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Getting Started / Linda Knapp
Downloading music files has become quite simple

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The problem was neither the record labels nor the artists received compensation.

Solution? Lawsuits, regulations and then new technology to protect the record industry's rights and interests. This protective technology, called digital rights management (DRM) monitors the use of downloaded music and prevents illegal distribution.

Now, while battling with file-sharing services and their users, the record industry is beginning to realize that using the Internet to distribute music can work for them, too. Record labels have authorized some online music services (with secure DRM) to sell downloadable music.

The first legal distributors were subscription services that charged a monthly fee for streamed music (which enables the user to listen to songs but not save them on a computer). In addition, some less popular songs could be downloaded and transferred to a music player, but not CDs.

In time, record labels agreed to permit customers to save the full range of music on their computers and players, and also burn some songs on CDs.

The number of burnable songs has increased, and today, the most visible distributor of downloadable and burnable music is the Apple iTunes Music Store. The feature that has made this easy-to-use service so appealing is that customers can buy songs for 99 cents each, without having to subscribe.

If you chose not to download music before, now's a good time to pick an authorized service and try it. And if you've never put any music on your computer, now's a good time for that, too.

I'll take you through the basics of how to acquire and organize music on a computer, and then how to transfer it to a portable player or burn it on CDs.

We'll use Apple iTunes to hypothetically transfer and organize your CD collection and the iTunes Music Store to purchase new music because they're easy to use on both Macs and PCs and the music is high-quality at reasonable cost.

To get iTunes (it's free), go to www.apple.com, click the iPod + iTunes tab, and press Download now. You'll need a current operating system — either Mac OSX 10.1.5 or later, or Windows 2000 or XP. Follow the screen instructions to install iTunes on your computer. Then you can begin transferring music from your CDs to the iTunes library. Just insert a CD in the disc drive and wait for the song list to be displayed (your Internet connection should be active for this process). Then press Import. ITunes will copy the CD to your computer's hard drive and list the song titles in the iTunes library.

When you have several CDs transferred, begin creating playlists for listening, such as a list for oldies, another for rock, music for working, for cooking, exercising, and so forth.

For example, I have a classical playlist for those times I want to disconnect from the world to finish some work. I put on a headset and lose myself in symphonic music and the topic I'm writing about. I also have a Rock playlist for exercising, and that one gets Shuffled for variety.

To create a playlist, press the + symbol to get an empty playlist folder, give it a title and drag songs into it from the library.

When you're ready for some new music, go to the iTunes Music Store and pick from more than 400,000 songs, listen to 30 seconds of any before deciding, and then hit Buy. Your account will be charged (you have to register to pay for the music) and in less than a minute, the song is added to your library.

If you have an iPod portable player (no other player works with Apple's music store) you can download your entire iTunes library onto it with the playlists intact. Plus, every time you plug the iPod into the computer, the iPod automatically updates itself by adding new songs and playlists as well as other revisions. If you don't want auto updates, you can change that setting.

In iTunes, you can arrange playlists in any order and burn them on any number of CDs (up to 10 of the same playlist). Behind the scenes, Apple's DRM software monitors use of the songs in compliance with regulations.

To burn a music CD, insert a blank disc in a disc-burning drive, select a playlist, and choose Burn Playlist to Disc under the File menu.

Besides music, iTunes can download audiobooks, newspapers and magazines, radio programs and other audio files.

In just five years, the acquisition and use of digital music have evolved from Napster's free-for-all to a more reasonable process of distribution. Consumers again have to pay for music but can buy individual songs at a fair price, which is what many of us were asking for in the beginning.

Write Linda Knapp at lknapp@seattletimes.com. To read other Getting Started columns, go to: www.seattletimes.com/gettingstarted.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company