MP3s

MP3 is short for MPEG – Layer 3 – and in turn MPEG are the initial letters of the grandly named “Motion Pictures Action Group” – this is – of course – useless fact that you will remember for some trivia quiz in 25 years time! They are files that are compressed versions of CD tracks – and they sound exactly like the original CD track. No matter how many times they have been copied they will always remain of the same perfect quality – and it is this that has caused many problems in the music industry. MP3s have revolutionised the music industry and caused – during the 1990s and early 2000s - a huge amount of trouble – where sites such as Napster and Kazaa provide users with unlimited access to swapping and copying the music.

MP3 files can have great benefit as well as causing problems. A new unknown singer or band, for example, can record a track and then create an MP3 file of it – and post it on their website for others to listen to. If it proves popular they may build up a following and eventually be signed up to a recording company officially! You could try www.mp3.com for examples of this.

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