Music Download Glossary

This is more than you'll ever need to know to download music off the internet, but knowing it you'll feel smarter while you're doing it.

AAC
Stands for Advanced Audio Coding and refers to two types of audio files: MPEG-2 AAC and MPEG-4 AAC, both of which produce higher quality audio than MP3s while taking up less hard drive space. MPEG-4 AAC files are even better sounding and smaller than MPEG-2 AAC files. This is the file format used by the Apple iPod and sold on iTunes.

AIFF
Stands for Audio Interchange File Format. It is Mac OS's equivalent of Windows Media's WAV file. This is a digital file format used to record audio data. AIFF and WAV files are uncompressed, unlike MP3s, and are therefore extremely large files that take up lots of space on your hard drive.

ASCAP
Stands for American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. It's an international, member-run group that licenses and distributes royalties when members' copyrighted material is played in public, on the radio, or online.

AUDIO PLAYER
As it applies to digital music, an audio player is a program that takes a digital audio file and converts it into an audible signal.

BANDWIDTH
A measurement of a transmission path's capacity to carry data. It tells how much data can be transmitted and how fast.

BITRATE
How much space in bits (not bytes) taken up by 1 second of audio (or video).

BIT TORRENT (or BITTORRENT)
An open-source P2P protocol for transferring files. Allows multiple computers on the BitTorrent network (the SWARM) to simultaneously download fragments of a requested file to another user's computer (the PEER NODE), therefore allowing that user the fastest and most efficient download possible. Once a Peer Node downloads a requested BitTorrent file completely, it then becomes one of the many computers (SEED NODES) used to help other Peer Nodes speedily and efficiently download that same BitTorrent file.

BOOTLEG
An unauthorized and usually illegal copy of a file.

BUFFER
Memory that is used as a reservoir for data being transmitted between two devices, intended to provide uninterrupted flow. Used, for example, in streaming audio to make sure the track being played plays uninterrupted. In CD-burning a buffer ensures that the computer has enough memory to continue writing the data even if the user starts performing other tasks on the computer.

CD BURNING
The process of writing data onto a CD-R or CD-RW.

CD-R DISC
Stands for Compact Disc - Recordable. A CD that can be recorded on only once.

CD-RW DISC
Stands for Compact Disc - Rewritable. A CD that can be recorded on multiple times.

CODEC
An algorithm used to compress and decompress digital files, including digital music files. MP3 is one of the most common codecs. Others are AAC, WAV, WMA, OGG, FLAC.

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (DRM)
Technology that controls how a piece of digitized copyrighted material can be used. DRM as it regards digital music would then involve restrictions such as the number of computers a track can play on, the number of copies of a track that can be burned to CD, and the number of portable devices a track can be uploaded to.

DIRECT DATABASE
In the case of file-sharing, this is a type of service where you download music directly from the service's own database rather than from the various computers of the users on the network. In most cases, a direct database service is licensed to provide users access to the music and the ability to purchase individual tracks for burning. This means a portion of the subscription cost and per song cost are passed on to the copyright owners.

DOWNLOAD
To receive a file from another computer, usually a server. The reverse of uploading.

ENCODER
A program that converts uncompressed audio files into compressed MP3s while maintaining the original tracks basic audio quality.

EQUALIZATION (EQ)
A filter used to increase or decrease audio levels at certain frequencies thus altering the overall tonal quality of an audio track. Typical, basic EQs control at least Bass and Treble.

FAST TRACK (or FASTTRACK)
The decentralized P2P network that powers such applications as Grokster and Kazaa.

FLAC
Stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. This is an open source audio format that doesn't discard any of the original data in the compression or decompression process, therefore providing as exact a replica of the original file as possible.

LOSSLESS
A type of data compression where none of the original data is permanently discarded. With lossless data compression, though the files are larger, discriminating listeners are assured the most precise replication possible of the original audio track. FLAC and AIFF are examples of lossless codecs.

LOSSY
The opposite of lossless data compression, this is a codec that loses some of the original data in the process of compressing the file. Purveyors of lossy codecs - like MP3s, WMAs, and AACs - attest that the data lost is not audible data anyway, at least to most listeners' ears. Lossy codecs were derived to deliver the closest possible reproduction of an original track in a much much smaller package.

MP3
A compressed digital format for audio files. The most common type of file used in swapping and/or purchasing digital music, though there definitely exceptions (ie. Apple's iTunes uses AAC a type of MPEG).

MUSIC ON DEMAND
Often a feature of a direct database download service. With Music On Demand the user can access any tracks from a catalog of tracks to play them in streaming audio at any time in any order, provided of course that the user is a current subscriber to that direct database service. This is a way people can inexpensively listen to a wide array of music without purchasing any of it. When a user stops paying their regular subscription fee, they lose access to the catalog.

NORMALIZE
The process of adjusting a sound recording's volume to play back at a consistent level throughout.

OGG
Short for Ogg Vorbis, this is an open source audio codec which means that anyone can use it for free.

OPEN SOURCE
Usually refers to programming code. This is coding that is available for free to the general public to use and even alter at will.

PLAYLIST
A sequential ordering of songs to play back in sequence or at random.

P2P
Stands for Peer-to-Peer. It is a file-sharing system where various users connected to a central network are able to browse one another's (selected) files and swap them back and forth.

RIAA
Stands for the Recording Industry Association of America. It represents the U.S. recording industry. If charges are brought against any person or organization for copyright infringement of a musical recording, the RIAA is most likely to be involved.

RIP/RIPPER
To Rip is to record a song from a CD or an audio file onto your computer's hard drive in order that an encoder can then compress and convert it into an MP3. A Ripper is the program that performs the act of Ripping.

SAMPLING RATE
A measurement of how precisely a digital file duplicates the analog audio it describes. The lower the number, the poorer the replica (and usu. the smaller the file).

SECURE AUDIO FILE
An audio file that must be purchased in order to be played, and in some cases copied without some reduction in sound quality.

SOUND CARD
Circuitry either already in your computer or that you can add to your computer to play and record audio. Sound cards can handle either analog or digital signals or both. There are a variety of higher quality and lower quality sound cards available.

STREAMING AUDIO
Sound files sent on demand over the internet with requiring the user to download the individual files. Requires some sort of compatible streaming audio player (usually free - like RealPlayer or Windows Media Player - or free with membership to the service).

UPLOAD
To send a file to another computer, usually a server or via a server. The reverse of downloading.

WAV
The Windows Media equivalent of Mac OS's AIFF file. This is a digital file format used to record audio data. AIFF and WAV files are uncompressed, unlike MP3s, and are therefore extremely large files that take up lots of space on your hard drive.

WMA
Windows Media Audio format, part of Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media technology. Files with the extension .wma must be played on a Windows Media Player. WMA files are compressed even more than MP3s, offering the same quality as MP3s at half the bitrate