Philipp Hoschka, Chairman of W3C group and editor of SMIL specifications says: "...the Web lacks a simple way to express synchronization over time, for example, 'play audio file A in parallel with video file B' or 'show image C after audio file A has finished playing.' SMIL enables this type of information to be expressed quite easily, allowing television-like content to be created..."*

I hear you asking yourselves "what does this technospeak have to do with me?" If you create web based advertising and would like to offer your clients a compelling new way to deliver it, this has a lot to do with you. If you're a website owner longing for a means to showcase your products and services with economical elegance, this has a lot to do with you, too.

Why? Because Web is inherently interactive and visitors can follow links imbedded in a SMIL presentation directly to your website. There they can obtain additional information or, more importantly, be taken directly to an order form for product or service described in that presentation. "Users can switch from 'couch potato' mode into interactive mode with a simple mouse click," says Mr. Hoschka.

Let's talk about how you can put SMIL to work for you.

In entertainment industry? An entertainer wants his visitors to know where and when he'll be performing. Scroll schedule of his club dates next to window playing a video clip of his specialty. As he sets his performance schedule for future dates, clip can be quickly updated to reflect this. Include some text ads from clubs involved, give their "live" URL's, and let them help pay for production!

In just over a couple of years, MP3 audio file format has caused a big stir and captured minds and hard drives of millions of people worldwide. MP3, short for Moving Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer III is a compression format that compresses audio files with only a small sacrifice in sound quality. MP3 files can be compressed at different rates, but higher compression, lower sound quality. A typical MP3 compression ratio of 10:1 is equal to about 1 MB for each minute of an MP3 song.

It all started in mid-1980s, at Fraunhofer Institut in Germany, where work began on developing a high quality, low bit-rate audio format. In 1989, Fraunhofer was granted a patent for MP3 compression format in Germany and a few years later it was submitted to International Standards Organization (ISO), and integrated into MPEG-1 specification. Frauenhofer also developed first MP3 player in early 1990s, which was first attempt at developing an MP3 player. In 1997, a developer at Advanced Multimedia Products created AMP MP3 Playback Engine, which is regarded as first mainstream MP3 player to hit Internet. Shortly after, a couple of creative university students took Amp engine, added a user-friendly Windows interface and called it Winamp. The turning point was in 1998, when Winamp was offered to public as a free music player, and thus began MP3 craze.

As MP3 craze mushroomed, it didn't take long for other developers to start creating a whole range of MP3 software. New MP3 encoders, CD rippers, and MP3 players were being released almost every week, and MP3 movement continued to gain momentum. Search engines made it easy to find specific MP3 files, and portable MP3 players like Rio and Nomad Jukebox allowed people to copy MP3 songs onto a small portable device, no different than your Walkman or Discman.

By early 1999, first peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software application was released, one which shook world overnight. Napster, killer app that will be remembered like no other MP3-related software was developed by nineteen-year-old university student, Shawn Fanning and his idea for Napster was to allow anyone with an Internet connection to search and download their favourite songs, in minutes. By connecting people, Napster created a virtual community of music fans.

However, along came Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which as a representative of major record companies and owners of sound recordings, successfully battled Napster for copyright law infringement and an injunction was issued that effectively shut down Napster. The RIAA argument is that all free downloading is in breach of copyright laws and therefore promotes audio piracy. As a result, file sharing impacts their ability to sell CDs and make a profit. Despite legal problems that Napster has faced and fact that they are currently not operational, MP3 file swapping and has continued on, and for a number of reasons.