A MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) file is simply a modern piano roll. It is a file that tells the computer (sound card, keyboard, etc.) what notes to play, the volume of those notes, how long those notes should be held and what instrument should play those notes.
MIDI files are NOT sound recordings, so the sound quality is entirely dependent upon the sound card or keyboard that plays it. Just like a piano roll will sound different on various player pianos, a MIDI file will sound different on various playback devices.
Simply click on a link to a MIDI file in your web browser. Depending on which program(s) and/or plug-in(s) you have installed on your computer, you may be asked where you would like to download and save the file, download and open the file in a media player, download a plugin for your browser, or the MIDI file may be played back right then & there if you already have a plugin installed.
In order to listen to a MIDI file, you first need a playback device. Just about any computer that has a sound card is capabale of playing a MIDI file. Most media player programs, such as Winamp, Windows Media Player and Quicktime are capable of playing MIDI files.
In addition to stand alone media players, most web browsers allow you to play MIDI files within the browser by using plug-ins.
An Mp3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) file is an actual audio recording that has been compressed to reduce the file size. Unlike a MIDI file, an Mp3 file will generally sound the same regardless of which playback device is used (not counting differences due to sound system, speakers, etc.)
The drawback to the increased sound quality, however, is the large file size for an Mp3.
Simply click on a link to an Mp3 file and save it to your computer. When the file has been downloaded just open up the Mp3 file in your media player program, such as Winamp, Windows Media Player or Quicktime.
There are currently no recordings available, except for the sample Mp3 files found on this website.
Although my musical tastes gradually change over time, the composers that are consistently near the top are: James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and Jelly Roll Morton.