The evolution of MP3 technology and digital music players

MP3 Players Industry

Brief history of the industry

MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Layer-III (or MPEG Audio Layer III) and is recognized as the audio sub-division of the MPEG business model created by ISO- the Industry Standards Organisation and came to be recognized as a valid model in 1992 as a branch of the MPEG-1 norm. Fraunhofer Gesellschaft - FhG is credited to be the company who did pioneering research in the development of MP3 and reserves the crucial patents in respect of the technology. MPEG-1 Layer-III is a compaction format of audio only and is a direct successor of MPEG-1 that is a low-bandwidth video compaction format, the kind that is in use in the Internet and MPEG-2 is a high-bandwidth audio and video compaction that is the norm for DVD technology. It was in Germany where the growth of MP3 began in 1987 at the Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen and named as EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting - DAB. Prof. Dieter Seitzer of the University of Erlangen who participated in the project and an algorithm was coded which ultimately came to be recognized as the ISO-MPEG Audio Layer-3 norm. (the History of MP3 and how it all began)

During 1997, a software programmer at Advanced Multimedia Products built the AMP MP3 Playback Engine that is considered as the foremost typical MP3 player to appear over the Internet. After some time, a team of ingenious students of the university laced the Amp engine with user-friendly features of the Windows and named it as Winamp. The turnaround came in 1988, when Winamp was accessible to the people as a free music player, hence embarking on the journey of MP3 fad. During the initial part of 1999, the foremost peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software application was brought about, that took world by storm. (Behind the Files: History of MP3) Sub-pop, a private record brand started in February 1999 to distribute chosen music numbers in the MP3 format. Ever since the initial part of 1999, the recognition of MP3 player has gone up to such a level that most of the companies are offering a deluge of MP3 players in the market with handy MP3 players, the subsequent version of Walkman and Portable CD Mini Disk Players. Web sites related to music are mushrooming all over the Internet doling out free and valid MP3 players and even music that can be bought. (the History of MP3 and how it all began)

Companies and leaders of the industry

Several new outlets and services are teaming up with the already present companies like AOL, Music Match, Napster and Real Networks. Computer manufacturing companies like Dell and Gateway have by now introduced hard-drive-based players, adding their names with likes of Philips and Toshiba and professionals like Creative Labs and Archos as well. (Jupiter Research Forecasts U.S. MP3 Player Shipments to Top 3.5 Million in 2003) MP3 players that can be played on a PC like MacAMP and Winamp have multiplied, giving users the opportunity to download and hear the MP3 files on their computers. The phenomenal success of MP3 players has drawn the leading computer-industry biggies like Microsoft who launched the Windows Media Player and Real Jukebox by Real Networks. Real Jukebox was downloaded a million times in just a span of ten days of its introduction. (From Music Publishing to MP3: Music and Industry in the Twentieth Century)

The amalgamation of iPod device by Apple and its iTunes Store for music downloads has invigorated the music industry. (Jupiter Research Forecasts U.S. MP3 Player Shipments to Top 3.5 Million in 2003) Apple Computer has put up for sale 100 million songs on its iTunes Music Store, the creator of iPod and Mackintosh computer. According to Apple, the figure reinforces its rank as the foremost site used for downloading valid music. (Apple hits 100 million iTunes mark) More than half of the digital player market share belongs to iPod of Apple Computer. Increased number of players and dwindling price of memory are not allowing the prices to go up. (Flash-based players still coming on strong)

Description of the product(s) or service(s) provided by the industry

Audio players with the compression format - also called as MP3 players are arriving into the forefront as falling prices of the handy flash players and increased memory size, the iPod Mini and other tiny form factor handy jukeboxes are available in the market, and increased number of gadgets, together with DVD players and gaming devices having provisions for compressed audio as an added attribute. (MP3 player market to reach €47bn by 2008 - report) With the burgeoning of the MP3 obsession, it did not take time to begin making a complete array of MP3 software. Napster, the groundbreaking application will be reminisced like no other MP3-associated software was created to let anybody with an Internet access to locate and download their chosen songs in a least time. Through linking people, Napster made a virtual group of music enthusiasts. Novel MP3 programmers, CD burners, and MP3 players were made available approximately each week and the MP3 campaign started to snowball. (Behind the Files: History of MP3)

Handy (MP3) music players are definitely the admired gifts during this holiday period. These tiny handy jukeboxes let the users to hear almost the quality of reproduction of a CD while on the move. These jukeboxes are not restricted by the quantity of CDs that can accompany them as opposed to the portable CD players. The Apple iPod is the top ranking hard drive-based MP3 player. The effectiveness of iPod has encouraged a lot of rival brands, consisting of a best offer from the stable of Dell and RioAudio. (Getting a Handle on MP3 Players) Internet Search Engines rendered it simple to locate the particular MP3 files, and handy MP3 players such as the Rio and the Nomad Jukebox to transfer MP3 songs in a tiny handy gadget similar to a Walkman or Discman. (Behind the Files: History of MP3)

The players available nowadays having 32 MB memory space is able to store roughly half an hour of music, stated Grady. Hence the listeners are not able to store even a complete album. The new 64-MB players can store music lasting for an hour recorded at 128 kilobits per second - the criteria for a fair quality of digital recording. The gadgets of Diamond's Rio PMP300 can hold 10 hours of lesser quality recorded content like speech. (Will MP3 Walk Over Walkmans?) Diamond Multimedia stirred up the music industry during October 1998 when it launched the first handy music player, the Rio PMP 300. Diamond has presently come about with its second version of Rio 500. This is the first player to function with either Mac or PC, and the transfer of music coming through a very rapid USB port that is featured in the latest computers. Its tiny shape and preference of fashionable colors presents it as an attractive device. (Rio 500 Player - First Look at a Cool Portable)

Specifically one player, the Archos Jukebox Recorder 20, is really a power-packed one. The Archos is also speedier, compatible with Mac and Windows operating system, features a hard drive that has double the memory space compared to the iPod. With a price tag of $319 as compared to $499 for Apple's 10 GB player, Archos is difficult to compete with. Due to this reason, a few months following the iPod's inaugural offer, the Archos Jukebox became the undisputed leader. The Archos is a good buying deal because of the memory space it offers; the data transfer rate and the associated MusicMatch software. (King of All MP3 Players) a drift towards digital convergence of gadgets is witnessed during 2004. Although a wide array of players are available which requires a CD and HDD brands, devices having flash-memory continue to reign supreme among the handy MP3 player categories. Businesses ascribe this to the slim, tiny and handy design and reasonable price label. (Flash-based players still coming on strong)

Value to the economy of the industry (jobs created, revenues, profits, etc.)

Similar to any industry in the realm of culture functioning in an economy subject to market forces, the responsibility of the music companies is basically to convert its cultural brands into monetary rewards. Sales of MP3 players are going on at a breathtaking speed in the wake of plummeting prices of the devices, integration of MP3 facilities in a vast array of gadgets and the launching of websites offering legitimate music downloads. As per the current market research conducted by IDC, the sales of MP3 gadgets will benefit from nearly a 20% compound annual growth rate in the forthcoming five years and post revenues of $85bn by the year 2008. (iPod faces competition as MP3 player sales boom)

Key success factors of the industry

One important factor for MP3 becoming the reigning audio norm is because of the patent reserved by the original founders ensuring that it can be obtained without any cost for anybody to create MP3 software. The initial MP3 founders backed by the open source model coded the MP3 software that speeded up the recognition of the MP3 audio format. (Behind the Files: History of MP3) at the time of writing the code for MP3 format, an array of compression intensities can be programmed. To take an example, an MP3 made with 128 Kbit compression intensity will have enhanced sound reproduction quality and bigger file size compared to a 56 Kbit compression, hence indicating that lesser the compression intensity, the lesser the reproduction of sound quality. (What is MP3, How does it work, what is (MPEG)

This accounts for growing acceptance of the MP3 format music files with the Internet devoted music enthusiasts since it is the perfect medium for receiving music files through the Internet compared to WAV/AIFF files with takes much longer time to get downloaded. (What is MP3, How does it work, what is (MPEG)) Enhanced compression technologies have been around for certain period, but the efficacy of MP3 is because of the comparatively free characteristic of the format. Another factor accounting for the thrilling and persuasive experience of MP3 is due to the fact that it enables enthusiasts to be DJs by audio mixing of their chosen songs. Several persons have prepared their own collection of CDs composed of their preferred songs from various performers and orchestras and writing them to CDs promptly and effortlessly. (Behind the Files: History of MP3)

Ethics and social responsibility of the industry (impact on society and the planet)

Power shift is continuously moving from the three moguls who had detained control of TV towards the millions of individual people who gaze at it from the time when it was invented. A potentially more innovative instrument than the switcher, called the MP3 player, best depicts this spectacular move. The way music is signed up, put on the market and disseminated may get total changeover due to MP3. Furthermore, they offer vital hints, not obtained so far, on how digital technology will threaten corporate control of other forms of popular culture and intellectual property. MP3's importance extends way ahead of the music industry. It is not only in gathering enormous amounts of graphic and textual material in new, highly compressible ways that Technology is helping but also in making it feasible for millions of people to use, do business and cherish that material at any time they need. There are both merits and demerits of delivery of music on the Web. (the Music Industry and the MP3)

Costs associated with manufacturing, distribution and promotion can be slashed by digital sales. The most famous search engine query term after "sex" is "MP3." It is the music companies own mistake that the outbreak of digital music piracy is very much dreadful for them and no industry ever ought to have it more. Most of their piracy problems would have disappeared quickly, if at all they had been eager to open up their catalogues to sites like customdisc.com. The contemporaries will most likely never pay for CD's another time in their lives as they are now swiftly getting MP3's. This should not be the case. The approach towards buying music by younger people who are either college-goers or have computers can become a case study as to how corporations can isolate large groups of a whole society, which in addition cost them too. (the Music Industry and the MP3)

From WinAmp's MP3.com site, there have been more than five million downloads of the MP3 player. For thousands or even tens of thousands of college kids, geeks and teenagers, music piracy is a well-established cultural, even political philosophy as they have seldom purchased a CD but have some of the plentiful and varied music and song libraries. They are the genuine inheritance of complete unawareness to the Internet by the recording industry. They are also a dominant forewarning to monopoly media companies with regard to information or culture. Thus the free MP3 player accessible on the Web is diminishing the society and the music industry. According to record executives, millions of people have all become music impresarios in their own right, as they need not depend on record executives for what to buy and how to buy it. (the Music Industry and the MP3)

The industry's treatment of women, minorities, immigrants and the disabled

It is so easy that even the new-to-technology sections of women, minorities, immigrants and the disabled can enter the MP3 universe and its huge catalog of music. (Impress your kids with your MP3 knowledge) Due to slash in prices of MP3 players, the listeners to MP3 include physically-disabled adults and children, older readers and readers from the weaker sections. According to audio book listener Phil Cross, a retired executive living in Absecon, N.J., audio books are indispensable because of his eye impairment. He anticipates further fall of prices and bypassing of copyright laws which can lead to search, print and re-read favorite passages and quotes for additional enjoyment. (MP3 Players fit the bill)

Strengths

MP3 considered being the 'renegade' digital music format that makes solid-state music possible through heavy compression, in stead of being outdated moves from strength to strength. (MP3 players group test) the MP3 is considered to be the best solution for the rising bands to demonstrate their skills and let their music viewed by placing the same in the form of singles and albums on the Internet for immediate download at free or negligible costs. (What is MP3, How does it work, what is (MPEG)) the MP3 players are influencing the lives of the people to a large extent. This makes them possible to listen to the music while they are on mobile. This has a great advantage over the CD players, since the listener is not required to haul around many different CDs that can become cumbersome. (Mp3 Players: History) They simply need to put all the songs they require on the MP3 player and go on listening to for a long period. (iPod faces competition as MP3 player sales boom)

MP3 players having its origin only during last few years have attracted attention of many with a short span of time. MP3 players are anticipated to have significant influence in the audio player industry with the growing demands in future. New apparatus are being invented day by day. Fixed or removable disks are used instead of memory cards. Even though returning to the moving disks appear to be a retrograde measure yet such drives are considered more efficient in terms of higher byte per penny ratio in comparison to other type of storage. A CD, to illustrate, is capable of storing about 10 times of the common memory card-based MP3 player. This is said to have about 80 tracks. (MP3 players group test) the interest of consumers in MP3 has grown to the largest possible extent in the year 2003 when many types of portable flash players offer a cheaper alternative to hard disk storage devices. (iPod faces competition as MP3 player sales boom)

Weaknesses

The MP3 format is said to have its own weaknesses. The player cannot shift from one track to another without having infused a silence or click. Instead of solving the problem, an increasing number of MP3 players, both in the form of hardware and software enhance the problem by just infusing further silence. (MP3 players: Buyer Beware) the MP3 being one of several forms of digital audio formats prevalent presently is not essentially the most efficient or of highest quality audio. (Behind the Files: History of MP3) the storing of number of songs in the portable music player is determined by the capacity of the memory of the player and the format that the songs are saved in. The MP3 files generally require a memory space at the rate of one MB per minute of music. In other words a MP3 player having the memory space of 64 MB has the capacity to keep one hour of music. The Windows Media Format (WMA) requires half of such spaces thus enabling to store about double the number of songs accommodated by the MP3. (Getting a Handle on MP3 Players)

The MP3 format involves in some loss of quality while being compressed. The quality of the sound is observed to have decreased slightly in comparison to the source audio, after being compressed in MP3 format. In the circumstances when the MP3 files are constructed independently, it is observed that the waveform at the beginning of the one file is quite different from that of the end of other file and more probably giving rise to a click during the playback. The LAME MP3 encoder infuses a new option that tries to solve the problem however presently is not documented. Moreover, still the problem persists in the sense that it does not allow to ply the next track at the same time the current one completes. However, this cannot be regarded as the weakness of the audio format or encoder. This signifies bad programming without proper justification. Winamp was not as impelling as was with iPod. (MP3 players: Buyer Beware)

Presently its quality has been improved to a great extent. The software however, requires setting up of its plug-in to buffer ahead on track change. Winamp is considered efficient in respect of several albums with the present MP3 encoding, since it makes the gaps unnoticeable. At the maximum it may entail a slight shutter gap as a result of the frame-gap. The frame gap in many cases is quite evident and bothersome When this is observed to be one track join similar to the Parabol/Parabola, it is compulsory to use MP3 and Winamp or an iRiver or iPod then the two tracks are to be encoded as a single MP3 of course not necessitating inspection of each of album that is purchased requiring to be combined. Several of other albums necessitate all of their tracks combined resulting in that one big MP3 file with all the inherent problems. (MP3 players: Buyer Beware)

Opportunities

The music industry finds it worthwhile to use MP3 as a marketing device instead of preventing its spread. This will persuade the listeners to hear of the sample music and make an inclination for purchasing the CD. The merging of Time Warner and American Online results in formation of a combined entertainment and internet multinational company with a view to securing the best market position to take advantage of the new technologies of this type. 15 This provides new scopes for the chip vendors, device manufacturers and paid music service providers to attract conventional music clients to this emerging market. (MP3 player market to reach €47bn by 2008 - report)

Threats

The technologies similar to MP3 are considered to make the music industry vulnerable on several grounds. At the first place the MP3 holds out the possibility of a business plan that has a straight link of the artists with that of the consumers. The MP3 technology is evolving remarkably in the music industry to be flaw less day by day with articulations by the industry critics like Chuck D. And visioning artists like Sheryl Crow. The Wired Magazine reveals about selling of 846 million new CDs during the last year and the cases of 17 million downloaded MP3 files from the Internet every day. This accounts to be 3 billion only in the first six months of 1999. This caused the electronic distribution sites like MP3.com and online record labels like Atomic Pop, considered to be the new home to such artists like Public Enemy and Ice-T are opposing the status quo. (From Music Publishing to MP3: Music and Industry in the Twentieth Century) Moreover, the new techniques of providing storage facility are considered to be competitors for the MP3 format. (MP3 players group test)

The Microsoft being the pioneer in getting into the new acts has evolved the Widows, Media Format. The rate of compression in WMA files are considered to be greater in comparison to the MP3 format and the same is appreciated by the recoding industry since it safeguards copyright authority. Microsoft with this format is anticipated to rival the market dominance by MP3s or at the worst case is able to provide the WMA as the next best alternative. Even though, it is contrary to the free music approach of MP3, it is considered to be a strong rival and the portable player are necessitated to be made compatible simultaneously with that of other formats emerging. (MP3 players group test)

The RIAA is dissatisfied with large scale free downloading and swapping of MP3s due to lack of security features. This caused the millions of songs to be shared freely day by innumerable users. The files are very small that facilitates easy downloading and transmission of the same to a friend as e-mail attachment. MP3 it self is not considered illegal. However, with the conversion of the copyrighted material into the MP3 format results in violation of the law. The Home Recording Act permits for producing copies of the music CDs for personal use. The law however does not permit sharing or distribution of the copied material among the members unless they possess a copy of the CD. The arguments continue to assess the advantages of the MP3 and P2P file sharing programs to the music industry. The adversaries of the MP3 are of the view that the free music will make the music industry unviable and discourage the dependent artists. More particularly, it is a struggle for regulation of the distribution of music. Presently, it is possible of the artists to bypass the record labels easily and distribute their music effectively. (Behind the Files: History of MP3)

Several sites on the Internet are allowing free downloads. There exists also sites allowing illegal downloads of the renowned artists and there by calling upon their rightful royalties. Irrespective of the fact that it is considered legal to rip the MP3 tracks from CD for only personal use, yet the people are sharing the music files with themselves illegally. The music industry is highly concerned about such piracy and is reluctant to produce MP3 audio at the risk of the wholesale piracy. However, repressive action is being taken and the illegal sites are being closed. Such stringent actions combined with the emerging of the recognized MP3 music sites like mp3.com and mp3now.com are assisting the MP3 formats to become more credible in the music industry. (What is MP3, How does it work, what is (MPEG).

Job opportunities in the industry

Starting a career stems from many paths, contrary to that of other professions, that follows a linear path of entry. The entry into music is observed in some cases straight from the secondary school career while in some others after completion of degrees in business or law. However, there is no specific criterion for this. The path chosen generally is determined by the exposure, the interest, the level of motivation of the person. Among all the factors, motivation is considered to be the single most factors that will determine the complete absorption in the music industry. The means of least struggle is considered as not the right path in this field. The early start in this field normally at the secondary school level is considered to fetch good results. The music industry is not subjected to a particular hiring time that is considered to be present with other industries. It is therefore, not possible to find out the recruiters coming to the campus. Moreover, most of the music companies are having the human resources department that recruits the artists, since they have applied for the job and interviewed for the job. It is therefore crucial to keep contact with as many people as possible for the purpose. (Marshall Brain, How to Break Into the Music Business)