Is there a program that can easily be downloaded which lets you edit mp3s or midis? Like, say you want to play only the middle of a song without having to hear the entire beginning?

A link to the download page would be much appreciated.

I think Cool Edit Pro and Frooty Loops work for audio editing, although they have a fairly sharp learning curve. I doubt that there's anything much better though.

http://www.fruityloops.com/
Comes with a program called beat slicer that you can hack at mp3s with aand the main program allows you to edit midis. Not that hard to learn just takes some time. BTW you have to pay to save the files in the main program though I think beat slicer will work regardless.