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General discussion

Conference features next generation MP3

Jan 28, 2005 1:21AM PST
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/01/27/musics.future.ap/

Excerpts:

"Software engineers in Germany who developed the widely used MP3 audio file format have taken the technology to a higher level with a next-generation format that delivers cinema-like multichannel audio."

"The cutting-edge, but disorienting, Surround-sound headphones won't be commercially available for some time. But music fans can hear the new MP3 Surround technology, developed by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, on personal computers provided they have special 5.1-channel sound cards and multiple speakers."

"A free test version of the software, which encodes and plays audio in the new multi-channel format, is available for download."

"MP3 Surround Evaluation Software 1.0 is backwards compatible, so it will also play the regular stereo MP3 files"

"We simulate a virtual room so that you get the impression of listening to Surround sound even if you have only stereo headphones," said Fraunhofer's Oliver Baum."

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