Valentines Music Help Be a mechanical maestro and soothe the savage computer with a mix of music! Follow these simple guidelines to computer music, and take ten minutes to learn about formats and players. Then play (or play with) all sorts of cyber songs! File Formats Music comes in many styles, from the auditory art of classical to the festive fun of jazz. Computer music seems to come in at least as many file formats as styles! Some are simple fun, but others are simply fantastic! How is a kid supposed to know which files are which?

There are four very common file formats on the web for music. Kids Domain lists mainly waves, midis, mp3s, and "Real Player" files.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Musicians use midi files for instrumental music! They are commonly associated with classical music, or computer composition, and generally contain the entire song in the file. Midis are a wonderful way to move music on the web, because they are such small files. Usually less than 100 KB, midis recreate instrumental sounds in files that are very easy to use!

Waves are a wonderful way to get sound quality in a downloadable file, but are unfortunately huge compared to most mechanical music. Waves are often between 1 and 4 MB a piece, and usually only include clips of the songs. Like Real Player files and MP3s, waves allow musicians to copy the actual sounds rather than just an instrumental composition. Many comtemporary sounds are moved around the internet via wave files, and those with a quick or dependble connection can have a lot of fun with the music clips.

MP3s take cyber sounds into the 21st Century! The quality of the music is comparable to a Compact Disc, and the files are small for easier downloading. Although most MP3s are about the same size as waves (around 4 MB), they usually include the entire song! Musicians choose this format for ease of download and sound quality, so many comtemporary artists distribute their sounds by MP3.

Real Audio/Video requires an internet connection and software installation, but plays both audio and video. The download time is usually very quick, but the file sometimes stalls if using a phone modem. Because the Real Player is so versatile, many contemporary musicians use it for sound and video clips. And because the file size is manageable, sometimes musicians will include the entire song or video in one file!

Music Players

Luckily, many computers have music players already installed. Sometimes a player will come with a browser, game, or operating system, so many kids will be able to click and music will magically appear in the default player! However, sometimes clicking only confuses the machine, and then it asks which program it should use to open the file. In this case, the most likely cause is that the computer has no music player!

If this happens, download a free player by visiting The Microsoft Download Center. Choose the Windows Media Player to download. The Media Player can open waves, midis, MP3s, au, and any windows media format. There are versions for both Mac and Windows, but the Mac download is a beta.

Another option may be to download Media Center. This freeware program will play many different formats, but is unfortunately only available for PC.

Some files are specifically created for the Real Player. To use these files, just download "Real Player Basic" for free, or "Real Player Plus" for $29.95. Go to Real.com and fill out the form for a PC or MAC. Currently, the Mac download is only available as a beta.

After installing the necessary software, a computer should recognize most music files. Simply click or double-click and the file will open directly into the default player.

Now, download some songs and celebrate a happy, and harmonious holiday!