Kissing CD's Goodbye
"As wireless connectivity delivers what we want, wherever we want, our desire to own digits decreases.... Nothing is more certain, and it's happening as we speak."

-Jim Griffin,
-CEO, Onehouse
    (chief technology officer, Geffen Records '94-'97)

Today's music industry is poised on the edge of a technology preparing to enter a state of flux which has some people dreading, and others embracing, the potential uncertainties of future change. Jim Griffin's comments are referring to a future where music will not be a product to own, but a service to take advantage of. The CD industry will be anything but prepared as it reaches for its 20th birthday, hoping to graduate to maturity and instead joining the ranks of 8-tracks and cassettes (Jones, 1999). In this future scenario you don't buy CD's anymore. You merely pay for a service which provides the music to you--instantly, online. Will these changes happen in five or ten years? No, it's happening today. And at the heart of all of this, causing these changes, is a compression standard known as MP3.

What is MP3?
MP3 (also known as  MPEG3, or Mpeg Layer 3) is the latest rage in the world of digital audio recording. It is a technique designed to take bulky industry standard, audio quality CD recordings (See Sounding Off), and compress them at a ratio of 12 to 1. The amazing part of this technique is that this compression occurs with no audible reduction in sound quality. You get CD quality at 1/12 the space!

MPEG is an acronym for Motion Picture Experts Group. This group helps to define multimedia standards for the computer industry. Mpeg Audio Layer-3 is one component of a digital compression standard developed by the Fraunhofer Institute IS (Fraunhofer IIS, 1999). This data reduction standard utilizes perceptual audio coding to reduce the signal. Perceptual coding addresses the perception of sound waves by the human ear (how we hear what we hear). The encoder creates a psychoacoustic model to compress the signal. Redundant sounds, and sounds which we cannot hear are discarded (no need to keep them). It basically shape-reduces the sound by giving us only what we want to hear.

What's it good for?
MP3 is a big hit with recording artists these days. With the ability to send audio quality sound across the Internet in 1/12 the amount of time (of a regular CD), musicians are using the Web as their showcase. They don't need to worry about manufacturing CD's, and their fans can get their music as fast as you can say "click here." As the recording industry has attempted to snub this new technology, even popular artists are beginning to get involved. In fact, the first established group released its latest album online just this year. They Might Be Giants announced the release of the first MP3 only album on April 26, 1999 in association with GoodNoise (Menta, 1999). Other big name artists are also getting involved. Ice-T, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, Mick Jagger, and Alanis Morissette are among a those jumping on the MP3 bandwagon.

And just how does this affect you? Well, if you like music you don't have to go to your record store to get it. You could just type in the name of the song you want and download it online. In fact several companies have already marketed an MP3 player (Diamond Multimedia). It's a walkman that doesn't use tapes or CD's. It has memory chips which can store up to 60 minutes of digital quality music. Download your favorite music online and take it with you. At $200. it's a little pricey, but not much more expensive than the price of a really good portable CD player--with one difference. Memory chips are very small, lightweight, and they never skip!

What's the Downside?
The recording industry is having a problem with this for two reasons. First, there's a piracy problem. If you can download, transmit, copy, or send anything you want at CD quality, who will buy CD's? And even if you address the first problem, if you treat music purchases as a service that you order, then (yet again) who will buy CD's? Technology is continuing to move forward regardless.

What does this have to do with Interactive Media?
There are several reasons why it is important to be aware of this new technology. As a multimedia developer it is important to know what tools exist and how to take advantage of them. If you can deliver CD quality sound for your client in a situation where there's just not enough room for regular CD quality audio, you're ahead of the game. This is especially true online where space and time are at a premium in regards to quality sound.

There's another reason to keep abreast of the changes caused by this technology. If the advance of compression techniques like perceptual coding makes audio CD's obsolete, will CD's used for interactive media be far behind? Will the interactive games and educational programs of the future be just a click away?

MP3, the Future or the Present?
Find out if the MP3 standard will play a part in your future at the following sites:
Guide - The latest info about MP3 from ZDNet's MP3 Audio Guide.
Info - CNET's MP3 Info Central. Fast, Hi-Fi net audio with MP3.
Listen - Search the Web for MP3 files and tune in.
Newswire - The MP3 Music Magazine. Catch the latest developments, software info.
Sounds - MPEG Layer 3 Sounds. The latest tech info, encoders, sounds, & more.