Absolute Beginners Guide to Upgrading and Fixing Your PC

Application #2: Downloading Music from the Internet

If you're a music lover, the capability to download your favorite songs from the Internet in the form of digital music files is a big deal. Want to check out the latest single from a new band you've been hearing about? Then download it. Want your own copy of a big top forty hit from your teenage years? Download it. Or how about digging up an obscure album track from some long out-of-print vinyl LP? Chances are, you can download that, too.

There are a number of both "official" and "unofficial" digital audio archive sites and services on the Web. The official sites typically charge some sort of subscription fee to download a certain number of songs per month; the unofficial sites offer an unlimited selection of music for free.

All you need to download music from the Web is your PC and a fast Internet connection and a big hard disk to hold all those files. Here's the upgrade checklist:

caution

Upgrade Checklist for Downloading Digital Music

40GB or larger hard disk (see Chapter 4, "Bigger Is Better: Upgrading System Storage")

Broadband Internet connection (see Chapter 15, "Connect the Dots: Upgrading to a Wired or Wireless Network")

Digital media player software, such as Windows Media Player or MusicMatch Jukebox

Subscription to an online music service or software to share files over a file-sharing service