ON the BEAT Number 2

MP3: big, Bigger & BIGGER

Internet music shopping and download site MP3.com has busted into the Top Ten Most Popular Shopping Sites according to the latest report from Reston, Virginia-based Internet market research firm PC Data. In a marketplace mostly dominated by Amazon and eBay, music continued to flex its dancin' muscles as CDNow also continued its Top Ten growth from a 3.9% reach of Internet access households in April to 7.5% in this latest report. But the Top Ten debut of MP3.com with a reach of 4.5% is also underscored by the fact that renown indie band They Might Be Giants is releasing their newest collection, Long Tall Weekend, as the first-ever major MP3-only album.

The July 19th event will be celebrated with a live Webcast on Yahoo Music from New York's Irving Plaza, with the album purchase available via download from EMusic.

All of this flys in the face of some concerns that the "MP3 Revolution" may be slowed down by new industry standards aimed at restricting illegally distributed music. Proposed by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an industry group made up of record labels, portable digital music player manufacturers, and software developers, these specifications are a direct result of the outrage from record companies over high quality distribution of pirated music over the Internet which has driven sales of about half a million portable MP3 players already in circulation.

When the recording industry's lawsuit against the Diamond Rio portable MP3 player was recently dismissed, it prompted the industry to work at creating a standard that would at least encourage legal distribution if not stop this stunning new Internet direct-to-fan method growing in popularity among artists.

Whereas some are fearful that the new standards will halt the digital music phenomenon before it gets out of the cradle, Bob Nelson, RioPort Division Marketing Manager for Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., told me "SDMI is a set of technical guidelines that allow for the distribution of digital media in a way that protects the copyrights of artists and music labels. Does this mean that in the future free and clear MP3 files (MP3 files that offer no security) will disappear? Probably not. As long as there are artists without representation who want to distribute their music on a global level in order to gain audience exposure, there will be free and clear MP3 files."

To be introduced in December when new players will have a yet-to-be-determined "screening technology," this new standard is aimed at pirates rather than consumers by also restricting the number of copies that an individual can make per "CD burning" session.

Overall, it certainly appears these restrictions favor digital music lovers by now encouraging major record companies to get more involved in MP3 distribution of popular artists. Infact, Virgin Megastores have just debuted online music in their Columbus, Ohio, store, becoming the first retailer to offer music fans the ability of custom creating CDs from Internet-only digital music providers.

ON THE MATTER OF GEAR: As I stated in the first article in this series discussing MP3, it is clear that this multimedia revolution has spilled onto our own computer standards.

For example, I had been quite happy with my PC until I decided to more fully explore the generous supply of free promotional MP3 tracks currently available on the Internet. The combined 12 watts RMS "high definition" speakers attached to my monitor, and my system's "Sound Blaster comparable" SND3-336 sound card, sure sounded plenty good on midis and Real Audio. And, afterall, my computer was never meant to replace either the 100 watts Sherwood receiver system in my office, nor the powerful pro-logic surround sound systems in my livingroom or music room.

Then during the fuzztone of "Eventually Something Cool Will Happen" by Fiver, my speakers started to break up something terrible ~ and this was hardly a slam-ya-to-the-wall rocker. Then as I cruised EMusic, CDuctive, RioPort and other MP3 sites enjoying the discovery of freely available multi-textured, multi-genre musical offerings by the likes of Zoomer, Travis Pickle, Frank Black & The Catholics, Mark Pistel, Gene Loves Jezebel, Snowmen, Tipsy, Jeep Beat Collective, Dr. Israel, Poster Children, Morgan Harris, Poole, Royal Crown Revue, Badawi ~ and numerous other interesting artists that Top Ten radio is ignoring, I realized upgrade time had come. Not only did I want better speakers, but, dang it, I needed a heck of a lot more space.

For three years now my current system had done the trick and I had managed to operate with a spare 300MBs usually open and available. But, now after a few MP3 downloads ranging from 3MB to over 7MB each, I quickly found myself getting warnings of running low on resources. What a shock it was to find myself operating at just over 15MBs.

Realizing we all just can't run out and spend tons of money, I have committed myself to evaluate many of the upgrade options now available and find the best values.

As a result, I have secured several motherboards, and a cool custom mid tower case, from some friends of mine who build custom computers. And, with their help, I will be testing a variety of the latest components for the enjoyment and creation of modern Internet multimedia files. This will include an assortment of speakers, sound cards, CDRWs, video capture packages, the new high performance hard disk drives, and a lot of other goodies. Being an Intel Pentium user, I am now also looking forward to testing some of the latest AMD processors.

Already I know that the substitution of DynaPoint's Zodiac Z-4 and Designer 600 subwoofer speaker systems are both major improvements over my system's own speakers for the enjoyment of MP3. Neither of them break up where my otherwise adequate factory speakers do. But, in my next column I will give them a more detailed review on their performance with my initial evaluation system, consisting of a Diamond Monster Sound MX300 sound card, K6-3 450MHz processor, Quantum's Fireball Plus KA 18.2 GB 7200 rpm hard drive, and Genius Video Wonder Pro II TV-Video Capture card.

In closing, I'd like to share with you some old-fashioned low-resolution mono Real Audio pop-ups of just two selections from the new Be Your Own Boss Billy Joe Winghead CD I just got. As mentioned in my last column, these Oklahoma guys have been my favorite "gothindustrialcowpunk" band since I heard their previous Greetings From Beto Junction high class trash fun collection. Few bands match the Wingheads for such recorded thrills pounding with surreal-edged drive-in-movie rock, extravagant irreverence, attitude and kickass smiles. Think of what it might be like to marry Frank Zappa, The Cramps and Iggy Pop & The Stooges into a single working unit, and you come close.

They might not be on MP3 yet, but this indie band has some advanced imagination and original self-packaging. Whereas Greetings From Beto Junction has 3D graphics and accompanying 3D glasses, Be Your Own Boss is packaged as the giant match book required for the original Cheech & Chong Big Bambu rolling paper album cover. It opens up to a CD pictured with neat-rowed matches and an inside cover enticement to "join the thousands of individuals who took their future into their own hands at the Billy Joe Winghead Truck Driving Academy." A card inserted behind the CD directs you to the Billy Joe Winghead Truck Driving Academy website where you'll find linernotes and illustrated lyric pages for all songs, including the Amazon chant "Komanawannaleia" and the song about the killer truck with a cross in front, "Hell On 18 Wheels".