It would be nice if someone could help me out, I,m a fresh newbie and would leke to know about down loading. How do you do it and where does it go? Do you need a special place for it? What about all these free down loads thats my bigest question, where do you put them? Thank you.

With the advent of Personal Computers and the Internet in the past 10 years, the effects on the music industry have been resounding. Greater genres and types of music have proliferated as persons who possessed the talent but not necessarily the time, money or equipment are now able to create opuses on the PC.

Some sticklers who eschew any form of music production other than real time live recording and editing have blamed this phenomenon for reducing music to merely a series of samples, tracks and loops that any no-talent idiot can put together and produce professional quality music.

In response to this, I say that this is the way that it was meant to be. This is the natural evolution of music from the pounding of sticks and stones to the current trends. The human voice will always be the primary musical instrument of man, and everyone possesses this. Why should the lack of ability to play any particular musical instrument or read a score be a hindrance to anyone in expressing themselves with any medium that they see fit?

I believe that these negative factions that turn up their noses at digital music have lost sight of the ultimate purpose of music...expression. Throughout history, men have always tried to prevent other men from expressing their personal thoughts, feelings, and opinions in one way or another. Music is the ultimate medium of expression; pure, unadulterated sound modulated to convey emotions and thoughts. Even without lyrics, one shares the grief of the composer when they listen to the sad sonata, or feels the elation portrayed by the uplifting symphony. Do you believe that musical geniuses such as Beethoven or Tchaikovsky would have been revolted by the advent of electronica? I say most emphatically "NO!" They would have been more than elated by it!

The music lies within the composer/performer/creator. The medium used to transfer the music from an ideal to reality is really inconsequential as long it is a faithful representation. I believe, if given the choice between dealing with the 120 varying personalities of an orchestra or a single obedient PC, Beethoven would have chosen the PC without hesitation.

I believe that the younger generation is undergoing a true progressive regression of sorts in that it is developing an affinity for music that is more pure and unsullied by lyrics. They seek the stimulus of the drums, tones and frequencies. Sequenced sound, directed in such a way as to promote emotion and thought, without having to revert to the spoken word. Just as Neanderthal man used sequenced sounds as a means of communication even before the development of spoken language, so too does modern man escape the restrictions and boundaries of linguistics in today's modern music.

So, in light of this, so what if you can't sing a note or play a tune? The pure music resides in the individual, not the object. To use a phrase often quoted by iconoclasts, "...by any means necessary" each and every person should find a method and a means to express the music that lies within us. If one uses a guitar, another his own voice, this one a piano and that one a PC, what matter? The ultimate goal is to express, to share, to communicate.

When the works that we produce by our various methods touch another person and make them want to dance, to sing, to reflect or to cry, then this is the end result of all of our efforts. Mission accomplished.