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There are three main ways of getting MP3s, downloading them, making your own or receiving them in trade.

You can download MP3s from FTP, The web or Usenet.

You can download the files with most major web browsers. The one you're using to read this page should work. If not get Netscape from www.netscape.com or Internet Explorer from www.microsoft.com or try www.hotfiles.com.

If you're familiar with them, you can also use an FTP client such as Cute FTP or FTP Voyager. For most beginners, a web browser is easier to use.

To find new music, try www.mp3.com They have numerous tracks from a wide range of musicians.

The most popular software for downloading from Usenet are Free Agent (freeware) and it's commercial cousin Agent from Forte. Free agent is available from most shareware and freeware sights including www.hotfiles.com  and www.tucows.com. There are other news readers you can use such as Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I am most familiar with Forte's products, I will discuss them in more detail.

Once you install Free Agent, you will need to configure it.

To get the correct names for mail servers and news servers, contact your ISP (internet service provider). For your e-mail address DO NOT enter your e-mail address. This address will be posted with any messages you write. Programs called harvesters comb through the Usenet looking for e-mail addresses. These are recorded and added to junk e-mail lists. If you want people to be able to contact you by e-mail, add something to your address that a person can easily remove. Such as: mynamenospam@conhugeco.com. Users should know to remove nospam, putting a note in a signature file will help. Since harvesters will probably start removing nospam (if they haven't already), you may want to use something else like mynamespammenot@conhugeco.com etc.

Your newsserver may also require a username and password. Your ISP should be able to get you through that as well.

The next step is to download a list of newsgroups. Click Online then select "Get New Newsgroups" or "Refresh Newsgroup List . . .". The latter will allow you to remove groups from your list if they no longer exist. Depending on your news server, this list will be over 30,000 groups so this may take a while.

Enlarge the "Groups" panel, then by clicking the title bar you can select All Groups, Subscribed Groups and New Groups. Subscribing to your favorite groups well avoid the need to wade through 30,000+ groups each time you want to check.

A few good starting places are:
alt.binaries.gdead             >>This is where Grateful Dead MP3 files are posted.

alt.binaries.gdead.d          >>This is where you make requests, ask for reposts, discuss issues that are strictly related to alt.binaries.gdead, and post your glowing praises of this web page.

alt.binaries.gdead.reposts  >> If you request a track to be reposted, look for it here. Also, check here before you request, it may already be up.

alt.binaries.phish               >> This is where Phish MP3 will be posted. Phil & Phriends and Trey's solo show where posted here as well.

If that's not enough, search the groups for MP3. It's the toolbar icon that looks like a flashlight, in England it looks like a torch. 

To subscribe, hightlight the group (or groups), and press the subscribe button  or right click and select subscribe, or double click and select subscribe.

After you subscribe to a few groups, click the "Get headers from subscribed newsgroups" button.  the header is the subject line for a post. Since binaries are broken down in many parts, some groups may have thousands of headers, so give it a little time.

Now go to "Message list" to see what is available. To download a file right click on any part and select "Decode Binary Attachments". If you get a message like "Only 45 of 47 parts were found, then not all the parts are available. There are three main reasons for this. 1. The post is new and not all the parts have made it to your server, 2. The post is old and some of the parts have been dropped by your server or 3. The part got lost in transit.

If little lightning bolts appear next to each part, it is downloading. You can select as many files as you'd like then take a break from you computer. Depending on the file size and what kind of connection you have, it may take a while. A full CD's worth of MP3s encode at 256K (standard on Gdead and common on Phish) will be 100 Megs. this could take 12 to 16 hours or more on a 33.6 modem, DSL, VDSL, ISDN, or Cable modem is recommended.

To find missing parts wait a few hours or until the next day and try "Get All Headers in Selected Groups". Select the group, then click Online to find this option. if that fails, as for a repost.

Remember, the people who post here are doing it for free because they want to. If you don't get a response or a repost, wait a few days and ask again. No-one owes you a repost, so don't forget 'please' and 'thank you'.

If you have too many problems, your ISP may not have a good news server. Ask in the group for recommendations for a dedicated news server. There are companies which do nothing but newgroups and their servers tend to hold messages much longer. The quality of different services can change pretty dramatically over time, so ask to get current information.

Making your own MP3 can be an enjoyable hobby or a total waste of time. If you don't want to waste your time, make sure you do things right. If you plan to post any of your MP3s, make certain you conform to all the group's conventions on bit rates and source quality. Consult the local FAQ for details.

Step 1: Getting music on your computer.
Step 2: Compressing it

The first thing you'll need to do is get some audio on your computer. Getting music into the computer is often referred to as "Ripping" the resulting file is called a "Rip". For Analog source material you can record using your sound card or  an external analog to digital converter (A>D).

Sound cards, even good ones, will not give you great results. The inside of a computer is full of stray electronic signals and magnetic fields. This will distort the sound a bit. With the right software you can make a good enough quality rip for home use, but it may not be up to trading standards.

External converters can plug into a USB port and will give you better quality. You can also transfer an analog to a DAT, then use a digital transfer.

Digital transfer can come from CD or DAT. Some sound cards such as Sound Blaster's Live (but not the Live Value) have digital inputs that let you transfer data from a DAT unit or other standard digital source onto your hard drive. Standard DAT recording is at 48,000 samples per second, CDs are 44,100. If you are transferring to DAT for the purpose of MP3 or CD burning, use 44,100 if possible. If you transfer a 48,000 file to your drive, you will need to convert it to 44,100. There are a few programs out there that will do this. My Favorite is Cool Edit. Cool Edit 96 is available in a shareware trial version which is still very capable. Cool Edit Pro is one of the best audio editor out there, but it's demo version is much more limited. You can get either one at www.hotfiles.com.

Cool Edit also has a variety of other essential tools including noise / hiss reduction and normalization. Noise and hiss reduction is pretty self explanatory. Normalization is used to boost the levels as high as possible without clipping.

Converting sample rates, noise reduction and normalizing can take a long time depending on the size of the file and the speed of your computer. Start this when you can leave the computer running for a while.

CDs can be ripped to your hard drive using a wide variety of "Rippers". Right now, the best one is EAC, Exact Audio Copy. I have done detailed comparisons between EAC and my second favorite, Audiograbber. While the error rate on Audiograbber was small, EAC was a clear winner. My system's CD-ROM had the features listed as best for audio extraction, for a drive that doesn't, the difference will be greater, and the errors accumulate with each generation. EAC is still in beta testing and on some systems it may crash. If that happens, Audiograbber would be my second choice. You can get the shareware version of audio grabber at most major shareware sights including (try to act surprised) my favorite www.hotfiles.com . EAC has it's own home page for free download, registration is a request for a postcard. Since The Dickster (a rec.music.gdead regular) has done a definitive instruction page for EAC, I am linking to his page for instructions. Links to both are on the links page.

Most material on CD is copyrighted. I don't know if it is legal to rip them even for you own use. I am not a lawyer.

The more you compress music, the lower the quality. The less you compress it, the bigger the final files will be. There is an on going debate about what compression level to use. The best bet is to experiment. The Gdead board uses 256K as a standard, since the source material is often excellent. If you are compressing a 7th generation copy of a poorly recorded tape, using 256K is wasteful. 128K often has some audio artifacts the will effect the final quality especially in the higher frequencies.

Old radio programs like Jack Benny or Abbott and Costello can be compressed as low as 32K and sound fine. It's all midrange and in Mono. Likewise consider how this file will be played back. If you plan to trade it and your trading partner is going to uncompress it burn a CD, quality is important. If you just want to play it on cheap speakers built into your laptop, quality is less important. Again, experiment and consult local FAQs. Compressing can also take a while, so play with some smaller files to find out what will work for you.

To compress, you'll need a program that compresses. You're in luck, there are hundreds to choose from and they all claim to be the best. Many demo versions limit you to compressing up to 128K or limit file size etc. Full versions can be costly, so shop around.

Zip Audio is a Player, Compressor and De-compressor. The interface is well done and it's easy to use. The demo version will only compress one file at a time and only up to 128K. For $49.99 you can get the full version which will do batches of files at any level. For more information, www.zipaudio.com

To get MP3s in trade you will need something to trade. In the Deadhead and Phish communities, there are generally people willing to do some blanks and postage deals. For that, you send someone a few blank CDRs and a self addressed return package with return postage. If you post asking for B&P, be patient if no-one answers in a week post again. Remember, people that do them are doing favors for strangers and no-one owes anyone free dubbing. I have seen angry posts when someone didn't get offers on their first try.

You can also pick a show on Usenet, even if you only have a 33.6 modem, and download it, then offer it for trade. Once you have a small collection, you can be kind and do B&P for others.