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Music 2.0: Will MP3 become obsolete?

26.05.2008 - The MP3 may have mostly replaced the CD to reign as the standard digital audio format but while its compression makes for small files ideal for downloading, audiophiles say this results in a sound quality that is not strictly high-fidelity, unlike the good old compact disc.
Enter MT9 or Music 2.0, as it is being referred to commercially. This format encodes audio in six distinct channels – vocal, chorus, piano, guitar, bass and drum – all of which can be turned on or off at will, depending on what the listener wants to focus on in any given song.

Created by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI): a government-funded South Korean body, and commercialised by South Korean firm Audizen, the MT9 is looking to challenge MP3 as the digital audio standard.

At the moment, Audizen is selling some albums through its website that have been encoded in this format and according to the Korea Times, older albums from bands including Queen are being converted into this MT9 format, so we will finally be able to get all the bits in Bohemian Rhapsody word perfect.

This file format will have no DRM (digital rights management) and is said to already have interest from LG Electronics, amongst others.

By Marie Boran

Only audio purists (like myself) will care about this...By now, mp3 is more than just a format, it's like a culture or something...Plus, I don't see a mention of comparable file sizes, seems this will be larger by default...I'm checking it out... :D

Yeah I will be interested in the comparable file size as well. If a smaller file size but better sound quality can be maintained I think it could actually kick off.

Kumicho wrote:I'm checking it out... :D

lemme know how you go with it. it just sounds like pure wanque to me at this stage..& i'm a purist. neither am i gullible.

There are a great many sound formats around. Most of the multichannel formats are only really found on disks i.e. DVD, Bluray and HDDVD.

Everything plays mp3. A new format would generally require new hardware and uptake would be slow. Look at ogg vorbis - arguably better than mp3 and open source but no one knows of it or uses it hardly and few players support it.

This is very interesting...I've always wondered about the quality of mp3 audio, so maybe others can opine on whether they find it satisfactory...certainly, a development like this has great potential..thank you, Marie

http://www.crn.com/retail/210602962

September 22, 2008
SanDisk Bets On USB Music Drives, But It Won't Work
With CD sales continuing to plunge, SanDisk has decided to start selling music on microSD cards on a USB sled, hoping that consumers still want a physical representation of the music they are listening to on MP3 players. SanDisk's gambit, called "slotMuisc," has already been endorsed by four major music labels: EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. Best Buy and Wal-Mart two major US music retailers, have also given SanDisk their blessing.

Conspicuously absent from the group backing slotMusic are music retailers that offer products through downloads, such as Apple and Amazon.com. Apple's iTunes, it is worth noting, has over 4 billion music downloads since 2003.

SanDisk is counting on the fact that most portable music players and phones are equipped with USB slots that customers will be able to use to upload music onto their portable device. Laptops and desktops likewise have had USB ports built into them for some time now, allowing the music buying masses to upload and store tunes onto whichever device they feel most comfortable. The files are also digital rights management (DRM) free.

Apple's iPod has already sold over 150 million units and does not include a USB port.

Still, Daniel Schreiber, a senior vice president at SanDisk, isn't deterred by missing out on Apple's customers.

"Most non-iPod MP3 players already have card slots in them ... and music-capable phones with card slots are selling at a rate of 750 million a year," said Schreiber.

While mobile phones that play music and non-iPod MP3 players do continue to sell, SanDisk refuses to acknowledge that having a physical representation of an album or song just isn't that important to consumers any more. Instead, the convenience of downloading through a service like iTunes or through bit torrent has become the distribution method of choice. Sales of CDs have dropped consistently over the past few years and music labels are still trying to figure out how to cope.

"The CD is dying, but rumors of its death are perhaps somewhat premature," Schreiber said. "People are spending more money on CDs than any other format. There are hundreds of millions of music CDs shipping every year."

Customers may indeed be spending more money on CDs than on any other physical music format ever year. But that's probably only because 8 track players aren't equipped in cars anymore and vinyl is for collectors these days.

Stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that CDs are on their way out is like betting that the new fangled color TV will never over take the black and white monstrosity in your grandmother's living room.

Introducing a DRM free, USB loaded with songs that can be sold through retailers still just won't compete, although it is easy to see why music labels like Sony BMG have giving Wal-Mart and Best Buy encouragement: it doesn't cost the label anything to put music on a USB and they can still slice out a nice percentage for themselves.

But assume for a second customers do decide to move their feet and go to a Best Buy on a Tuesday to pick up the latest USB chalk full of their favorite bands latest album. With a USB and a CD hanging side by side in the aisle, is it really more compelling to buy the USB drive? It can't be plugged into a car stereo yet. But a consumer can rip the disk to their hard drive and load it onto an MP3 player.

Danielle Levitas, an analyst at research firm IDC, might have put it best.

"Internet-based distribution is not for everyone," said Levitas. "But the (demographic) segment that values physical media the most isn't the one that spends the most on music. I get why they (SanDisk) are doing this, but I just don't know that it adds up into a compelling business."

The bottom line is that an attempt to put a band aid on the way music is distributed isn't going to stop consumers from going for what is most convenient to them. And a USB filled with DRM free songs that can't be played on an iPod just isn't going to make a difference.
Posted by Brian Kraemer at 9:39 AM

Can we start this revolution? What program will we need to encode them, and how soon can we share them here? I have been interested in this format for a good four years, but it was only available as an operating system for music files, not the songs themselves.

I'll put on my goggles to see what my research reveals.

I just googled MT9 and not much comes up. If this is the next big thing in music they sure are keeping "tight-lipped" about it.

Think about it, the music industry has to support it. I'm under the impression you need the original music masters to be able to create an MT9 compatible file - i.e. one that you can selectively alter to suit your listening needs. It seems to me you just can't get an mp3 file and make it into an MT9 compatible file.

Getting the music industry to support it - well - good luck with that. The music industry is too interested with suing babies, grandmothers and people without computers to bother innovating.

Unless someone can show me otherwise, it looks to me like MT9 is a dead technology.