Fraunhofer IIS to push MPEG Surround as next big downloadable audio format

Watch out, MP3 -- you've got a formidable opponent creeping up on you. All kidding aside (yes, we were kidding), Fraunhofer IIS is hoping that at least four people will turn from their MP3 / AAC addictions and embrace yet another one of its audio formats at CES, which is simply christened MPEG Surround. Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems department at the company, has asserted that the firm believes that "MPEG Surround will become a major online distribution format when downloading music, movie and TV content," noting that it offers "the music industry a way to sell iPod-compatible surround content through the existing stereo download infrastructure." We suppose the multi-channel aspect is at least somewhat noteworthy, but we still see a hard road ahead for it to gain "global acceptance" in 2009.

[nx2000 Posted Jan 5th 2009 6:07PM]

Isn't this a long existing format? If it was going to catch on it probably already would have.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 5th 2009 6:52PM]

MPEG Surround is actually fairly interesting, as it's essentially a way to bolt-on surround to an existing mono or stereo stream - and it's codec independent, as far as that stream goes - it could be AAC rather than MP3. Indeed, what Fraunhofer appears to be pushing is AAC-based rather than MP3 based, reading the press release.

I suspect that's the selling point, that it's a way to add surround while still creating files that work on existing iPods. The biggest problem with it is going to be that nobody cares. Quadraphonic records went nowhere. DTS CDs went nowhere. SACD and DVD Audio are, for all practical purposes, dead. Nobody cares about surround sound when it comes to music.

For movie downloads, most people would like a codec compatible with their existing surround system. In practice, that's DTS and Dolby Digital. Microsoft is having no luck getting manufacturers to put out Windows Media compatible receiver, despite Netflix and others standardizing on their audio codecs, so how does Fraunhofer expect to make headway when it doesn't have a single downloads service signed up?

This seems dead on arrival.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 5th 2009 6:42PM]

wma already supports multi-channel audio and does a good job of it too. I suppose another codec can't do anything but possibly spur interest.

[plonk420 Posted Jan 5th 2009 10:57PM]

the upside is that i think this already exists.

just do a search for MP3 Surround Armin Van Buuren. and it's backwards compatible with MP3 players (just the 2.0 audio option).

for home use, though, i see no reason not to use the also free Nero Digital Audio AAC Codec (oddly named as it's just an encoder). it'll take 24bit 48kHz 5.1 WAVs.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2009 8:32AM]

MP3 Surround isn't really the same as MPEG Surround and could refer to a variety of different technologies, including the stillborn standard created for DVD and ATSC that was beat out, both times, by Dolby Digital. At one point "MPEG Multichannel" (MP3 Surround) was the standard audio system for European DVDs, causing a consumer revolt because of perceived poor quality compared to Dolby Digital, and very poor support by consumer receiver models.

MPEG Multichannel is, as you say, backwards compatible, but it's long in the tooth. MPEG Surround is a more interesting technology and can use better base codecs than MP3, like AAC - which is what Fraunhofer is encouraging. But it's not in the running for movie audio distribution, and nobody cares about surround for music.