Step-by-Step: Converting from an Analog Source to a Digital File Using a Waveform Editor (Peak for Macintosh)
· Plug your audio source stereo RCA outputs into the stereo 1/8'' miniplug input on the back of your Macintosh. (Refer to the section titled "Cabling" earlier in this chapter.)
· Position the start point of your source audio.
· Open Peak on your Macintosh computer (see Figure 2.11).

Figure 2.12

· Click Peak's record button to begin recording your song.
· Enter the filename and save it into your music folder as prompted by Peak. Peak requires saving to the same drive onto which the audio was recorded.
· An AIFF digital file is now yours to command.

Converting to the Necessary Digital File Format (Macintosh/AIFF and Windows/WAV)
You can use your waveform editor to convert digital sound files to different file formats (AIFF to WAV and vice versa). Both SoundForge and Peak will read and play both AIFF and WAV files, among others. Use your waveform editor to Save As in your chosen digital file format.

Brief General Overview of Online Music Legal Issues
Up until the early 1990s, the U.S Government took a hands-off approach to the Internet and its uses. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, has attempted to address copyright issues relating to use of music on the Web.

As of this writing, recent changes show some hint of relaxing the stranglehold that the music business is attempting to enforce over online use of copyrighted music. This is important because it means people who want to create online radio stations using others' music now have a simple way to get permission to do so.

If you aren't interested in educating yourself about this hot big money topic, that's fine. But do remember that when it comes to creating streaming audio files online, the simple and safe approach works best. If you own the rights, you can do whatever you want with your audio.

If you use audio from another source—a source to which you don't own the rights—you are bound by local copyright law. Like all laws, you are responsible for toeing the line. Ignorance is no excuse! Turn to the Appendix for resources that provide more in-depth information about how those laws work.

Summary
Now you've got a handle on some of the key issues around authoring your own streaming audio and, heck, you've now got a digitized, uncompressed raw audio file on your desktop just begging to be encoded and streamed. Let's get to it!

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.