Here's another question, and this time it's topical!

Q: I tried downloading songs from Napster like you said, and it's really fun! Does it make a difference if I download a song from someone who is connected through a T1, DSL, 56k, etc? What's the difference between these?

A: This question delves a little bit into Internet technology, so let me go back and explain a few things.

The Internet is connected together with various kinds of technologies - copper wiring, fiber optic cable, etc. These cables can handle different maximum speeds (some are controlled by the FCC), and most of them are measured in 'bits per second'. 56k stands for 56,000 bits per second, which was pretty fast in 1994, considered the standard but pretty slow. DSL, which stands for "digital subscriber line", has much higher speed capability (up to about 15x the 56k speed) and is now being used in homes. T1 and T3 are lines originally used for multiple digital long-distance telephone calls, and can handle very high speeds with great stability.

The lists you see in Napster are the connection speed of the person who's serving the music. That's the fastest you will be able to download it - T3+ is fastest, following (in order) are T1, DSL, Cable, ISDN, 56k, 28k, and 14k. If you are downloading a song and you're connected to a T1 and the server is on 56k, the fastest you'll be able to download the song is at 56k speeds, if that (consider overhead and other simultaneous connections).

The download speed doesn't affect the quality of the music, however - check the "bit rate" of the song for that. The higher the bit rate (in general), the better the quality of the audio.