The MP3 heralds the arrival of the digital age, and I am sure most people own a mp3 capable device, be it a dedicated mp3 player, a pmp, your comp, or your mobile phone. If you’re clueless on how to source for mp3 file, “let me show you the light……”

English Songs

Looking for a English song you like? Find it on Limewire. There is a free and pro version, but just stick to the free version and you’re not missing out much. Download and install the program. Its free of all the crap wares and any other forms of “harmful stuffs” for your comp. Its a P2P program and its does that elegantly and user interface can’t be simpler. No user configuration needed, just decide where you want to save your files.

Just some important point to note. If you download copyrighted materials, a dialogue box will popup informing you that it is illegal to do so. Acknowledging and proceeding with the download is not the end of the world……

Another piece of advice when using limewire is to avoid downloading applications / software as they are infested with spywares and viruses. Just stick to the mp3.

If you’re looking for the latest mandarin hits, head over to baidu. Baidu is China’s answer to google. In addition to image and web query, they also happen to have an excellent search engine for a huge collection of mandarin songs, together with lyrics and streaming of the songs. There’s noting to download or install. Just plain search and download from the results. The site is clean so no worries.

Go to Baidu

Input your search terms into the red shaded region and check the “mp3″ button. Do note since the site is for chinese, search terms must be in mandarin.

Search Results

You should see your results in the format above. As a guide, filesize smaller than 3mb is not worth downloading and might not feature the full length of the song. Look for the song you fancy and click on ?? to make sure its the right song you’re looking for and you should see the following popup

Listen & Download

When you see this popup, the song you selected will start streaming and you can choose to save it to your local machine just by clicking on the link right at the top to start the download.

If you got a huge collection of CDs and like to transfer them over to your mp3 player, there’s a easy and ready made tools in Windows Media Player 11.

Go to the “Rip” tab and click on the small arrow at the bottom, select format => mp3

Next, select Bitrate => 120kbps. This option will determine the filesize of the resulting mp3. Personally I am someone who is fussy with the quality of mp3, thus 120kbps suits me just fine. However, if you are thinking of preserving indefinitely the songs from the cd, it will be a good idea to choose at least 256kbps and above.

After the process is done, you should be able to find your album in My Documents => My Music => “foldername of your album”.

That’s it, enjoy your mp3. If you’re willing to venture into torrent territory, the possibilities is limited only by your imagination.

Disclaimer: downloading any copyrighted material is illegal. I will only show you the light. You choose the path.