How do I use Web Audio?

How do I download MP3's to my computer?

• go to the SOCC audio page for example. For PC, right click on the MP3 link.
• Select "Save Target as..."
• Choose the destination on your PC (in which folder you want the file to be located on your PC. We would suggest "desktop" if you are new to web audio) and name the file with a distinct name (i.e. "TomE9-28-03.mp3").
• Double-click on the file and enjoy. Put the file in the recycle bin to get rid of it after you are finished listening to it.

How do I make an MP3 file available to play in my car CD player or a stand-alone CD player around the house?

• a few items are required to make this possible:
  • A CD burner connected to your PC is required. CD burners are quite accessible at local technology stores and office supply centers. For good evaluations of computer gear, visit reviews.cnet.com.
  • A blank CD is required. For most stand-alone CD players, a CD-R disc (as opposed to a CD-RW) is necessary.
  • CD burning software of some kind is required. A few are Easy CD Creator, Toast and Windows Media Player.
  • Refer to your burning software's owner's manual for directions on how to burn a CD. For most audio CD's, you will need to select "finalize" or "close" disc in order to play on an audio CD player. Note that some older CD players will not play burned CD's.

The difference between a .wav, .rma, .wma and an .mp3 file:

• MP3 (MPEG1, Audio Layer 3)
  The most popular codec for storing and transferring music. Though it employs a "lossy" compression system which removes frequencies judged to be essentially inaudible, MP3 still manages to deliver near-CD sound quality in a file that's only about a tenth or twelfth the size of a corresponding uncompressed WAV file. When creating an MP3 file, varying amounts of compression can be selected, depending on the desired file size and sound quality. For more info on this topic, see our article on the MP3 format.
• WAV
  A standard audio format for Windows operating systems, often used for storing high-quality, uncompressed sound. WAV files can contain CD-quality (44.1 KHz/16-bit) audio signals. However, CD-quality WAV files require relatively large amounts of memory — roughly 10 MB per minute of music.
• RealMedia
  One of the most popular formats for streaming content on the Internet, RealMedia includes the RealAudio codec for sound clips and RealVideo codec for movies. RealAudio and RealVideo files are often given the common RealMedia (.RM) file extension. RealMedia files are often heavily compressed so they can stream over dial-up Internet connections.
• WMA (Windows Media Audio)
  Developed by Microsoft, Windows Media Audio is one of today's most popular 'Net audio formats. Though not as popular as MP3, WMA tends to outperform MP3 in the area of sound quality, particularly with files encoded at lower bitrates like 64 or 96 Kbps. This performance advantage makes it handy for applications like portable digital audio players, where total play time is limited by a finite amount of internal memory. The Windows Media Audio format features built-in copy protection abilities, unlike MP3. Windows® XP, Microsoft's current flagship operating system software, contains native support for WMA encoding, enabling users to create their own WMA music files.

excerpted from www.crutchfieldadvisor.com