That said, I have been looking around for MP3 media that I might load on an Ipod or some other MP3 player. For my own use there are certain things that I’d like to use on an MP3 player. I will list these below and provide places that you can find them.

Music is certainly desirable in MP3 format. Some MP3 players allow you to actually load thousands of songs (from Beethoven and Bach to the Beatles). The trick is getting inexpensive or free songs. I don’t know how you can legally get free songs off the Internet any longer, but they can be purchased legally at a reasonable price. Although you may still pay the same price per song that you would for an album, you can now choose only the songs you like. No longer are you stuck buying a CD with 15 songs, 14 of which are dogs, and only one good one. Now you can choose 15 winners and pay only for them!

There are any number of sources of for-pay songs on the Internet. Try a “MP3” Google search, and you’ll find more than you need. You might want to start with iTunes, the digital-jukebox software. The iTunes Music Store offers Windows users the same online music store as Mac users, with the same music catalog, the same personal-use rights, and the same 99-cents-per-song pricing. With music from all five major music companies and more than 600 independent labels, the iTunes Music Store catalog now offers more than 1,000,000 songs. Features include a free download with no hidden charges for extra features, MP3 and AAC-encoding from audio CDs, and smart playlists. You also get more than 250 free Internet radio stations, and the ability to burn custom playlists to CDs and MP3 CDs. Not only that, but it also lets you burn content to DVDs to back up an entire music collection, and to share music via Rendezvous over any network, cross-platform.

 Other features include iMix, which lets you post and e-mail songs in your playlists, Party Shuffle, with which you can add, delete, and rearrange songs on the fly. Then there is Apple Lossless, which lets you import music from CDs and achieve sound quality indistinguishable from the original, at about half the original file size. Five computers can play protected songs (up from the previous limit of three), and identical playlists containing protected songs can be burned up to seven times (down from 10). You also will have the ability to get music and audio books related to a movie, to see a music video and get the track, to download a free song, to preview in Playlists and in Quick Links. Finally, with iTunes you can automatically convert WMA files to AAC, to convert the music you saved in Windows Media Player (unprotected WMA files) to AAC format, to print CD inserts for your album. It is free for downloading at (dare I say it) apple.com. As I say, iTunes is only one of many options, but it is a good place to start.

A second use for my MP3 player is old radio programs and audio books. You can find deals on audio books at half.com and other places on the Internet. Or you can buy them at full price. But recently I ran across a “must have right now” opportunity. I found old radio programs in MP3, I mean hundreds of programs, for a pittance. It seems that many if not most of these now are in the public domain and can either be gotten there free, or purchased from others who have gone to the trouble to download and catalogue them. Recently, I have purchased close to two thousand of these on a few CD or DVD discs. Among available programs are The Shadow, Jack Benny, The Lone Ranger, War of the World, Bob and Ray, Charlie McCarthy, Sherlock Holmes, Red Skelton, Roy Rogers, and a host of other too numerous to mention. You will find these at ebay.com. When eBay comes up, type MP3 in the search field and you will have many options. Choose CD or Audio Books and you will discover many excellent old radio programs at five cents or less per program.

Lastly, any MP player I choose will be well stocked with MP3 sermons. I find that these make excellent use of my time as I travel by car. Not only do I get from point “A” to point “B”, but also with sermons I can feed my soul on the way. Unfortunately, many of these messages are priced at $2.50, which I find a little expensive. So, I searched the Web and came up with some free sites. These are not easy to find, so I will include them here. My old Greek professor, S. Louis Johnson, has messages available at: believers-chapel.org. Another site that has many MP3 addresses is: sermonaudio.com. There are many, many speakers listed, with a host of subjects. Another will provide a good start for MP3 teaching: sermonindex.net .

Well, that’s it for now. If any of our readers know of good sources for inexpensive or free MP3 media, please e-mail them to me and I’ll not only avail myself to them, but also share them with others in a future column.