP3 player, 
and more. 

 But digital technology is being used by some people to make illegal copies. 
Illegal copies hurt the artists who create the music we enjoy. 

 Some content distributors and legislators believe the only way to prevent 
piracy is to prohibit all digital copying. Gateway believes we can all enjoy 
digital music legally and respect copyright laws.
 
 Gateway believes:  You have the right to make copies for your own use of any 
CD you've purchased legally -- so you can listen to it in different locations 
and have a backup if something happens to your original copy.You have the 
right to enjoy legally acquired music in any format you want -- like 
converting CD tracks to MP3 files to take with you on a portable or car MP3 
player.You have the right to download music from the Internet that you've 
paid for or that's been made available for download by the artist or record 
label.
 Some content distributors want the government to regulate your ability to do 
these things. There's even a bill before the U.S. Senate that would force the 
technology industry to implement anti-piracy technology that could prevent 
all digital copying - even copying that's legal today under U.S. copyright 
laws. 

 If this concerns you, it's time to protect these rights. Take action. Write 
your senator and congressman. 

 Get more information at www.digitalconsumer.org, www.digmedia.org, or 
www.hrrc.org. Let's protect our right to legally use technology to improve 
the quality of life.
 
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 Your Personal Rights & Responsibilities as an 
MP3 User
 
 As a leading proponent of inexpensive and easy-to-use downloadable music, 
Gateway believes in a consumer's lawful rights to encode, copy, collect, 
purchase and listen to their personal music collections in the MP3 format. We 
fully support an MP3 user's right to: 
"Rip" and encode their own CD music collections into digital music files for 
their own personal use and enjoyment. 
Make as many copies of their digital music files as they would like for their 
own personal use. This freely allows consumers to copy their MP3s on any 
number of their own computers in various locations, as well as on to their 
portable MP3 hardware players. 
"Burn" their music files onto compact discs for their own personal use. 
Copy and distribute their music files to members of their immediate family. 

However, Gateway also strongly supports the rights of musicians and other 
copyright holders to decide how and where their music is distributed. We 
believe that artists, songwriters, publishers and record labels should be 
financially compensated for their work -- if they so desire. Although there 
is a lot of public misunderstanding over these issues, the U.S. copyright law 
and the 1997 NET Act are very clear about protecting these creator's rights. 
As such, we ask our customers (and all MP3 users) to comply with these laws 
by: 

Not distributing copies of their digital music files to people outside their 
own immediate family, without permission of the copyright holder. This 
includes making unauthorized, full-length MP3s available to others through 
Email, compact discs, FTP sites and file-sharing utilities such as Napster 
and Gnutella. Whether for commercial gain or not, this behavior is against 
the law. 
Supporting artists and labels that are making their music catalogs available 
for sale legitimately in MP3. By respecting their trust, it will encourage 
others to do the same. 
 We thank you for your interest and support of legitimate downloadable music. 
If you have questions or feedback about this document, please send email to: 
webmaster AT gateway.com.

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How Do I burn a CD?
 
 Creating a CD with your PC is commonly referred to as "burning" because 
you're literally using a laser beam to record data onto a blank compact disc 
(CD).
 
 To burn your own music CDs, you'll need a specific piece of hardware called 
a CD writer or drive - look for the abbreviation CD-RW, for 
recordable-rewritable. The latest systems come with these drives built in, 
but if your system doesn't have one, you easily can buy one separately. 
 
 If you want to make duplicate CDs, or record from your own CD collection, 
your PC must have a CD-ROM drive, which are standard on nearly all PCs. 
 
 Once you've decided what songs you want to record, you load a blank CD into 
the drive the same way you put one into your car stereo. Finding the songs is 
easy (and legal) with an online subscription service like Gateway's partner, 
eMusic. 
 
 When you start recording, the computer feeds data to a laser inside the 
drive, which heats the CD in a specific pattern and changes its structure. 
 
 To "play'' CDs, your computer analyzes this pattern with the laser. 
 
 There are two kinds of blank CDs: CD-R, which you can burn only once, and 
CD-RW, which you can record on, erase and reuse. While your PC may be able to 
read both formats, your home or car audio system will only work with CD-R 
discs.
 
 
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 How do I download music from the Internet?
 
 The MP3 file format helped launch a digital music revolution by making it 
possible to share and send high-quality music using the Internet.
 
 When you're downloading music from the Web, you're most likely downloading 
MP3 files. (Microsoft has its own music file format, Windows Media Audio or 
WMA).
 
 MP3s compress large audio recordings to a much smaller size, so they can 
move from place to place quickly. Play them back and the quality is as good 
as any commercial CD. 
 
 What's more, several companies have released free, high-quality and 
easy-to-use software that lets music lovers create and play MP3 files made 
from their own CD collections.
 
 You may have heard about the legal controversies surrounding Internet music, 
but that's only part of the story. There's nothing illegal about downloading 
music if you pay for it! 
 
 Many online services offer access to thousands of MP3 songs, often through a 
subscription service like Gateway's partner, eMusic.. 
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 What do I need to get started?
 
 Once you've jammed your computer full of MP3 song files, how can you play 
them in your car or on one of those cool new MP3 players? 
 
 Good news! The process is easy and the cost is reasonable. 
 
 You will need CD-ROM and CD-RW drives on your PC, software that records CDs 
and converts your MP3 files into WAV files (more on WAV below), and as many 
blank CDs as you want.
 
 The hardware: The majority of today's computers come with either a CD-ROM or 
CD-RW, often both, which means you can record, erase and reuse CDs with one 
piece of hardware. Not too long ago, you needed separate pieces for both 
tasks.
 
 Drives use two kinds of blank CDs: CD-R, which you can burn only once, and 
CD-RW, which you can record on, erase and reuse. While your PC may be able to 
read both formats, your home or car audio system will only work with CD-R 
discs.
 
 The software: Before recording an MP3 file to a CD-R, you must convert it to 
a WAV file. This is easier than it sounds. Some CD-recording software does it 
automatically, even before actually burning the CD. 
 
 Automatic recording software isn't perfect, however - particularly if your 
computer is slower. For optimal performance, most digital music lovers 
download separate MP3 decoder software programs and perform the conversion 
"manually'' with a few mouse clicks. 
 
 Once your MP3 files are converted to WAV files, you can store them on your 
hard drive, arrange them in a mix, and burn your CD by dragging and dropping 
the files into your CD-burning application.
 
 
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 Why do I need Broadband?
 
 Downloading music from the Internet may be cool, but let's face it: It's a 
whole lot more fun if it's fast. 

 A broadband or high-speed Internet connection dramatically increases the 
size of the pipeline to your PC, so you won't have to spend all day 
downloading songs from the Internet for your party tonight. 

 Broadband also makes video and audio playback crystal clear, and even makes 
uploading digital photos faster and easier. 

 Click here to learn about Gateway's broadband offers!