Lisp is often considered an academic language, but it need not be. This is the first book that introduces Lisp as a language for the real world. Part I serves as an introduction to the Lisp language, aiming to provide the reader with an overall understanding of its features and a robust grasp of how they work, preparing them for the practical code examples in Part II. Part I includes case studies of the Franz Store, Viaweb, Pandorabots, and ASCENT. Part II presents larger-scale examples of practical Lisp programming, focusing on building a streaming MP3 server. By the end of the book, the reader will have code for a Lisp MP3 server that serves streaming MP3s via the Shoutcast protocol to any standard MP3 client software, such as iTunes, XMMS, or WinAmp. The author will also demonstrate how to store metadata.