MP3 is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners; for example, compared to CD-quality digital audio, MP3 compression can commonly achieve a 75–95% reduction in size, depending on the bit rate. In popular usage, MP3 often refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 file format (.mp3) on consumer electronic devices.
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high-resolution audio. A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity. WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates. Microsoft has also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store audio encoded by WMA.
Windows Media Player is the first media player and media library application that Microsoft developed to play audio and video on personal computers. It has been a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system, including Windows 9x, Windows NT, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile. Microsoft also released editions of Windows Media Player for classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Solaris, but has since discontinued them.
Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC, in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio information with minimal perceptible loss in quality. Improvements to the codec in the form of ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, and ATRAC Advanced Lossless followed in 1999, 2002, and 2006 respectively.
mp3PRO is an unmaintained proprietary audio compression codec that combines the MP3 audio format with the spectral band replication (SBR) compression method. At the time it was developed it could reduce the size of a stereo MP3 by as much as 50% while maintaining the same relative quality. This works, fundamentally, by discarding the higher half of the frequency range and algorithmically replicating that information while decoding.
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. Plans for a standard physical release, bundled with the first part Machina/The Machines of God, were revealed to happen sometime in 2013, but was postponed due to legal setbacks. In an Instagram Q&A in 2018, the band's frontman, Billy Corgan, revealed that all legal issues had been resolved. The two albums are planned to be remastered and released as a deluxe reissue; however, no release date has been announced.
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York City with an office in London, and is owned by TriPlay.
Musepack or MPC is an open source lossy audio codec, specifically optimized for transparent compression of stereo audio at bitrates of 160–180 kbit/s. It was formerly known as MPEGplus, MPEG+ or MP+.
This Week in Tech–casually referred to as TWiT, and briefly known as Revenge of the Screen Savers–is the weekly flagship podcast and namesake of the TWiT.tv network. It is hosted by Leo Laporte and many other former TechTV employees and currently produced by Jason Howell. It features round-table discussions and debates surrounding current technology news and reviews, with a particular focus on consumer electronics and the Internet. TWiT is produced in the TWiT "eastside" studios in Petaluma, California, United States, since 2016, a few miles away from the former "brickhouse" studios where it had been produced for 5 years, and earlier TWiT "cottage", where it was produced for over 6 years. The podcast is streamed live on Sundays at 2:15 P.M. PST.
Barenaked on a Stick is Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies' first release in USB flash drive format. They were one of the first bands to attempt this, and were noted by several critics as innovative in this area. Due to the content on the stick, it is conjectured that this release was more of a test to see if the format would succeed. This paved the way for the band's second USB release of their 2006 album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Gray, released on 12 November 2007 in the UK and a day later in the US. Greatest Hits contains songs from his first album, A Century Ends in 1993, through to his 2005 album Life in Slow Motion, and includes two new songs: the first single "You're the World to Me" and "Destroyer". In interviews, Gray has described the new single "You're the World to Me" as "joyous" and "unselfconscious", and called his Greatest Hits album "a bag of happy shit".
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the third solo studio album by Saul Williams. It was released in 2007. It peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, as well as number 89 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album is entirely produced by Trent Reznor. The title of the album is a reference to David Bowie's 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Legs and Boots are a series of Tori Amos live albums recorded during the North American leg of the American Doll Posse Tour. Amos announced the launch of the series on October 16, 2007, stating that each show in the series would be available via digital download in MP3 format within a few hours after each show, and in CD-quality FLAC format within a week. Some sets contained photos from backstage or onstage from the concert, some also contained soundcheck recordings as extras. A total of 27 shows were recorded from October 13 to December 12, 2007. All 27 shows were made available on iTunes USA on July 22, 2008, and on iTunes international, Rhapsody, Napster, and other online vendors on August 5.
Happiness Is the Road is Marillion's 15th studio album, released in 2008 as two separate album-length volumes respectively titled Essence and The Hard Shoulder. The overall playing time is 110 minutes, taking it to double album length.
Atlanta is a download only double-live album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree recorded at the Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, United States on 29 October 2007. The show recording was initially intended for a prospective Porcupine Tree live album, but this decision was later turned down as development of the Anesthetize DVD project began. In the wake of the news regarding Mick Karn's advanced-stage cancer, the band decided to put it out as a downloadable item from the Burning Shed online store at a very cheap cost, as a .RAR file split in two parts, all in MP3 format at 320 kbit/s with completely printable artwork designed by Carl Glover. The profits from the Atlanta downloads are intended to help Mick pay for his treatment. A 44.1 kHz/24-bit FLAC version was released in August 2010; profits from this version go to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Since the album's artwork and mix is set up for two CDs it is widely considered to be a double album. The album has a somewhat similar track listing to the Anesthetize DVD but includes the first official live recording of the track "A Smart Kid" and some of the songs that were performed at the shows for the Anesthetize shoot, but left out as they were already available on previous live releases.
The Unedited box set is a 'deluxe limited edition collectors box set' by British Indie rock band Editors, released on 28 March 2011. The set covers not only the three officially released albums, The Back Room, An End Has a Start and In This Light and on This Evening but also b-sides and rarities.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the score album for David Fincher's 2011 film of the same name, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It was released on December 9, 2011, through The Null Corporation in the US and Mute Records outside North America. This is the second soundtrack that Reznor and Ross have worked on together, following the Oscar-winning The Social Network, also for Fincher.
Live at the London Troxy is a live album by New Order, recorded on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London. The concert was released in both a 2-CD set and a 320 kbit/s MP3 download. The download was made available on 21 December 2011, while the 2-CD set shipped the first week of January 2012.
Qobuz is a French digital music store and streaming service, launched in 2007 by Alexandre Leforestier and Yves Riesel. Qobuz is now owned by Xandrie SA. In June 2023, Qobuz offers over 100 million tracks on its service.
Vulnicura Live is a live album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk featuring 14 songs performed during her 2015 Vulnicura tour. The original release was available exclusively through Rough Trade record shops in very limited quantities and is published by One Little Indian. Its online allotment quickly sold out but a limited number of CDs and LPs were available at Rough Trade brick and mortar stores on release day. The sets are now out of print. The album was followed 8 months later by a standard commercial release featuring an altered track order and new artwork taken during the Vulnicura tour.
