MusicDNA looks to supplant MP3, bring along updatable extras
By Darren Murph 
posted January 25th 2010 10:44AM
posted January 25th 2010 10:44AM
As far as formats go, MP3 has managed to hang around for an impressive amount of time. To date, we've yet to see another digital audio file garner a similar amount of support (though ATRAC had a fighting chance!), but it looks as if an alternative from BACH Technology could be gunning for that crown. The new proposal is dubbed MusicDNA, and contrary to what you may expect, Dagfinn Bach -- who tinkered with the first MP3 player back in 1993 -- is all for it. Much like iTunes LP, the new format would include "lyrics, videos, artwork and blog posts, which [would] continually be updated." We're told that pirated files would still play back (as in, DRM shouldn't be an issue here), but none of the aforesaid updates would arrive. Currently, no major labels are onboard with the idea, but the company has suggested that the initial response has been pretty positive. Too bad it'll never go anywhere without a recognizable online storefront, but hey, we're rootin' for you over here!Update: The musicDNA used in the currently available musicGPS iPhone app is something completely different. Who knows if this will lead to a scuffle over naming rights.
@Solidstate89
There are settings to allow the user to control the level of information, frequency of updates etc.
The Wired article was much more informative than this one.
"To date, we've yet to see another digital audio file garner a similar amount of support (though ATRAC had a fighting chance!)"
I would say AAC is quite a viable "second place," considering that a fairly large music store uses it exclusively. Most people have their computer loaded with AAC, and they just don't even realize it.
@(Unverified)
I have to agree: AAC or even AAC+ should take over mp3...
@(Unverified) i say ogg or even flac should have taken over and made companies actually make bigger storage on PMPs
Too early to tell if it will be a success or not.
Sounds good to me, but the only thing I'm thinking is compatibility...
Will my car stereo recognise it?
I'd prefer a new format that's focuses on sound quality, rather then giving me a bunch of added bloatware that I don't need. Give me FLAC quality audio with smaller file sizes and I'm in.
Don' t forget tagging and compatibility. I agree that I don't need album art, lyrics, or full track notes in my audio files, but ID3 tags are so handy because so many hardware and software players understand how to read and interpret them. A new format would be nice, but if my PMP can't read it, it's not doing me any good.
@nachotech
I don't get this line of thought. MP3s at 256 are essentially indistinguishable from the source, and really not that big in comparison to modern storage sizes. The only compelling reason I could see to switch from universally compatible high bitrate MP3, is if it were a true hi def format, supporting SACD or DVD Audio. Then you would notice a difference.
But is the sound quality better.
I assure you, the quality of the DRM will be unmatched. Nothing says anonymity like "DNA."
I want the equivalent of MKV for my audio files lol
@sebmason Google the str3em format. This is like MKV for audio and it does full wav albums in a single file and its free from download.com. This musicnda might be ok too.
@sebmason Why would I need MKV for music? First of all, MKA exists afair, but second of all: Apart from Album Artwork, what to put in there? Lyrics? Why? It'd just be used to bloat file sizes beyond recognition... And that is notwithstanding that MKV is a file format, but no codec. To be honest, as long as there is no improvement in file sizes and quality like the H264 codec brought for videos, why should anyone bother?
I mean, I think I'd be willing to pay a premium to NOT have things in an iTunes-LP-Like format.
So it's almost, but not quite, just as useful as an mp3 + a website link.
I'm not interested in giving the music industry any (additional?) form of control or access to my computer or property. There are already several higher quality formats, Ogg, FLAC, even .Wav if you want. I can't imagine anyone really wanting these "features" on their portable device (totally pointless on a shuffle for instance) and they are pretty much available already on the web if you want them. This just sounds like a stealth DRM scheme to me.
As the iTunes store has about 70% of the online music market, and is the number 1 outlet for music in general with 25% of the entire market, I'm pretty sure m4a has garnered "a similar amount of support" as mp3.
@Farmboy
but iTunes sells mp3s now.
and 70% of the legal market is still a long way from 100% of the entire market...
@willowtwf Really? Could you find a citation for that? It's my understanding that all of the over 9 billion songs sold by the iTunes store have been some flavor of AAC, which is mp4.
@willowtwf They sell non-DRM AAC (.m4a), not MP3.
@(Unverified) they sell mp3 too.
And "illegal" downloads + physical peer to peer transfert (like with your hDD or an intranet) is still way more in volume than itunes.
@Farmboy
I still buy Cds and rip them to mp3 since only my Zune, iPod and nokia phone play it. All the other players in my households (as well as car stereos) only play wma, mp3, wav, the usual stuff. When I buy from iTunes I convert some files to mp3 to listen on my other devices as well so it's not only AAC.
I really don't understand the concept, especially as regular mp3 files can hold lyrics, artwork etc. via ID3v2 tagging. Putting videos in audio files seems to defeat the purpose too.
ok... but why exactly would i want any of this?
All that extra jazz will probably mean that record companies try to justify high prices again, the very problem that pushed people towards MP3 in the first place.
Obviously the makers of this new music container have not heard of metadata.
MP3 can store lyrics, and artwork.
Honestly, who needs to know when the artist has updated their song? Did they add some more autotune to it?
Not to mention a mp3 with a video, lyrics, and artwork would easily be greater than 10 mb......Then the song is still compressed and won't have anywhere near the quality FLAC has.
For the paranoid - Imagine record companies having entire control over what music you have. Automatically update information when the artist wants to? That means they have enough control to change the file that is stored on your hard drive.
@Gamecheater Let's just hope the music industry is nothing like the software industry that had access to your hard drive for years...
The main issue here is patents. They allow closing the market out to some players.
WRT iTunes numbers, who cares really, most people don't care what format their music is in, iPod or not, as long as it works, and most iTunes users have more pirated or home ripped music than the quantity they've purchased.
I like it. Obviously MP3's can hold certain metadata, but it looks like this could hold video as well. Which means that when buy Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind", you can listen to it, see the artwork and the lyrics, and have the video—all in one file. And that's pretty slick, actually. I'm not keen on the "updating" idea, but that it's there means that record companies could conceivably get on board, thinking they can charge more for the format. The format would catch on, record companies would be forced to charge less for it, and all would be right in the world. ...Except for the starvation, war, homelessness, and poverty thing, of course.
Can you spell doom for musicDNA?
If AAC couldn't overtake MP3, music DNA doesn't have a fighting chance.
Besides, people have spent a lot of money on MP3s you know.
I read about this another place and there they only talked about the "tagging" of the music itself. Beat, instruments, tone or whatever. That way you would find music very much like it, or figure out other songs it took inspiration from. Similar riffs. That type of stuff. Like that iTunes thing I don´t use, Genie or what was it again, but WAY more advanced.
I am all up for a new format, I don't know about it having videos and lyrics and crap. Like other people have said just give me a format that is:
A) Sounds great
B) Small file size
C) Is a standard and all future music players must support it
D) DRM FREE
Now don't get me wrong about having lyrics and videos attached to your music. I still want that I been trying to get this to happen for along time. I have sent countless emails to microsoft, apple, amazon and others.
We need a service that I can pay once for a song and get the following:
DRM Free Music
DRM Music Video
DRM Karaoke
and DRM track to play in RockBand or Guitar Hero
If I can just pay a one time fee for all I will be willing to pay $4 or so a song. Now they can still offer all seperatly but gives us a discount for buying this bundle. I don't care who does it first but microsoft I think is closer because they have a music video and game store.
I forgot to mention in the first list A-D
F) If you buy the new format you also get a choice to download a version in MP3 (for older players)
I like the idea of blog posts/tour dates/new album release info being pushed out through the music files themselves. I could see this being used as a "premium" version of a band's release. I hate having to follow a band's myspace account, facebook account, website and blog just to stay informed about their plans, releases etc...
Too little, way too late. This may have had a fighting chance years ago when MP3 players were sparse but now that every one has at least one, a format that DOESN'T work on any of them is still born at birth. Sorry folks but MP3 format isn't going anywhere for a long long time no matter how badly people want it to die.
@Chaosdivine This format will play on all existing mp3 players, just without the added features.
@outunderstars
Thanks for not telling me to STFU because I didn't RTFA (entirely). I did just that now and ya "The music files can play on any MP3 player including Apple's iPod."
Whoopsie...
mp3 is just fine, thanks for trying though :)
all i want from my music files is for the audio quality to be good and for the file size to be small and mp3 is good enough at both of those. I don't want any of that extra info in the file, i could find it all on google if i really wanted to know.
Once I BUY the song it is mine. I want it to work on any device I want. I have literally hundreds of CD which I keep in the closest and only listen to the MP3 on my iPod, computer, and distributed audio system.
DRM removes my right to listen to the music I purchased on the device of my own choice.
Oh god, the LAST thing anyone needs is more inroads for record labels to invade your life. So far, the only way that has happened is via lawsuit. No thanks. I'll never buy anything from an RIAA member again in my life. Check out RIAARadar.com
Plus, I'm still a fan of buying the (non-RIAA) CD and ripping it yourself to FLAC, then transcoding to your various devices.