Even with the multimedia excitement of the Web, Electronic Mail (email) is the most frequently used application of the Internet. Many people who have access to the Internet at school, home, and work, use the Internet for no other purpose than to send and receive email.

It's all very easy. You create the message, log onto the Internet, and send it. The message first goes to your Internet Service Provider's mail server, which in turn sends it to the recipient's mail server. On the way your message may go through several servers, each reading the domain name in order to route it to the appropriate server.

The message then remains in the recipient's mail server until he requests it by "checking his mail."

Each email address you send is made up of certain components that help route it to the proper recipient:

The benefits of email are obvious...mostly it's quick. Also, many people feel that the rules for regular mail don't apply to email*, making it less formal, which in turn makes email easier to compose and send.

It's not just friends and coworkers that are receiving email. Wherever you look, the Web is providing email addresses. This has made communication between strangers easier than ever. When you visit a Web site, click on the Web masters email address to let them know what you think. You can read an interesting article online and immediately send the author an email. Anyone who posts his email address on a Web page is saying they want to receive email.

Email, in the form of mailing lists, is also a great way to stay informed or to be entertained. (This is like having a free electronic newsletter delivered directly to your computer.)

There are more than 10,000 mailing lists. Subscribing to a mailing list is easy. Usually all you have to do is type SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message that is sent to the author of the mailing list.

Email is one of the services offered by your Internet Service Provider...a service that you are paying for every month. If you are connected to the Internet for the sole purpose of sending and receiving email you may wish to check out an alternative. There are many free email services that are offered including Juno which does not require you to have Internet access- only a computer, modem and phone line. They provide free software.