Downloading MIDI files from this site
You need to decide first where you are going to store the files, and create a new directory - say, C:\mid. Then, choose the piece you want by going to 'THE MUSIC LIST' on this site and click on the thumbnail image to take you to the picture screen. Click on the 'MIDI DOWNLOAD' button. A Windows menu will appear, headed 'What do you want to do with this file?'. Select 'Open it' and click 'OK'. A new menu appears headed 'Save as...'. This allows you to browse your directories and highlight the one where you want the file put. Then click 'Save'.
The MIDI files you can download from here are '.zip' files, i.e. compressed, and you need to have downloaded and installed
WinZip to decompress them to the '.mid' version (Winzip is so essential on any computer that you should have it, anyway). When you have successfully unzipped the file to get the playable 'mid' version, you can delete the '.zip' file.
To save you trouble, I have compressed all of the available MIDI files into one, called 'all.zip' and you can download this by clicking here.
Accelerated download
Downloading MP3 files takes a fairly long time because of the size of the files (the ones available through this site are 2-16 Mb). If you anticipate downloading many MP3 files, it very desirable to install a download accelerator. The one I use, and recommend, is DAP (Download Accelerator Plus) which is free, and almost automatic in use. Its main acceleration device is to open up several connections simultaneously, start downloading from them all, and then piece together the fragments at the end; this is automatic and you do not even need to know it is happening. It also has an 'Error Recovery' facility, invaluable for big downloads. This means that if an error occurs while downloading - say, your connection to the Internet is lost - you do not have to start all over again: when you are next connected to the Internet, you can get DAP to 'Resume' and it will start again where it left off. DAP has many other useful features, and you will soon find out about them when you get it.
Downloading the MP3 files listed on this site
You should install DAP (Download Accelerator Plus - see above) first
All of the MP3 files listed on this site are available direct from my MP3.COM page and you may wish to go there to get them. (At all events, you should know about MP3.COM if you have any degree of interest in MP3 music; it is widely respected as the premier site). For convenience, I have provided click-button links in this site (the one you are on now) which will take you there, and connect you to the correct download address.
Before starting to download, you need to decide where you are going to store the .mp3 files, create a new directory - say, C:\mp3, and configure DAP to place the downloaded files in this directory. . The .mp3 files you can download from here are 'HiFi' and take up 2-16 Mb of disk space each , so you might want to use a temporary directory and transfer the files you want to keep to a permanent home somewhere else, where there is more space. (There is no provision on the present site for direct download of the 'LoFi' versions). Then, choose the piece you want by going to 'THE MUSIC LIST' on this site and click on the thumbnail image to take you to the picture screen. Click on the 'MP3 DOWNLOAD' button. If you have DAP (Download Accelerator Plus) installed, you will rapidly get a small menu offering 'Normal Download' or 'Accelerated' - choose 'Accelerated'. The rest is automatic, and if anything goes wrong DAP will inform you and tell you what to do. As soon as downloading is complete, you can run WinAmp to play back the MP3 file.
WinAmp has many additional facilities, and you have to use it to find them all, or got to the WinAmp site, which has full documentation. Among them is the ability to play an .mp3 file from a remote site and save it at the same time. It is therefore possible to save the 'LoFi' .mp3 files ... but why should you, when in a little extra time you can get the CD quality 'HiFi' file instead?
