Searching The Internet - January 1997 

One of the best things about the Internet is its sheer size and the vast amount of information it contains. One of the worst things about the Internet is its sheers size and the vast amount of information it contains. Finding what you need can often be a daunting and frustrating experience but with a little patience and the right tools you can make sense of the chaos. Most of the time, you are looking for something specific but make sure you also spend some regular time exploring. Many of the most interesting websites are found while looking for something else or just following links where they lead. Make sure you save anything remotely interesting to your bookmarks or favourites file. You can delete anything you don't want later and organize related sites into folders. I like to start my website searches at Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) since it is maintained by humans and is the best organized of general web search sites. You can search by key words or browse through the categorized listings. Yahoo will lead you, as well, to the major search engines such as Alta Vista, Lycos and Webcrawler, whose listings are generated by computer based on the text contained in pages they index. Searches, general in nature, will generate tens of thousands of pages, so be as specific as possible with your keywords, trying different combinations. Also try sites more related to audio and music such as associations, educational facilities, musical instrument and audio suppliers and dealers as well as general music and audio resources. Many of these can be found at The Music & Audio Connection (http://www.musicandaudio.com). References to music websites can also be found by reading relevant Usenet groups such as alt.music.canada, rec.music.makers, alt.music.lyrics or rec.music.marketplace. If you are looking for someone's e-mail address, try http://www.four11.com. Search for files at http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/archie.html. Vironix makes three handy programs for net searching - Emailferret, NewsFerret and Fileferret. Download them at http://www.download.com. In time, using the tools above, you can build your own catalogue of Internet resources and a few favourite Directories to use on a regular basis.

• Liquid Audio introduced their new real-time audio products at the recent AES Conference in Los Angeles. Liquid Audio features Dolby digital quality audio on the Internet. On their website at http://www.liquidaudio.com, you can download free software for Windows 95 or Mac, learn more about the company and listen to samples of this new technology,
• The Tubetronix website features information on the TM-2A all tube stereo compressor. Visit http://www.tubetronix.com to learn more about the company and its products.
• Music Books Plus has added secure credit card transactions to its website using the Netscape SSL Server. Check out over 1500 titles on music, audio, recording, multimedia and the Internet at http://www.musicbooksplus.com
• The Virtual Synthesizer Museum displays over 250 vintage synthesizers from all over the world. Visitors can also submit a picture of their own instrument for inclusion in the collection. Check it out at http://www.synthmuseum.com.
• Opcode Systems has upgraded its website at http://www.opcode.com. New content includes artist interviews, expanded technical help, event listings, news, product tips and software downloads.
• Grover Pro Percussion has introduced its new web site at http://www.tiac.net/users/grover/. Featured are new product releases and complete information on their line of percussion products.
• Aphex Systems' new web site includes company background, product information, press releases, technical support and merchandise. Visit at http://www.aphexsys.com.
• Norris-Whitney Communications operates The Music & Audio Connection, the international on-line resource for music-enthusiasts, musicians, music and audio professionals. Included are artist listings, free classified ads, products for sale, company showcases, music and audio resources, career information, music humour, discussion forums and file libraries. Two new additions to the Company Showcase are Ra Records and The Plug. Drop by at http://www.musicandaudio.com.

| Contents | Showcase | Music On-Line | Studio Guide | Canadian Artists |