Meta searching is the next step for Web beginners. If you feel like you've mastered the basics of searching and you want a new challenge that will bear great fruit, meta searches are for you. You only need to use a meta search when you're trying to find something really obscure, otherwise a standard search should do the trick.

Meta-search tools are free websites that harness other search engines and aggregate the results of your inquiries. Each individual search engine (like Google or Hotbot) indexes only a portion of all the sites on the Web. Each engine has a different database of sites it searches, so if you use many different search engines at once, it is more likely you will find what you are looking for.

Two meta-search tools we recommend are BigHhub.com, and MetaCrawler. If you are trying to track down music files, specifically, music stored as MP3 files, try Mamma.com. Where it offers a drop-down box for specific content and areas of the Internet, select MP3. This search engine also has a great index of photos and video.

One warning about meta-search tools. They can really slow down your browser. Because they query many search engines, they can take a long time to return results. If you have a slow connection and can't stand the wait, meta searches may not be for you.
Another addendum: there are software-based meta-search tools that work in almost the same way. One great software-based meta-search tool is Copernic.

The best way to learn how to search the Internet is to start experimenting. Don't worry if you get lost, it's part of the process and you'll learn a ton of obscure facts along the way.