The Emergence of MP3 Technology - Essay Example

MP3 The emergence of MP3 technology has turned the music industry upside down. The MP3 format allowed high quality music to be transferred over the internet and straight in to people's home computers. With the dawn of file-sharing services like the now obsolete Napster, millions of people were downloading music, in many cases without paying for the tracks (MP3 creator speaks out). The term MP3 is well known to millions of the world's teenagers but its mere mention sends shivers down the spines of record industry executives. The format responsible for a musical revolution allows the user to compress sound into a file which is a fraction of the size of the original (MP3 creator speaks out). MP3 format can store audio files (sound recordings) on computers and related devices. As audio files are usually quite large, mp3 uses "lossy" compression, which digitally removes parts of the file that are not needed to accurately hear the file. MP3 files approach CDs for sound quality and most people cannot tell the difference. Once a user has downloaded music from CDs and web sites, they can transfer the music files to their mp3 player (Levenstein). Mostly teenagers embrace MP3 technology today, although people in their 20's and 30's also find the technology attractive. MP3 technology offers something that previous technologies such as the Sony Walkman cannot offer; which is that enable users to download music files directly from websites such as Nap star. No need to go to the nearest music store to buy CDs or tapes. Moreover, MP3 technology allows users to manage his music files according to his taste and concept such as compiling music according to style such as rock, country, gospel, jazz, etc. Moreover, MP3 technology with the aid of a MP3 player allows the user to play music wherever and whenever he wants. MP3 players are replacing walkman and portable CD players rapidly due to its storage capacity and digital sound quality. Most mp3 player's memory can store hundreds of titles. MP3 players usually cost from $ 39 up to 299 depending on its features. Karlheinz Brandenburg, a German researcher, was one of the inventors of MP3. He first began working on a way of making small sound files some 20 years ago as part of the doctorate thesis. He never projected his work to achieve the fame or infamy it has (MP3 creator speaks out). The MP3 standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers working in the framework of the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee under the chairmanship of Professor Hans Musmann (University of Hannover - Germany) (MP3). It was designed greatly to reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a realistic copy of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 encoding began as the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) project managed by Egon Meier-Engelen of the DFVLR (later on called DLR = Deutsche Luft und Raumfahrt = German Aerospace Agency) in Germany. This project was financed by the European Union as a part of the EUREKA research program where it was usually known as EU-147. EU-147 ran from 1987 to 1994 (MP3). On July 7, 1994 the Fraunhofer Society released the first software MP3 encoder called l3enc. The filename extension .mp3 was chosen by the Fraunhofer team on July 14, 1995 (previously, the files had been named .bit) (MP3). With the first real-time software MP3 player Winplay3 (released September 9th, 1995) many people were able to encode and playback MP3 files on their PCs. Because of the moderately small hard drives back in that time ( 500 MB), the technology was necessary to store music for listening enjoyment on a computer (MP3). In popular usage, MP3 also refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 format on computers (MP3). The name is derived from "MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3" more formally known as ISO/IEC 11172-3 Layer 3. The files recorded in this format are saved with the .mp3 filename extension. This extension is also sometimes shared by audio files encoded using the newer MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3 standard. The invention of this file extension name (.mp3) would be due to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institute (MP3). MP3 format provides a representation of pulse-code modulation-encoded (PCM) audio data in a much smaller size by dumping portions that are considered not as much of significant to human hearing (similar to JPEG, a lossy compression for images) (MP3). A number of techniques are employed in MP3 to determine which portions of the audio can be discarded including psychoacoustics. MP3 audio can be compressed with different bit rates, providing a range of tradeoffs between data size and sound quality (MP3). MP3 (MPEG-1, Audio Level 3) file format can compress digital music files to a very small size, with near-CD-quality sound. Most multimedia-capable computers can play MP3s; however it does take quite a bit of "horsepower" to decode the compressed audio (Introduction to mp3). At least a Pentium-class or Mac Power PC processor is needed. A sound card and speakers that sound decent for playing music is also required. Moreover, "MP3 player" software program, which can be downloaded freely from the web, is needed to play the music file (Introduction to mp3). IDC, a technology research firm, is projecting that the portable compressed audio (MP3) player market will grow from 26.4 million units shipped worldwide in 2004 to nearly 124 million units in 2009 (The Future of mp3). They also expect flash-based player capacities to grow to 16 GB by 2007. "Demand for portable MP3 players is booming, as more and more consumers get acquainted with their stylish form factors and digital audio functionality," said Susan Kevorkian, program manager, Consumer Markets: Audio at IDC (The Future of mp3). Additionally, DVD players, mobile phones and gaming devices that play back compressed audio will be key drivers of the compressed audio player market during the forecast period (The Future of mp3)." Growth in the portable flash player category is believed to be influenced by the fast lowering prices of flash memory device, vendor embracing of flash for multiple device storage capacities at competitive retail price points, availability of paid online media services, and growing consumer attentiveness of and order for portable MP3 players. However, music-enabled mobile phones are likely to inhibit the portable MP3 player market a bit during the forecast period and the extent of this development will vary by world region (The Future of MP3). MP3 technology is still developing and it is here to stay for a while as it continues to grow and reinvent itself. Works Cited "Introduction to MP3." March 1999. beeftone.com. 07 Nov. 2005. . Levenstein, Steve. MP3 Player. 2005. Homeprojects.org. 07 Nov. 2005. . "MP3 creator speaks out." BBC news uk edition .13 July, 2003, British Broadcasting Corp. . "MP3." Wikipedia. 6 November 2005. Wikimedia. 07 Nov. 2005. . "The Future of MP3 Players." Podcasting News. 13 Oct. 2005. Podcasting News. 07 Nov. 2005. . Read More