it, students love it, and journalists can't say enough about it, even if they don't understand it. So, what is MP3 exactly and why is MP3 so much bigger than MIDI? The short non-technical answer: An MP3 file is just an audio file that has been compressed (made smaller) so that it can be sent easily over the Internet. An uncompressed music file, like that found on a CD, can be 30 or 40 megabytes or larger. MP3s are typically one-tenth this size, with only a slight loss in quality. A WAV or AIF file is uncompressed audio, so like CD tracks, these types of files are big.

To be more technically precise: MP3 is short for MPEG1 Layer 3. MPEG stands for the Motion Picture Expert Group, an organisation working under the joint direction of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC). These groups devise standards for the coding of moving pictures and audio.

MIDI files, on the other hand, do not contain actual audio like MP3 files do.

Instead, the MIDI music is recorded as a series of numbers that describes how the music is to be played back. Think of a piano roll, which contains the information on how to play a piece, but can't produce music without a player piano. And like a player piano, the sound a MIDI file produces is totally dependent on the output device (usually the sound card in a computer). A MIDI sequence that sounds great on a high-end sound card may sound terrible on a cheap one. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and was first introduced in 1983.

MIDI files are much easier to edit than other types of music files, and many professional and amateur musicians use MIDI as a way to hear their music as they compose it. Many popular and classical songs from all genres of music have been converted to MIDI and put on the web for you to download and listen to. Just go to Yahoo and type in MIDI and you will be surprised at all the different types of music that are listed.

MIDI only supports instruments, no vocals. MIDI files are very small, smaller than even MP3 files, and therefore excellent for use in web pages. If you have never been to a web page with music and just want to hear a MIDI file, go to: www.christers.net/christmas.

Just a few seconds of download time, even on a slow connection, can yield several minutes of listening pleasure. MIDI files will play on most browsers without having to install a third-party plugin.

When you download a MIDI file, you are getting a rendition of that song as played by the musician who created the MIDI file. So whether you download Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus'' or the latest hit song by the Back Street Boys, the MIDI file you are getting is a musician's version of that song, no matter how identical it may be, without any vocals. MIDI musicians can create songs that just use one instrument, similar to your child playing "Yesterday'' by Paul McCartney on the piano or recorder, and MIDI musicians can create songs using a full range of instruments, like listening to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra play Paul McCartney's "Yesterday''.

Because MIDI files are not identical copies of music, but versions of songs, they are not subject to the same threats of copyright violation that MP3 files are. MP3 files are copies of songs, similar to taping a song with your cassette recorder off the radio. But MP3 recordings are much higher quality and this has everyone either excited or scared.

Is it illegal to download music from the Internet? If you do, can you really go to jail? You cannot make a blanket statement about all MP3 files. The vast majority of MP3 files found on the web are perfectly legal, put up there by unknown musicians who want to get noticed or by established artists promoting their current material.

It is illegal to download unauthorised copies of commercial music. This usually means MP3 files made from CDs that are put on the 'Net by individuals who haven't asked permission from the artist or music company.

But, you may make a copy of your own CD for your personal use under US Copyright laws. That means you can record it to a cassette tape or to an MP3 file. You may not, however, under any circumstances, give this copy to another person. Many people believe that if no money is involved, then no law has been broken. This is false. Whether you give the copy away or sell it, this is still a violation of copyright law.

No one has ever been prosecuted for downloading unauthorised MP3 music from the web. Prosecutors go after the people who put files on the web and even that litigation has not been entirely successful. There are many web sites that offer free legal MP3 files. A lot of musicians, especially the ones that are not very well known, put their music up on the web to get more exposure.

They want you to download their songs.

How Can I Play MP3 Music? Even if you have never installed a special player, you can probably play MP3 files on your computer right now. The Media Player that comes with newer versions of Windows, or QuickTinme 4 for Macintosh, work just fine. However, Windows users may want to download the industry-standard Winamp from www.winamp.com. It is completely free, and its added features make it worthwhile.

Where Can I Find MP3s of My Favourite Songs? There are 3 ways to find MP3 files on the web: searching MP3 web sites, searching MP3 ftp sites, and using special search software like Napster.

The easiest way is to download an MP3 file straight from a web site. You just click on the tune name and it downloads automatically to your computer.

Generally web sites will have only authorised MP3 songs. Web sites usually feature up-and-coming musicians who want you to download their music. Two easy-to-use web sites where you can just click through to get your songs are at www.listen.com and www.audiofind.com. All the music on listen.com is legal, and you can even pay to download songs that are not free.

But the best way to find a specific song, especially if it is well known, is to search FTP sites or use MP3 search engine software, like Napster. You can search FTP sites with your web browser, but you often need an FTP client to download the songs you find because many FTP sites require you to log in anonymously and enter your email address as a password. You can download FTP software for free off of the Internet from www.tucows.com. For more information about FTP look for an upcoming article in this column called "Moving Files Around Via the Internet''.

But, the problem with FTP sites is that you might find a "bad link'' -- the search engine says that there is a file there, you click on the link and get an error message because the file you want is not really there. To solve this problem a 19-year-old college student who was tired of clicking on bad links when he looked for MP3 files wrote the search engine Napster that only looks for MP3 files that are on the Internet at that very moment. You will never get a bad link when you use Napster to look for MP3 files. The drawback of Napster is that it can take a very long time to download a song, because the song you want to download might be on a computer with a very slow Internet connection.

And if you are using Napster over a slow connection such as a modem line, then it will take twice as long.

That being said, you can find practically any song using Napster and that is why so many people love Napster and so many record companies fear it.

Using Napster: Go to www.napster.com and download the program. The program is described as a "beta'' version, which means it is still in the testing phase.

However, it appears to be fully functional. It's only 620 Kb in size, which is quite small by today's standards. After you download the file, run it and the program will be installed.

The first time you run Napster, you will be asked to select your connection speed, but "I don't know'' is one of the options. You will then be prompted to choose a user name and password. The user name is what other Napster users will see when you are connected. The next screen asks for your real name, address, sex, and income, but you don't have to fill these in. You will then be asked if Napster should scan your hard drive for MP3 files. If you agree, then these can be made available for sharing with others, but you don't have to do this. Finally, you can elect to use Napster's internal audio player, or use one you already have.

After filling in this information, Napster will attempt to connect to its server. Don't be surprised if this doesn't work the first time, because of the popularity of the service. Just keep trying and you will eventually connect.

Then, you will be asked to choose a chat channel. If you do not want to chat, do not choose a channel, after all you downloaded Napster to look for music, not to chat.

To find songs, just select the "search'' button at the top of the Napster screen. Type in the name of the artist and/or song title, and you can see if it is available. If the song is found, a list of Napster users who have it will be listed, along with information about their connection speed. If more than one person is offering the file, choose the one with the fastest connection speed. If the speeds are the same, choose the one with the smallest number in the "ping''column. Ping is a measurement of how long it takes a packet of data to be sent to a computer and returned. You may also find the same tune being offered at different "bitrates'', measured in kilobits per second, or kbps. A higher bit rate means a higher fidelity, but also a larger file size. 128 kbps is considered "CD quality''.

That's it! You see Napster is really easy to use. But be careful. You can quickly fill up your hard drive with MP3 files. The bottom line is that MIDI and MP3 are just two ways to deliver music, and the music is what is really important.