Chapter 11. Play It Loud: Upgrading for Digital Music Playback and Recording

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Listening to CDs and digital music files

• Downloading music from the Internet

• Ripping music from a CD and burning your own music CDs

• Transferring digital music to a portable audio player

• Listening to Internet radio

• Playing a digital piano or synthesizer

• Setting up your own home recording studio

Your personal computer can do more than just compute. It can also serve as a fully functional audio system and CD replication factory!

That's right, you can use your PC to listen to your favorite audio CDs, download digital audio files from the Internet, and burn your own custom CDs. You can even convert your PC into the nucleus of a high-tech digital home recording studio.

For many of these applications you don't even need to upgrade your system; most new PCs come with the hardware and software you need for basic digital audio playback and recording. For more advanced applications, however and to get the best-quality sound there are some simple upgrades you can make.