I've heard that audio products are available in a digital MP3 audio format through the MP3 Library. What is the MP3 Library and how does it work?

In addition to the CD format for our audio products, we offer new products (and many previously existing products) in a digital MP3 format that is downloadable after purchase. Simply click the MP3 format option for the desired product to add it to your online Shopping Cart.

All of your purchased MP3 audio content is available to you through your personal MP3 Library. Log in with your username and password to see a convenient, organized list of purchased MP3 products and Journal issues along with additional account information. Your username is generally the email address you provided when purchasing MP3 products (and to which we emailed your password). An easily accessible link to the MP3 Library page is also provided in the navigation bar on the left side of our website's pages, referenced as "Your MP3 Library."

Your MP3 Library includes the audio files for each purchase, as well as associated print files, including forms for printing CD labels, tray liners, and other resources. If you notice any discrepancies between our records and what you thought you ordered, please let us know by emailing us.

The file list for each product includes an informative "1st_Read_Me" file; when you purchase new products, you may wish to download this file first. Or you may prefer simply to download the audio files and start listening right away. If MP3 listening is new to you, the "1st_Read_Me" file includes extensive instructions for getting our files into MP3 playback software, onto an MP3 player, or burned onto conventional CDs.

Feel free to change your password and/or user name any time you log on; to change these fields, click on the "Your Profile" link from the main page after logging in.

If your email address changes, we will NOT change your user name for access to this account. If you forget your user name or password, e-mail us at MP3[at]marshillaudio.org, giving us your full name and postal code; we'll assign you a new user name and password and notify you as soon as possible. This will be done manually, so you won't hear back from us right away.

If you have an issue or question not covered by one of the other CAQs on this page, please call us at 800-331-6407 (9-5 EST) or e-mail us at MP3[at]marshillaudio.org.

In case you're worried about security, please note that no credit card information is stored on this site. All credit card information submitted with your order is handled via a secure site, and is deleted as soon as your order is processed.

One final note. We realize that it's amazingly easy to share these files with friends and family members. We decided not to use any digital protection systems in these files, so that means you're on an honor system of sorts. So we ask that you read our comments here about how we hope you'll respect the hard work we put into these products.

Now that this system is in place, we're hoping to increase the number of MP3 products we have available, so check our website's home page periodically for news about new products.

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How has the procedure for downloading issues gotten easier with Volume 105?

With Volume 105, we made small changes in the packaging process to make it a bit easier to get our audio files to your listening devices. (We know it is cludgy, and this is an incremental step pointing forward, in shared hope, to a future overhaul.)

Now, you only need to download and "unzip" a single ZIP file containing all the audio tracks as well as pre-made importable playlists. After unzipping the ZIP file, locate the suitable playlist (it is an M3U playlist file) and import it into iTunes. Voila! The playlist will appear, iTunes will import the MP3s automatically, and you can start listening or sync your iPod or burn CDs immediately thereafter. Need more detailed instructions? Just read the 1st Read Me file in your MP3 Library.

We realize this is merely an incremental change, but nonetheless, while we gather funds for a more significant overhaul, we hope it will save precious minutes of your time.

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I'm thinking about switching to MP3 Download format, but I'm not very familiar with "MP3" audio. Can you give me an overview of what "MP3 Download format" means and what the change would entail?

Sure! Let's start with some basic background on MP3 audio.

Some Basic Background on MP3 Audio

Audio technology and media have developed over the past decades from vinyl records to magnetic tape-based audio cassettes to compact discs (CDs) and now have become fully digitized in the popular MP3 format.

"MP3" is the name of the file format of audio files that can be played on a computer and on portable audio players such as iPods. The MP3 files (*.mp3) are similar to Microsoft document (*.doc) files, portable document format (*.pdf), and picture/graphics files (*.jpg) in that they are all different types of files on computers that need their own software programs to be opened and used according to their various characteristics (i.e. read, heard, viewed).

Hence, in order to read Microsoft documents like a resume (e.g. "resume.doc"), we need to have a software program that is able to open that particular file type, like Microsoft Word. In order to read PDF documents like another resume (e.g. "resume2.pdf"), we need to have a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader. Sometimes, especially when the file format is very common, there are multiple software programs that can open that type of file. For instance, picture/graphic files in the common JPEG format (e.g. "sunset.jpg") can be opened by Microsoft Paint, Apple Preview, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Picture Viewer, FastStone Image Viewer, IrfanView Graphic Viewer, and a host of other programs.

MP3 files similarly need to be "opened" (i.e. played) by music software such as the common Windows Media Player for Windows computers, and iTunes for both Windows and Mac OS computers. All computers should have some software for listening to MP3 files.

The substantive advantages to receiving the MHAJ in MP3 format are 1) lower costs for us (and for the subscriber), since we don't have to pay for Compact Disc media and especially inflating mailing costs, 2) less environmental waste from packaging and other materials, 3) increased speed of delivery, as it takes less time to download the ~55MB of content than to receive the content by regular mail, 4) added versatility, as MP3 files can immediately be listened to on a computer, can quickly be downloaded onto portable MP3 players like iPods, and can also be burned onto CD media for listening in car stereos with CD players, and 5) easier backup and safekeeping, as it's harder to lose a computer than to lose a CD! The drawback, of course, is that if one is unfamiliar with this new technology, it can be daunting, and it does require some time to learn how to take advantage of the real benefits of the MP3 format. Also, though most people will not notice, audiophiles may notice a slight decrease in audio quality for MP3 files compared to CDs.

How to Receive and Listen to MHA Content in MP3 Format
See this CAQ for updated information regarding our new MP3 Store and Library system!

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I don't have an MP3 player. Is a subscription to the MP3 edition of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal of any benefit to me?

If you have 1) a CD player on which you could listen to the Journal; 2) highspeed internet access (i.e., not dial-up) and 3) a CD burner, then you might prefer the MP3 edition.

Everything we sell in downloadable MP3 format may be burned to conventional audio CDs. The instructions for this procedure are included with every MP3 product sold. If instructions for technical things make you nervous, you can preview a sample of one of these instruction sheets here, to see whether or not doing this would be much too adventurous at this time in your life.

In addition to saving money, another advantage of an MP3 subscription is that you will get the Journal about a month sooner than cassette or CD subscribers, since the time for duplication and shipping is eliminated.

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Do you have plans to convert all the back issues of the Journal to the MP3 format?

We probably won't do this, but a lot of the material from those back issues will be available on MP3.

This decision is really a matter of trying to allocate our limited time and money as wisely as possible. Each issue of the Journal takes up about 55 Mb of disk space. If we converted all of the issues of the Journal that are only on cassette to MP3, the storage requirements from our web hosting company would cost us about $500 per year. So we would have to sell at least 100 back issues per year just to break even. And, sadly, we don't sell that many. Not nearly. Despite the wonderful content on products as old as 15 years (and in this world, that's ancient!), people seem reluctant to buy an old periodical. Part of the problem is that these back issues are hard to describe in advertising copy. Some of those back issues have one or two features that may be attractive to listeners, but many people are reluctant to purchase a back issue for one or two features. The issues that have a lot of good features often include so much variety that it is a challenge to hold people's attention long enough to explain why they would like this 12-year-old product.

And, quite candidly, not all of the old content is brilliant. So our plan is to take the best of the old material and repackage it into thematically organized Anthologies. Look, for example, at the contents of Volume 17 (from 1995). The Mardi Keyes interview will probably end up on an Anthology about family and youth culture; the Mark Slouka piece will probably be part of an Anthology on technology and culture. And Alan Jacobs on Patrick O'Brian? We'll probably have 3 or 4 Alan Jacobs Anthologies, since he's been a frequent guest.

We think that organizing our "vintage" interviews this way makes them more attractive to potential customers, which should justify the time it takes to repackage them (even though all of our back material has already been converted to digital format, we have to add information to the MP3 tags, prepare pdf files with bibliographic information, etc., averaging 2-3 hours of work per hour of content), as well as the cost of storage space. We estimate that about half of the material we produced in our first 10 years merits this sort of repackaging, which brings our storage costs to about $250 a year, which means we only need to sell 50 copies to break even, which we hope will be easy to do.

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I've been subscribing on cassette for years. If I buy an MP3 subscription, will I be entitled to download MP3 copies of all the issues I now have on cassette?

Yes and no. We plan on making many (but not all) of our back issues available in this new format. (So far, we're only back to volume 76.) But we will not be able to give these away. If you had bought the first four seasons of The Simpsons on VHS, and then purchased subsequent seasons on DVD, it's unlikely that you'd get free DVDs of the earlier programs. MP3 files do have distribution costs associated with them, including paying computer programmers to maintain our server, server rental costs, and bandwidth costs. We are considering a program to sell back issues of MP3 files at a reduced rate to subscribers who have already purchased specific cassettes or CDs, and will inform our customers when this becomes available. For now, we're only selling back issues at a standard rate to all.

Please note that we are also planning on repackaging a lot of our old material into new topically grouped MP3 Anthologies. So, for example, we might take from our earlier issues six pieces on the visual arts or seven pieces on technology and put them into a single new product. We think this will actually be more attractive to listeners, since many listeners who want new copies of back issues want them because of specific interviews they remember. As they become available, we'll announce those new Anthologies in Addenda and on our website.

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Why can't I get a subscription to the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal through the iTunes Music Store?

The iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is a wonderful invention. It makes a lot of audio and video available to a lot of people and it makes a lot of money for Apple, Inc. If an audio or video producer wants to give away a free podcast, Apple will gladly distribute it for free. MARS HILL AUDIO has, since July 2006, been taking advantage of this service by distributing our podcast, Audition. But if a producer wants to sell a product, either audio or video, Apple keeps a very large portion of the proceeds.

Almost all of the spoken-word content sold at iTMS is provided under an arrangement with Audible.com, a fine company which has pioneered the distribution of spoken-word audio online. MARS HILL AUDIO was distributing a few products through Audible.com long before Steve Jobs ever thought of selling audio online. For example, Gilbert Meilaender's Bioethics: A Primer for Christians, which we sell on cassette, has been available in a downloadable format for a long time through Audible.com. And when Apple entered into an agreement with Audible, suddenly Gilbert Meilaender was there in the iTunes Music Store, along with Eminem and Shakira and many others bereft of a last name. (If you have iTunes on your computer, click here to behold this wonder.)

Because of the terms of our contract, if you were to purchase Dr. Meilander's book from iTMS, MARS HILL AUDIO would see a profit equal to only about 10-15% of the amount we would see if you were to buy it from us. As convenient as the iTMS has made the purchasing of downloadable audio, as a struggling nonprofit organization, dependent on the sale of products for our survival, we just can't afford to take advantage of their services.

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How do I convert these "zip" files into something I can listen to?

All of our MP3 products are downloaded in the ZIP file format, a file compression and archiving format which enables us to send audio material and accompanying printed material in a single package. Windows XP, Vista, 7, and Mac OS X have unzipping utilities already installed. If you're using Windows 2000 or Mac OS 9, information is available here about obtaining the software you need. For more detailed instructions on downloading the ZIP files, unzipping them, and getting your audio file onto your listening devices, click here.

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Can't you set up a "one-click" procedure for obtaining your MP3 products? Isn't there a way I can click on a link and have a file download and the automatically load into iTunes?

Not that we know of. To our knowledge, the only way to get downloaded audio files into iTunes automatically is to download them through iTunes, and we can't make the arrangements to do that for reasons explained here.

It is possible to configure some browsers to automatically open and begin playing individual MP3 files after they are downloaded, but since each of our products is distributed as multiple MP3 files (see here for an explanation of this), this would introduce some other inconveniences.

If a one-click solution (or even 2-clicks) is ever technically feasible, we will be in a hurry to implement it.

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Why can't I download the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal in a single file, load it into iTunes, and burn a CD? Why are there so many MP3 files?

First, the contents of each issue of the Journal are too large to fit on a single CD, so we have to have at least two files. Second, even if we provided a single file for each of the two parts of the Journal, there is no way to create and distribute a single file that would, when burned to CD, include separate tracks. Even Apple can't do this. Try downloading any album and you get a file for each song. Try downloading Mahler's Second Symphony (which is about 90-minutes long, about the same length as an issue of our Journal) and you get 25 separate tracks. If the Symphony (or our Journal) came in a single 90-minute long track, it would be more cumbersome to listen to it, given most people's listening habits.

Many listeners would be really frustrated by having one long 45-minute track on a CD without any way to navigate between interviews. The CD edition of the Journal has always relied on separate tracks for each interview; listeners who burn CDs from downloadable files expect the same convenience of use. So we're stuck in a position between ease of listening and ease of preparation. Until there are major changes in the structure of MP3 files (which I rather doubt, because most MP3 listeners like having tracks separated), I don't think the burning process will be much streamlined.

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For iTunes Match, how can I upload or match the MP3 version of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal?

MP3 versions of the Journal before Volume 112 were encoded at 80kbps mono (equivalent to 160kbps stereo). This is completely sufficient for spoken word audio. Unfortunately, iTunes Match arbitrarily sets the minimum bitrate for uploads as 96kbps, even for mono recordings like ours. Volumes beginning with 112 will be encoded at 96kbps, but previous issues need to be re-encoded if you want to use iTunes Match.

This can be done easily by highlighting the tracks in the iTunes Music Library and right-clicking on them; then, click "Create AAC Version" or "Create MP3 Version," and iTunes will re-encode the audio. The tracks should then be able to be uploaded or matched via iTunes Match per Apple's instructions.

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What are the ground rules (a.k.a. digital etiquette) regarding the sharing of Mars Hill Audio content?

Regarding the sharing of MHAJ subscription content with friends, we would of course like more people to know about our work and to benefit from it. But, we also need to stay in business, which means we need to keep selling our content and limit the ways in which distribution methods can be abused by those who don't quite appreciate the real damage done by careless redistribution.

So we've come up with a compromise between total restriction and getting Napstered to death. If you want to share material with a friend, you are free to e-mail it to them as long as you agree to four conditions:

1) you forward them a link to our website (www.marshillaudio.org) and to our podcast page (mhadigital.org)

2) you will forward them an issue of our monthly e-mail newsletter, Addenda, and encourage them to subscribe to it by giving them this link: https://www.marshillaudio.org/Addenda/Subscribe.aspx (we never share our e-mail list with anyone, so this won't invite spam).

3) you gently ask the person to whom you're sending it not to send it to anyone else

4) you not send any one person more than one feature from each issue of the Journal. An exception may be made if you're willing to burn a CD of the Journal; in that case, you may by all means share either one or two disks with someone, as long as you give them a friendly reminder not to rip MP3 files from it.

Lastly, we ask that you share only features from our Journal and not other products in your efforts to introduce others to MHA, as most of our other publications are fairly inexpensive.

We also offer a sample issue of the Journal, and our podcast Audition is another great way of introducing others to MARS HILL AUDIO.

In the end, there's no way we can police this, but we're trying to be good stewards on behalf of our subscribers who are paying in order to continue listening to MHA.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!

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What's the difference between an "MP3 CD" and a plain old audio CD?

Basically, there are two kinds of Compact Discs produced by two different “burning” processes (though using the same CD media): data CDs and audio CDs. Data CDs are generally used for basic data storage and usually contain Microsoft documents, PDF files, programs—and even MP3 files. What’s more, data CDs can store many more audio tracks than audio CDs can, at the cost of lower quality. But the MP3 files stored on data CDs cannot be played on standard portable CD players or car stereos with CD players (though this is gradually changing). This is because most standard CD players cannot read data CDs and can only play audio CDs (though some newer CD players have the capability of reading data CDs composed of MP3 files, a.k.a. MP3 CDs).

Audio CDs actually use an uncompressed form of the MP3 files called WAV files. It is this form of audio that standard CD players can read and transform into sound signals that speakers can transmit as sound. However, these audio files take up a lot more space on a CD than MP3 files: while hundreds of MP3s can fit on a data CD, only approximately 10-12 WAV files can fit on an audio CD. Why? It is because WAVs can capture higher quality sound than MP3s. There is a trade-off between size and quality, though one has to pay attention to hear the difference. Most of the time, the difference is negligible.

So, if one simply wants to store as many MP3s as possible on a CD, one should burn them onto the CD using the data CD process. But if one actually wants to be able to pop a CD into a car stereo to listen to it, one will generally want to burn audio CDs.

Mars Hill Audio produces MP3 CDs (data CDs composed of MP3 files) whenever there is a large collection of MP3s that need to be distributed in order to reduce costs for customers (CDs, packaging, mailing). For example, a whole year’s worth of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal containing twelve hours of content would require about twelve audio CDs to hold them, but only a single data CD, so we ship the Back Issue Sets of MHAJ as MP3 CDs if customers want the versatile MP3 format. Of course, you can copy the MP3s on the MP3 CD to your computer and then burn them from there as an audio CD.

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