Column for 20-Apr-2000

Electronic Texts

What would you do if you were offered $100 million worth of computer time? In 1971, Michael Hart received such an offer and he decided to make electronic books freely available on the Internet. Since that time, working with hundreds of volunteers, Project Gutenberg has typed, scanned and proofread over 2000 titles, ranging from the Bible to the works of Shakespeare to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Due to copyright laws in the United States, you'll probably be able to find any major text written before 1923 in Project Gutenberg's collection.

Because the books are typed as plain text and compressed into zip format, downloads are not too large. You're also able to download a file of all the available e-texts by title or author. Online, you can search the site by title or author. If you're a student doing research for a literature project or just want to catch up on those Sherlock Holmes stories you can no longer find, visit Project Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.net the next time you're online.

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MP3 Music Revisited

The list of sites this week includes more sites where you can find out why there's such a fuss being made about MP3 music. As well, there are some well-known sites if you're interested in saving your music in MP3 format. For the task of converting music titles already in digital format (say from an audio CD) to MP3 so you can have easier access to music from your computer, there are shareware and freeware programs at several sites.

Another area of interest is the task of bringing back to the life all that great music that resides on those vinyl LPs stored away in the cupboard. This is a more difficult job because it involves converting music recorded in an analogue form to digital format before burning onto a CD. In this case, then, remedies will be needed to eliminate any spurious noise introduced by faults in the recording surface of the vinyl record or tape. If you've recently purchased a CD-RW drive, you may have also received software bundled with the drive, in particular CD Spin Doctor. In any case, a good site to start at is Adaptec's (www.adaptec.com) and look through their FAQ in the products and support sections.

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Finding MP3 Music Titles

While it's relatively easy to find one of the latest releases in MP3, it's a little more difficult to find a title of one of your favourite bands or groups from yesteryear. This is especially true when you're looking for one of the many free and legal MP3s. Perhaps we have to be content with titles by alternative groups that sites such as Listen.com offer.

If you've used Listen.com to find titles, you will have noticed that you're taken to another site for the download. Some of these sites are in this week's list.

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Writing and Reading

It's all too easy to see the Internet used for business or a wide resource for technical information. But it's become an important medium for those in the Arts. Being able to have a homepage on the Web to show the artist's creative works costs little to get underway and maintain. However, promotion is still required and the artist would like recognition from the wider community.

The Arts section of VicNet, for example, has specific sections for architecture, artists, ceramics, crafts, music, literature and writing (www.vicnet.net.au/arts/). Once you're at your area of interest, there are links to more specific sites. In particular, webDotWiz would like to mention Songsalive for songwriters and OzLiz.org for writers.

OzLit.org is an extensive site, including a database of books and writers. There is an online e-zine and a special section for young readers. Writers can submit manuscripts of short stories or poems for publication on the site.

There are other sites, such as the Australian Society of Authors, in this week's list. Remember, too, to take advantage of newsgroups, mail discussion lists and chats to promote your work and share with others your experiences.

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Songwriters

Songsalive is a site that aims to provide support and promotion for songwriters. There is a comprehensive list of resources, including links to courses, associations, Australian publishers and copyright resources. VicNet also hosts the site for the Australian Songwriters Association.

The Songwriting Society of Australia provides a newsletter, the "Songsmith", runs a national song competition, has details of concerts and handy links.

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Local Sites, Daylight Saving

webDotWiz is more than happy to hear from Waranga News readers who have their own personal homepage. Send mail to webmaster@webdotwiz.zzn.com with the address of your site and two or three sentences describing it's main theme and content.

With daylight saving beginning in late August this year, Microsoft has posted an information page relating to Windows 95/98, NT and various Microsoft applications. Users of Outlook and Schedule+ in particular should refer to this page to evaluate how they may be effected.

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