Mp3 music is an audio file that has been digitally encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller without compromising the overall sound quality. It's a revolutionary technique with incredibly good results; it is frequently indistinguishable from music found on a CD (though some audiophiles with very sensitive ears dispute that statement).
The popularity of this type of music made available on the Internet is a trend reaching gigantic proportions; these encoded songs are everywhere. Websites called talking blogs offer rare or hard-to-find podcast music and avid fans sometimes spend hours at a time sifting through the piles of downloadable material. Newer recording artists that would often fall under the radar without the help of a well-known label are now able to convert their songs into mp3 music and make them available on the Internet, allowing huge numbers of people the chance to hear songs that they otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to. It's an extremely popular thing, mp3 music, one of those rare pop-culture phenomena embraced by nearly everyone.
And now with the advent of the IPOD and other similar devices for MP3's, both music and instructional audio files are both widespread and growing in popularity. Some of the newer models of autos feature capability for this type of music file, broading the appeal even further. And IPOD movies are the latest rage.
But regardless of its massive popularity, digital music is surrounded with controversy. Many programs that allow users to transfer their music directly from computer to computer offer the services for free, eliminating the possibility of royalties for the artist and label. Fearful of losing tons of money to fans downloading records instead of buying them, large factions of the music industry fought to make free mp3 music illegal -- and succeeded to a degree. The laws, however, have loopholes, and many websites or P2P programs have exploited them for all they're worth.
Additionally, laws regulating this type of music in the United States aren't necessarily applicable to other countries, so new websites and programs (particularly, for some reason, in Russia) have popped up offering the free services railed against in America. Because of the hotly argued ethical issues surrounding digital music, many shy away from the topic (and practice) completely. Others embrace it, citing huge record costs as justification enough for free mp3 music. It's an argument not likely to end anytime soon; the ethical issues will be debated as long as free mp3 music is available somewhere.
In any case, MP3's are here to stay, and wise is the musician who learns about them and takes advantage of them.
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