The Lowdown on Music Downloads: From MP3 to SDMI
continued
By Rick Brian Slack
Caveat emptor
To get past this coming, second confusion, it is best to look at the devices based on their content: Device components, codecs, security, and software interfaces.
Device components: operating system and chips, memory modules, and other electrical components that will make the music player functional.
Codecs: a2b (AT&T), AAC (Dolby), EPAC (Lucent), MP4, MSAudio 4.0 (Microsoft); how the music will be compressed. While later to enter the scene than MP3 (and the anticipated MP4 SDMI-compliant codec), the other four codecs listed above have their merits and demerits. AAC decompresses five-times slower than the rest, but it has the familiar Dolby name. MSAudio 4.0, according to several prominent audiophile testers, has range difficulties and other problems but it has Microsoft's backing. A2B, although named by a few early adopters, is under lawsuit by Lucent. Lucent's Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder (EPAC) is the only one stated to have translucent-CD qualities. While Lucent (Bell Labs) has maintained a fairly low public profile so far about EPAC, it may just be the leading codec.
Security: Digital watermarking; how the music will be secured. The aforementioned ARIS watermarking technology will be used to indicate when the software used by Phase I portable devices should be upgraded to incorporate new Phase II technology that will accept new music releases, as well as filter out pirated copies of music.
Software Interfaces: The software mechanism that will allow customers to actually download the music (e.g., Liquid Audio).
With this general understanding of device content, one can recognize the potential coming confusion.
As previously stated, the SDMI Phase 2 specification will merely provide standards of functionality and not dictate how these standards are to be met.
As previously stated, the SDMI Phase 2 specification will merely provide standards of functionality and not dictate how these standards are to be met (this being left to the music and electronics industries). The key therefore will be in the various codecs.
Now enter the electronic industry powerhouses offering competing codecs: AT&T, Dolby, Lucent, and Microsoft. Care to pick a winner --which of them will ultimately prevail? Consider things other than simply the market presence of these players, such as the less tangible but equally important issues of quality, time to download, and flash memory capabilities (length of recording). Also consider that the various record labels may each only select a single codec for all their offerings, and the concern is compounded. No answers are readily available, and may not be fully known for years.
Overcoming the dilemma
There are a few ways in which consumers can manage the dilemma. One is the "don't worry, be happy" approach, where one could purchase an MP3 device today realizing it will have limited usability a few months hence without significant modification (rendering it a possible "throw-away"). Another approach may be to wait a couple of months and buy a device utilizing the codec one believes will prevail.
Neither of these appears desirable and, though we're not talking about a huge investment in one of these devices, most people have some practicality in mind and may opt for a third approach. That is to wait a couple of months and acquire a device capable of supporting all known codecs. With the expectation that the SDMI will most likely adopt a multi-codec, open architecture platform and recognizing that no one format will immediately prevail, this appears to be the safest way to go.
How to exercise this approach? By simply confirming that the device you are buying contains a micro operating system (OS)/file management system capable of interpreting all known codecs.
Some good news
Three bits of good news involve evolving technologies and music marketing approaches.
One involves ever-increasing bandwidth (supportable data transmission speeds). Over time, improvements in this area and in the capabilities of devices will continually decrease the amount of time required to download music data files.
Current offerings allow about 1 hour of recorded music.
A second involves flash memory and the amount of data that can be downloaded and saved for playback. Current offerings allow about 1 hour of recorded music (approximately one CD's worth). In the very near future, 2.5 hours of recording may be commonplace -- with even more to come.
A third bit of good news is that new marketing approaches will surely develop. Consumers will be able to be selective in creating customized CD-equivalents (since this is digital technology, copies of music downloaded from the Internet will suffer no degradation when compressed using an efficient codec, such as EPAC). Consumers will be able to build their own Best Of and Personal Favorites data files, saving the cost of buying an entire CD-equivalent for that one favorite tune. This capability is already available and will undoubtedly proliferate.
So the lowdown on the future is sounding better all the time.
Any brands and products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Some information was acquired from the SDMI Web site.
Rick B. Slack's primary background has been in support roles in the aerospace industry, including assignments on the Trident missile system, space shuttle, and various satellite programs, as well as work on infrared detectors/sensors for various platforms. He also does business consulting, and research of up-and-coming technologies. |
