MP3s: Sound Advice for the Classroom

Index
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MP3s
(and WAVs)
What are MP3s?
Where do I get them?
How do I play them?
How can I use them in my classroom?
And their role in the classroom
By Steve Gibbs
A Classroom Connect Presentation | Palm Springs, CA | December 2003
Where do I get them?
What is MP3?
• MP3 = Motion Picture Experts Group
Audio Layer 3) An audio compression
technology developed in Germany in
1991 by the Fraunhofer Institute.
• It is a file compression that cuts music
files to 1/12 their original size with
minimal loss in sound quality
Free, fee, and illegal sources abound
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Peer-to-Peer software
Internet music stores
Rip your own from music CDs
Record your own using a
microphone
• Convert .WAV files
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The Peer-to-Peer network
The Peer-to-Peer Explosion
Stealth networks and sophisticated software make
MP3 gathering a cat-and-mouse game
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Gnutella
Napster
Kazaa
Kazaa Lite
Diet Kazaa
Shareaza
Morpheus
Bearshare
Edonkey
Emule
Sharemonkey
Toadnode
WinMX
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Freenet
Ares
Xolox
Blubster
BitTorrent
Gnucleus
SongSpy
Frost
Grokster
Overnet
iMesh
Filetopia
Limewire
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Nova
AudioGnome
Hotline
MusIRC
Voodoo Vision
FileRogue
Gnutmeg
Wrapster
FileEX
Konspire
File Miner
mIRC.org
Find links to all these programs at http://www.zeropaid.com
Internet Music Stores
• Apple’s favorite, now for Mac and Windows
– http://www.itunes.com
• Napster 2.0
– http://www.napster.com
• MP3.com
– http://www.mp3.com
• MusicMatch Jukebox and music download
RIP your own
• To “Rip” means to pull a song off a music CD
and convert it to MP3
• Consider your kilohertz
– 128 kbps, 44 KHz, stereo is high quality
• For Mac: iTunes, for PC: Media Player (.WMA)
• Shareware source
http://www.share2.com/cdripper
• The PC Granddaddy: MusicMatch
– http://www.musicmatch.com
• RealPlayer’s Listen and Rhapsody 2.1 player
– http://www.listen.com
• Audible Books (not music, but worth a visit)
– http://www.audible.com
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Organizing
your
1,000s of
MP3
My collection
• iTunes for
Mac & PC,
MusicMatch
for PC
A scrolling impression
Editing MP3s
• Acoustica $25
– http://www.mp3-mixer.net
• Sonic Foundry (Sony) Sound Forge $399
• Sonic Foundry Acid Pro $399
– http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com
• Cakewalk $129
– http://www.cakewalk.com
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MP3 Player Roundup
MP3 Portable Players
• Good players can be bought for $100 to $500
• Many have extra features like AM/FM radio,
voice recorder, video display, timer
• Shapes abound – winning combinations include
small size and intuitive controls
• PC Mag Editor Choice goes to:
– Creative Labs Nomad MuVo NX
– Rio Cali
– Apple iPod
MP3 Portable Players
MP3 Portable Players
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MP3 Portable Players
Start>Run sndrec32
Windows Sound Recorder
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Sound Samples
File Conversion Comparison
Most common problem – the
Microphone is not the selected input
• Flatline
– no sound is being recorded
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• You want this:
Playback Controls
Find your Recording Input Options
in the volume control utility
Recording Controls
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Digitized Sound in the Classroom
• Recording voice comments in Word
– Windows only (WAV)
• Recording narration in PowerPoint
– Windows (WAV) & Mac (AIF)
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Playing background music in PowerPoint
The end
– Windows & Mac (WAV, MP3, MIDI, AIFF on Mac)
• Attaching sound effects to Web pages
– (WAV, MIDI, MP3)
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Recording stand-alone sound files
Recording musical instruments via mic or direct plug-in
Mixing soundtracks for digital video
Creating background music library for silent reading,
study time, lab time
• Importing music, interviews and speeches from sound
recorders and tape decks
Comments and Track Changes
Where to
find
toolbars
• Comments: You can
“write in the margins” of
student essays
• Track Changes: You can
make tentative
corrections in their words
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Record Narration window
Change quality & file size
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Slide timings with narration
Playing background music
Playing background music
Adding sound to Web pages using
Dreamweaver
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Inserting sound
into web pages
using Microsoft
® FrontPage
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