MP3 Faces Challenge From MusicDNA
There’s a new audio file format called MusicDNA which will give music companies and distributors a generous 32GB of information to hold, such as album cover art, song lyrics, and even the latest blog posts and concert news, combined with the sound file.
It’s possible that if enough companies come on board, there could be a challenge to the dominance of the MP3, giving users a more album-like experience but in digital form. It will give artists and content owners license to increase their prices per download.
This new format was launched by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and luckily doesn’t require new audio codecs, which is a big plus. Rather, as Stefan Kohlmeyer, Bach CEO, the powerhouse behind MusicDNA explained 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.
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