Click on the following links to jump directly to a section:

WHATS A "PLAYER"?

PLAYER & MUSIC "TYPES"

MP3: What is that?
        How does MP3 work?
        What kind of MP3 player should I get?
        How do I download an MP3 song?

Liquid Audio: What is that?
        How does Liquid Audio work?
        What kind of Liquid Audio player should I get?
        How do I download a Liquid Audio song?

Windows Media: What is that?
        How does Windows Media work?
        What kind of Windows Media player should I get?
        How do I download a Windows Media song?

WHAT IS MYPLAY?

WHATS A "PLAYER"?

Just like you need a CD player to play CDs or a VCR to play VHS tapes, you need a player on your computer to play downloaded music files.

Players only take up about 50 MB of your hard drive space and most of them look like the CD player you have in your house. The buttons are the same. Some of them even have equalizers that you can adjust to make songs sound even better and some of them have options where you can change their looks.

PLAYER & MUSIC "TYPES"

There are four different types of music and music players out there, so you can pick the one that will be the best for you and your computer. The four different kinds of music and music players available are:

MP3

Liquid Audio

MS Audio 4.0.

Following, you will learn a little bit about MP3, a2b and Liquid Audio. MS AUDIO 4.0 is still pretty new and in beta format so Ill hold off on that one for now.

MP3: WHAT IS THAT?

MP3 is short for MPEG Layer 3 or "Moving Pictures Experts Group". MP3 music is the most popular downloadable music format and most people choose to have MP3 Players on their computers.

MP3 Files or songs cannot be played on your computer if you have an a2b Player or Liquid Audio Player. These players play only a2b Files or Liquid Audio Files. That would be like trying to play a tape in your CD player. MP3 Files can only be played on MP3 players.  However,  the new Real Jukebox player plays both MP3 and a2b music files.

HOW DOES MP3 WORK?

Basically, all that MP3 does is take a song from the internet, squeezes, or "compresses"it into a tiny little ball and shoots through the phone lines into your computer. Its kind of like a spit-ball through a straw. When it lands in your computer, it is in the MP3 "Format". The best thing about this is that the sound of the song does not suffer as a result. Youll still get that near-CD sound. The other great feature is that a song will not take up very much space on your computer. 1 song is usually a big file, but MP3 sort of shrinks it down so you do not use up too much of your hard drive space. Once the song is stored onto your computers hard drive, your player will know where to go and look when you want to hear something. I would suggest making a new folder called "MP3 Files", or "My Favorite Songs" to hold all of your new music. To do this, just check out Section 1 and I will walk you through the easy process.

WHAT KIND OF MP3 PLAYER SHOULD I GET?

There are tons of MP3 players out there right now, so pick one that you think looks the coolest and is able to play all the different types of music files that you would like to hear.   The one that a lot of people have and the one that I like too is called Winamp -- if you have a PC, you can get this one. If you have a Mac, then youll need to get Macamp.

Real Audio has a player called "Real Jukebox". The great thing about this player is that not only will it play MP3 files it also plays a2b Music files and will stream Real Audio songs. To download a free version of this player, go to Real Audio's website.

HOW DO I DOWNLOAD A MP3 SONG?

1.  Make sure you have a MP3 Player

2.  Go to MUSICBLITZ's  MP3 Section. Here youll find some MP3 Music to download.  Pick out a song you'd like to hear.

3.  Left click the "Get MP3" Download Music Link.  Look for MUSICBLITZ Download Tips to guide you through the process. You may be prompted to "save file to disk" (your computer's hard drive) and if you do, write down the directory you saved it in.

4.  After the file is done downloading, it should automatically play depending upon how you have your player configured.  If it doesn't, then find the file you just downloaded and double-click on the song.

Liquid Audio: WHAT IS THAT?

Liquid Audio is essentially a proprietary platform like a2b. It is owned and developed by a company that got together with the record industry to make sure that there was a "check" on some of the music going out over the internet. Liquid Audio also offers both streaming and downloading (in fact, many Liquid Audio songs are available for streaming only and this site will only review downloadable liquid music songs). While downloading allows you to keep a copy of the song on your computer that you can play back on demand, Liquid Audio streaming is like listening to a song on the radio and no copy is saved to your computer.

HOW DOES LIQUID AUDIO WORK?

Liquid Audio compresses music for your computer in basically the same way as MP3 and a2b. Like a2b Music, it is "encoded" to ensure that it can only be transported to those who pay for it.

WHAT KIND OF LIQUID AUDIO PLAYER SHOULD I GET?

There is only one Liquid Audio Player, you can download here.

HOW DO I DOWNLOAD A LIQUID AUDIO SONG?

Downloading a Liquid Audio Song or "File" is a little different from downloading an MP3 File or a2b File.

1.  Make sure you have downloaded the Liquid Audio Player.

2.  Find a Liquid Audio song to download on MUSICBLITZ by clicking here.

3.  Click on the "Get Liquid Audio" Music Download Link.  Look for MUSICBLITZ Download Tips to guide you through the process until you find the link to download the Liquid Audio song.  Then:

• IF YOU LEFT CLICK. A left click on the song, you will be able to "stream" the song. When you stream a song, you will be able to hear it play right away. It will not save onto your computer. Its a good way to make sure that youre getting a song that you will like. Before it starts to stream, a window will pop up and ask you if you would like the hear the song in "CD Sound" or in "Near-CD Sound". Its your choice. When you click on the "Play" button on the Player, the streaming will begin. NOTE: Before you stream, you be given a window preparing you to "Save" the song. If you are not ready to download it yet and only want to hear what it sounds like, click "cancel".

• IF YOU RIGHT CLICK. A right click will prompt a window to show up on your screen. In the window, you will be given some options. If you would like to "stream" the song, click "Open Link". Your player will pop up and you can press the play button to hear what the song sounds like. Then the window asking you the quality of sound you want to hear the song play will appear. Hit play and the music will start immediately.

• TO DOWNLOAD THE SONG. If you like how the song sounds after streaming it, or you decide not to stream and just go straight to the download, you can do two things with the "right click" option.

• IF YOU SELECT THE "OPEN LINK" Your player will pop up and again, you can either choose to stream or download the track. If its a free song, click the "Free Download" button on your player and the download will start. If you would like to buy the whole album, click the "Buy the CD" button and you will be given some instructions.

• YOU CAN ALSO SELECT THE "SAVE TARGET AS" OPTION. If you decide to take this route, you will be prompted to pick a place other than the folder the Liquid Audio Player has selected, to store your song. This is for those of you who have created a new folder to hold all of your songs.

• SELECT THE FOLDER, CLICK SAVE AND THE DOWNLOAD WILL START. Once the download is complete, your computer will let you know and youre ready to hear the song.

NOTE: MAKE SURE TO CLICK THE "FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD BUTTON" ON THE LIQUID AUDIO PLAYER TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAVING A COPY OF THE DOWNLOAD AND NOT JUST STREAMING THE SONG.

Windows Media: WHAT IS THAT?

Windows Media Player is a proprietary encoding technology developed by Microsoft that compresses files to almost half the size of a similar song in MP3 format. For you, this means a faster download time. Windows Media Player also offers both streaming and downloading. While downloading allows you to keep a copy of the song on your computer that you can play back on demand, Windows Media streaming is like listening to a song on the radio - no copy is saved to your computer. The Windows Media Player also supports and can play MP3 files and WAV files. The Windows format is sometimes called "WMA".

You can get a copy of the Windows Media Player here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/Win32IE4x86.asp

HOW DOES WINDOWS MEDIA WORK?

Windows Media works just like MP3 in that a WinMedia file (song) is compressed into a tiny little ball and shot into your computer. WinMedia is a protocol that is growing in popularity due to its enhanced security and multimedia features, along with Microsoft's backing.  The "protocol" basically means that a record label can copy protect a song so that it can not be distributed illegally.

WHAT KIND OF WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER SHOULD I GET?

You can download the most current Windows Media Player from Microsoft.

HOW DO I DOWNLOAD A WINDOWS MEDIA SONG?

1.  Make sure you have a WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER

2.  Go to MUSICBLITZ's  Windows Media Section

Here you’ll find some Windows Media or WMA files to download. Pick out a song you'd like to hear.

3.  Left click the Download Music Link. Look for MUSICBLITZ Download Tips to guide you through the process. You may be prompted to "save file to disk" (your computer's hard drive) and if you do, write down the directory you saved it in.

4.  After the file is done downloading, it should automatically play depending upon how you have your player configured. If it doesn't, then find the file you just downloaded and double-click on the song. In some cases, you will be automatically re-connected to the Internet to register the first time you play a song.

NOTE: Windows Media has many security features that may require online verification, or the song file itself may expire after a pre-determined number of days. In some cases, even after you have downloaded a song, you will need to remain online the first time you try to play the song and will be required to fill out a registration form online.

MUSICBLITZ will always provide you with specific instructions for this in the Pop-Up Box with the "Download Tips".

EDITORS NOTE:  Windows Media is a relatively new format and many of the security features have been requested by both record labels and artists to protect their rights. In some cases, the security features have made the download process problematic or not workable at all for the consumer. MUSICBLITZ will always attempt to guide you through the process, however, if we can not get a file to work after careful investigation and testing, then it will not be covered on our site. 

WHAT IS MYPLAY?

Myplay is a FREE service where you can store, organize, share and listen to your digital music online - anytime, anywhere. Click here to sign up for your own free Locker, which provides you with unlimited storage for all of your MUSICBLITZ tracks and 3 gigabytes of storage for all your other favorite digital music.

If you'd like to save your favorite tunes, simply click on to the right of any exclusive track on www.Musicblitz.com and if you are already registered with myplay, your track will be automatically saved to your locker. If not, you'll be taken to the myplay registration page for a quick sign up. Best of all, myplay is easy to use and FREE!