By Stephanie R. Conner
ASU Web Devil

Many people think the Internet's importance lies in the rapid exchange of vast amounts of information.

They're wrong.

The value of the Internet is the ability to get free stuff.

Depending on your modem speed, computer, the size of the file and the stability of the site, you could be minutes away from new games, utility software, screensavers and graphics.

All free of charge.

ZDNet offers great free downloads and their homepage advertises 100 five-star downloads. On this site, you can download screensavers. A Rembrandt slide show and an Air Force photo slide slow are available, among others.

If you're a time freak, you can download desktop accessories that will count down the days until Christmas or the millennium for you.

Hey, whatever floats your boat.

A free ZDNet membership earns you access to even more downloads. These downloads are exclusively from ZDNet. They include FaxWiz 2000 to help create cover sheets and fax directly from your PC.

At ZDNet, you can also download Cakewalk Guitar Studio, which is a digital audio and MIDI recording software for guitarists. You can record, edit and mix up to eight tracks of audio along with 256 MIDI tracks. You can also set up Guitar Studio to accompany you. This download has its drawbacks, however. You cannot save or print.

CNET's www.gamecenter.com provides downloads for dinosaur games, casino games, pinball and arcade games.

And, perhaps one of the best downloads ... Netris. You can choose to play the classic Tetris game alone, with someone else on the same computer or online using ICQ or an IP. CNET's site also offers a link to Diablo as one of their Top 10 Downloads of All Time. At 52.2MB, downloading will be a long process, but when you're done, you'll have two levels of the game and the ability to enter Blizzard's Battle.net to try out the multi-player option. The complete version of the game runs about $50. So, gamers, it's worth your while to try it out before you fork over next week's paycheck.

Games and screensavers are cool, but you can download useful utilities as well. Check out the Microsoft Windows Media Player, which plays ASF, Real Video/Real Audio 4.0, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, WAV, AVI, MIDI, MOV, VOD, AU, MP3, and QuickTime files. You can even use free downloads to get more free stuff. That is, you can download a chat program to avoid those high long-distance bills from calling your best friend in California, your girlfriend in Vermont or er, um, your mom. And, if you're in the habit of asking Dad for money over the phone, imagine how much more benign he'll seem in print.

Two of the most popular instant message programs are AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ ("I Seek You").

If all these downloads aren't enough-and once you get a taste of them, they probably won't be-just use your favorite search engine and type "downloads."

They're everywhere. Some are complete programs, while others are just demos.

Regardless, they're cool.

And you can't beat the price.