It's time to get some of that digital music and start pumping those tunes out of your computer! Much like my previous Guide to Downloading, we're first going to create a special directory for all your downloaded or ripped MP3's. I suggest you make a directory called "Songs" under the root of your drive letter (e.g. C:\Songs). If you don't know how to do this, refer to my previous Guide to Downloading for instructions. From now on, every single MP3 file that you download or make will go in this directory. For this to happen, you must first configure Napster to use this directory. Once you're logged on to the Napster network, you'll be presented with a screen similar to this:

Click on File in the menu, and then click Preferences. You'll be presented with a window with all of Napster's settings. The only things you need to touch right now are the Shared Folders and Save Folder boxes. In those boxes, type in the path to the directory you just created (e.g. C:\Songs) and then click OK. From now on, Napster will share only the files in that directory and will save all downloaded files to that directory.

Now it's time to download some MP3's! Near the top of the Napster window, you'll notice a row of buttons. We'll be dealing with the Search and Transfer buttons in this guide. Click on the Search button, and you'll be presented with search fields. Type in the necessary information such as the Artist or Song Title, and press the Enter key on your keyboard. After a short wait (or long, depending on server conditions), Napster will list everything that it has found. It tells you the file name, the connection of the user at the other end, and file size and other useful information. Use this information to find the song you're looking for, and double click on it to start the downloading. You'll immediately be switched over to the Transfer section of Napster and it will let you know the status of your download. In most cases, the file will download without a problem, but if you find that you're waiting too long for it to start (sometimes it stops at the "Getting info" stage), you can cancel the transfer. To do this, right click on the file, and then click on Cancel/Delete Transfer. When you're waiting for these files to finish downloading, you can also get back to the Search screen by pressing the Search button and you can either pick another song to download, or search for a new song by repeating the steps above.

To play that MP3 file that you just downloaded, open up the Winamp playlist (double click it to bring it out of its windowshade mode if it's in that mode) and double click on the "Add" button. Navigate to that MP3 directory and simply double click on the file that you want to add to your list (namely, the file that you just finished downloading). Click "Open" and it is now in your list. Double click on the file in the list and Winamp will start playing it. To remove files from your list, double click on the "Rem" button.

On to: Rip It!