FAQs About Music

Your eCircle's Music area gives you an easy way to find and share digitized music with your friends. You no longer need to clog your friends e-mail accounts with huge music files.

With the eCircles Music area, you can use the eCircles Boom Box to store music to share with your friends. And you can download songs that they've uploaded with no hassle at all. You can also listen to songs while you are doing something else in your circles, like playing games or checking out the photo albums.

• What do I need to get started with Digital Music?
• What is MP3?
• What are some other forms of digital music?
• How do I upload songs?
• How do I download songs?
• How do I share digital music?
• Is Digital Music Legal?

What do I need to get started with Digital Music?

Step 1: Check your system

Just about any computer can play digital music, although it's recommended that you have at least a Pentium, PowerPC, or comparable processor. Also, you'll need a sound card and speakers.

Step 2: Download MP3 player software

An MP3 player software program plays MP3 files. There are many players available for free or as shareware. If you're playing music in other digital formats, you'll need to download the players specific for those formats. Your MP3 player may not play a song encoded in a different audio format.

For Windows, we recommend Winamp. As the "king" of MP3 players, Winamp is both feature-rich and easy to use. It's freeware, which means there's no cost. As an alternative to Winamp, Real Networks offers Real Jukebox, which contains some excellent MP3 capabilities. You don't pay a fee for Real Jukebox Basic. If you'd like to have the ability to play both Liquid Audio files as well as MP3 files, download the Liquid Audio player from www.liquidaudio.com. It's free as well.

Are you on a Mac? Mac users can use the Macintosh version of RealPlayer G2 to listen to their MP3s. A second option for Mac users is to download the latest version of the shareware Macast (formerly Macamp).

To install a new player, download it and run the installer or setup file, just as you would with any other software program.

Step 3: Get Your Digital Music

Once you have your digital music player installed, all you need are some songs to play. We suggest visiting eCircles partners, www.riffage.com or www.listen.com as a start for MP3s. They have thousands of titles to choose from and can provide you with even more information on how to get the music flowing.

What is MP3?

MP3 is a compact music file format that has near-CD quality sound. You can identify MP3 files because their names end in ".mp3". With the ability to compress high quality audio files small enough to transfer via the Internet, people are sharing songs and sound bytes across the world.

What are some other forms of digital music?

There are many other formats for recording digital music other than MP3. MP4, EPAC, MSAudio, a2b, and VQF are just some of the digital music formats available. In addition, there are secure formats for music files that some of the major record companies and industry leaders are beginning to embrace. Liquid Audio is an encryption format designed for use with MP3s. Its purpose is to encode a digital watermark on every MP3 in order to protect copyrighted songs. A person downloading a song with the Liquid Audio watermark will be able to tell if the MP3 is being legally distributed or not.

How do I upload songs?

1. From http://www.ecircles.com/ click "Share Music," or click "Add Music" from your My eCircles page.
2. Click "Upload Music." (You can skip this step if clicked "Share Music" from the homepage.)

1. Select the digital music file you want to upload.
2. Fill in the name of the song.
3. Click "Upload."

How do I download songs?

1. Login to eCircles and click "Music" from the menu on the left-hand side.
2. Click the "Download" button located next to the song you want to hear.
3. After you have downloaded the song, you can play it with your MP3 player.

How do I share digital music?

There are two ways to share digital music in eCircles.

1. Go to http://www.ecircles.com/ and click "Share Music" under the Start Here area.
2. Click "Browse" to select the digital music file you wish to upload.
3. Fill in the name of the song.
4. Click "Upload Music."

—or—

1. Login to your eCircles account.
2. Click the eCircle in which that you wish to share music.
3. Click "Add Music" from the menu on the left-hand side.
4. Select the digital music file you wish to upload.

1. Fill in the name of the song.
2. Click "Upload Music."

Is Digital Music Legal?

MP3 and other digital music encoding formats are simply file formats. eCircles is pleased to provide space for you to share music in your eCircle in digital music formats. Please be advised that the eCircles Terms of Use prohibits the uploading or downloading of any material that would infringe the copyright or other intellectual property rights of others. For more information, see our Terms of Use and Copyright Policy.