Korean computer engineers are introducing a new digital music format that has a six-channel audio equalizer and separate controls on the sound volume for each musical instrument, such as guitar, drum, base and voice. The new format, which has a file extension format of MT9 and a commercial title of "Music 2.0", is poised to replace the popular MP3 file format as the de-facto standard of the digital music source, its inventors say.The MT9 technology was selected as a candidate item for the new digital music standard at the last regular meeting of Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), the international body of the digital music and video industry.
Ham says that the music industry should change its attitude to the market as music is becoming a digital service, rather than a physical product. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are both interested in equipping their mobile phones with an MT9 player and their first commercial products are likely to debut early next year, he said.
Unlike other digital formats exclusively used by big companies, Audizen (the venture company behind the development) allows users to copy the MT9 files, making it a more attractive format. "It's like having a CD or cassette tape. Once you buy it, you can lend it to your friends. We don't want to be too fussy about DRM (digital right management),'' said Ham Seung-chul, chief of Audizen.
View: Korea Times
I agree that this is an interesting idea. There are so many albums I would like to listen to instrumentally because the singer is crap, is screaming, makes no sense or just gets in the way of what would otherwise be intricate and beautiful compositions. If this format takes off I can see a lot of lead vocal tracks being muted by musicians, or by fans of American Idol type shows so the listener can sing over their favorite songs.
I wonder how hard it would be re-engineer all the tracks to this format? I remember there was quite a market for the reformatting of Stereo sound in films into 5.1 Surround once that format became mainstream several years ago.
That's format suicide right there...
Erm, isn't it already doable? Unprotected music, for example?
Each instrument is a separate track. If you want to hear just the drums, you mute everything else, etc. It sounds extremely cool.
Not if we're talking about DRM-restricted music that you purchase online. MT9 sounds like a format that we wouldn't be able to encode music in ourselves (or at least it would be pointless to do so), so we would have to purchase it online, and this format wants to minimize any restrictions that have been traditionally placed on digital music downloads.
there are way better formats
if this isnt a loss-less format, then it has no future
That's exactly what they said when AAC/MP4 was out.
Ample disk space has made FLAC popular too, yet we see MP3s as the de-facto standard.
I won't get too excited about this format untill all (major) PMPs and H/W players would support it.
What, and MP3 hasn't already achieved this?
This is going to be popular
My only other concern is with how good the compression is (in terms of both quality and file size), with 6 distinct channels and possibly separate audio for each instrument (if a song has just 4 distinct instruments - drums, guitar, keyboard and singing - that means 24 separate audio tracks!
It may be introduced in a few players but eventually they will keep support for mp3 and people will stick to that. why? Because there's nothing wring with mp3 for the average user.
personally as an electronic music fan, i would like to get my hands on some music recorded in this format, if only to make my own songs out of them , e.g. take the drum channel or whatever as a sample and loop it to create some rhythm
It's going to be very difficult to usurp MP3 when 99% of the people are happy with it, and I don't see this format adding anything but gimmicky instrument channels. Really, how often are you going to fiddle with mixing the channels? If we're going to move to something beyond MP3, it will more likely be MP3 Pro due to better compression (or fidelity, if you want to look at it from that standpoint) and backwards compatibility with MP3 players. The downside is that the licensing for the technology is pricey. I think MP3Pro is all but forgotten, now, so maybe Thomson will lower the price in an attempt to push it.
When we'll see that in public (Both player and MT9 tracks)?
When we'll see that in public (Both player and MT9 tracks)?
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