MusicDNA Challenge To MP3

MusicDNA is a new audio file format which will give record companies and distributors and artists a massive 32GB of information to hold, for example album art work, song lyrics, and even current, up-to-the minute Twitter and blog postings and concert listings, added with the sound file.

If there is a strong enough interest from the music and technology industry, it's just possible there could be a challenge to the longstanding MP3, giving users a more album-like experience with a digital format, but more notably, it will mean musicians and content owners have a justification to charge more per download.

The proposed format was launched by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM a music-industry conference in Cannes, France. Unlike the current rivals to the MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), as two examples, MusicDNA is not actually a new music technology, and luckily doesn't need new audio codecs, which is a big plus. Rather, as Stefan Kohlmeyer, CEO of Batch, the voice behind MusicDNA in an interview, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats.

So what is it that MusicDNA does? Well, it's fascinating. It goes about analyzing the sound file itself for certain characteristics in 13 categories for example tempo and mood. This data is then encoded as XML and is stored with the file. Record labels can also include data, including lyrics and album art, to be included with the file.

And that's not all, this data can even be updated each time the listener connects to the internet--for example, live concert programs could be updated as soon as they're announced, complete with links to get tickets. Bach intends to make money by licensing the MusicDNA technology out to manufactures and producers of software and hardware. Apple would be the first obvious choice.

One important advantage that Bach has, is that because MusicDNA isn't actually a new audio technology, it means that MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software. So MusicDNA could work with MP3 / MP4 player. The player will be able to read the audio file, and disregard the XML information. It's just possible that MusicDNA could avoid the same story of other formats which have gone up against the MP3, like Sony's ATRAC or even Windows Media Audio. Time will tell.

Article Source: http://www.avidarticles.com

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