A&R (Artist and Repertoire) - Record label employees who are in charge of finding and signing new bands.
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) - Also called MPEG-2 AAC or MPEG-2 NBC, this audio codec is the logical continuation of the MP3 codec created by
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Due to advances in the technology, AAC files encoded at a 96 kbps bit rate sound slightly better than MP3s encoded at 128 kbps.
ADC (analog-to-digital converter) - This type of converter changes an analog
electrical signal into a digital signal made of 1s and 0s. When you make a voice or line-in recording with your MP3 player, you are using the device's ADC.
ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation) - This method of encoding sound data files takes up less storage space than the regular PCM format used by WAV and AIFF files -- and CD audio for that matter. ADPCM comes in more than one flavour: IMA's ADPCM, for
example, is used on the Sony MiniDisc to cram more data onto a smaller platter; Microsoft's ADPCM is used as part of Windows 95's canon of audio codecs. Many MP3 players use ADPCM for their voice-recording feature.
AIFF:
An uncompressed Macintosh audio file. WAV files occupy an incredible amount of disk space, thus the need for compressed formats, such as MP3s.
ASCAP - An organisation that collects royalties for its members (artists, bands, and music publishers) when their music gets played on the radio, the Web, or in public. Find out more here.
ATRAC - The audio compression algorithm used by MiniDisc players. It involves dropping all frequencies below and above the human hearing range (20Hz to 20KHz).
ATRAC3 - The audio codec used by MDLP MiniDisc players and Sony MP3 players.
audio compression - audio compression works by setting a limit for how loud
sound can get while raising low parts of a song to a certain extent, depending on the level of compression. Basically, the lowest and highest volume levels of a song get closer together.
audio player - A program that turns the 1s and 0s in an audio file into an audio signal.
bandwidth - The size of the "pipe" that brings information to and from computers over the Internet. Low bandwidth includes rates of 28 kbps and 56 kbps, while high-bandwidth (broadband) connections deliver more information at a faster pace, making full-screen video, for example, possible.
bit rate - in essence, a measure of how many bits describes each sound in an audio file. A low bit rate means lower quality and a smaller file size, while a high bit rate means better quality and larger files. The standard bit rate is 128 kbps.
BMI - An organisation that collects royalties for its members (artists, bands, and music publishers) when their music gets played on the radio, the Web, or in public. Find out more here.
buffer - An area of memory (usually on your hard drive) that is shared by two enabling processes, which run at different speeds to sync up with each other. For example, a buffer designed for streaming audio helps a patchy data stream from a server sound consistent when played by your computer's audio software.
buffering - The process by which streaming audio and video saves data in advance of playing it. Programs such as RealPlayer or Windows Media Player will download a part of the video or audio stream before starting to play, then continue the downloading as the stream plays. If the playing catches up to the end of the buffer, the stream will pause while further buffering occurs.
CD burning - The process of using a CD-R/RW drive and burning software to put data or audio onto a CD.
CD-R disc - A read-only CD that cannot be rewritten. A normal CD player can read a CD-R that the burning software specified as an Audio CD when the disc was created.
CD-RW disc - A CD that can be erased and rewritten. It can't be read by normal CD players, but it works great for burning compressed music for computer playback.
CD-R/RW drive - A drive capable of writing to CD-R and CD-RW discs.
CDA - The format of audio on a standard RedBook CD; can be extracted to your hard drive by a ripper into WAV (Windows) or AIFF (Macintosh) files.
CDDB - A centralised database on the Web that can recognise most CDs and send track listings to your audio player so that you don't have to type in all the information yourself.
CD text - A method for including text on normal, otherwise Redbook-standard CDs,
denoting the title of the CD, the name of the artist, the track information, and more.
codec - A codec is an algorithm for compressing and decompressing audio and video files without losing a significant amount of information. Once a file has been compressed by a codec like MP3 or RealAudio, it is smaller and easier to transmit across the Web, and still sounds fairly true to the original.
compulsory license - This type of licensing means that whoever wants to broadcast a song owned by someone else can do so as long as they pay the rate set by the relevant industry organisation. The lack of compulsory licensing for music downloads has stalled the efforts of online music distributors to go legit.
CRC (Cyclical Redundancy Checking) - A 16-bit number that sits in every frame of some MP3 files and is used to check for errors in streaming audio and MP3 playback. CRC degrades sound quality slightly because it takes up room in the file that would otherwise be used for the audio data itself. Most MP3s have no CRCs.
DAC (digital-to-analog converter) - A circuit that turns the digital 1s and
0s representing a sound to an analog waveform (which, in turn, is usually amplified and turned into audible sound).
DAT (Digital Audio Tape) - A small cassette that records and
plays back audio digitally, at CD quality and better.
download - To copy a file (for example, a
program or MP3 file) from a server to your machine, a.k.a. the
client.
DRM (Digital Rights
Management) - A secure technology which enables the copyright owner of a
piece of intellectual property (such as a music, video, or text file) to specify
what a user can do with it. Typically, this is used to offer downloads without
having to worry that the user is freely distributing the file over the Web
without any compensation to the copyright holder.
DSP (Digital Signal Processing) - The (usually real-time)
processing of an audio signal in such a way that it sounds different from the
original. Examples include: bass boost; 3D simulation; and Rock, Jazz, and
Classical presets.
encoder - Software that turns uncompressed WAV (Windows) or AIFF files into compressed
files, using a CODEC such as MP3 or RealAudio.
EQ (Equalisation) - A filter for audio
that increases or decreases volume at certain frequencies, so that treble, bass,
or midrange sounds can be amplified or quieted. Most audio devices and playback
software contain some EQ options.
firmware - The operating system and software installed on a
portable device. Some MP3 players have upgradable firmware, meaning that their
operating systems can be updated to support future audio codecs or make small
performance tweaks such as improved power efficiency.
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) - This
open-source codec compresses audio by about 50 percent, but
the good news is that it does not lose a single bit during the process. Like
other lossless codecs, FLAC works in mysterious ways, by finding parts of an
audio file with a bunch of 1s or 0s in a row and describing 11111 as five 1s.
The details are much more complicated, but that's the basic idea. FLAC is a
favourite of audiophiles because it sounds exactly as good as the original
CD.
flash memory -
Small, flat, solid-state type of memory used in MP3 players, digital cameras,
and PDAs. It comprises CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Memory Stick memory; on
per-megabyte basis, it is a very expensive form of storage.
FTP - An Internet protocol used to copy files
between computers; usually a client and an archive site filled with MP3 files or
whatever else the server administrator has seen fit to upload. You can download
shareware or freeware apps (for PC or Macintosh)
that deal with the whole process for you, so that you don't have to communicate
with the FTP server in its own language (Unix).
ID3 - The tag embedded in MP3s that tells your
MP3 file what song, artists, and album it comes from. These tags can be
edited.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
- An Internet chat setup that uses client/server software and permits people to
exchange files such as MP3s with each other while chatting. Download an IRC
client here.
ISO 9660 - A standard format, invented by High
Sierra in 1988, for burning CD-Rs and CD-RWs. In the ISO 9660 format,
directories and filenames get chopped to eight letters.
Joliet - A standard format for
burning CD-Rs and CD-RWs, created as an extension to ISO 9660
by Microsoft as part of Windows 95. In the Joliet format, long filenames are
preserved.
jukebox - A
multipurpose audio program that usually incorporates an audio player, a ripper,
an encoder, and a file organiser.
line-in (line-level input) - An audio input that records from
line-level sources such as CD players, home stereos, sound cards, tape decks,
headphone outputs, or powered microphones.
line out - This output sends an audio signal to its intended
destination. You might use a line out to send an audio signal from a portable
device to a receiver or from a receiver to a recording device or from a portable
device to a pair of powered speakers.
Liquid Audio - A secure, proprietary compressed audio format
that lets artists offer downloads at a cost. Download the client for Mac or PC.
M3U - When you create a playlist in audio
playback software such as Winamp, the playlist file contains the extension M3U.
Clicking an M3U file will bring up all of the songs in the playlist in your
default audio player.
MDLP
A
method for doubling or quadrupling the amoung of audio that a MiniDisc can hold,
using ATRAC3 compression.
MIDI - MIDI
(Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a protocol that allows electronic
musical instruments to talk to each other and to computers. Because MIDI files
contain only a series of commands (such as note on, note off), they are very
small and efficient. On the other hand, they have no sound of their own, and
must be used in conjunction with a wavetable, a synthesiser, or a drum
machine.
mirror - An alternate
location for a file on the Internet, initiated to avoid placing undue strain on
the primary server where the file resides.
mono - One channel of audio. When you listen to something in
mono, the exact same sound comes out of the left and right speakers or
headphones. Since mono tracks contain half the information of an equivalent
stereo file, they are half the size.
MP2 - A compressed MPEG1 sound file used before MP3 that is larger than the now favoured MP3
format.
MP3 - A sound file that
has been compressed through MP3 encoding, making the files smaller and easier to
send across the Internet.
MPEG (Moving
Pictures Experts Group) - MPEG is a standard for compressing sound and
movie files into an attractive format for downloading -- or even streaming -- across
the Internet. The MPEG-1 standard streams video and sound data at 150 kilobytes
per second -- the same rate as a single-speed CD-ROM drive -- which it manages by
taking key frames of video and filling only the areas that change between the
frames.
normalise - A process that adjusts the volume of a sound
recording so that it plays back at a consistent volume.
Ogg Vorbis - This is an open-source
codec, meaning (among other things) that no one has to pay licensing fees when
it¡?s used, unlike codecs such as MP3, WMA, or AAC. Many focus groups claim that
music files compressed by the Ogg Vorbis codec (extension: OGG) sound better
than those created with commercial codecs.
open source - Software (usually developed
by a group of volunteers) with no restrictions on other people using it for
free, rewriting parts of the code, or redistributing it in its original
form.
playlist
- A sequential list of songs that can include CD audio, MP3s, WMAs, or any other
kind of audio file. Playlists can be randomised to create a mix and saved to
hard drives and CD-Rs.
psychoacoustics - the science of how ears perceive the
loudness, pitch, and quality of sound, which is used to develop codecs that compress sound data and make our ears think that
nothing is missing, among other things.
quantise - Even musicians with an amazing
sense of rhythm don't always get the intervals between notes or beats exactly
right. Quantising MIDI music aligns the music exactly to the tempo and time
signature that you specify.
RedBook CD - A CD filled with uncompressed audio in the CDA
format used by CD burning software in the audio mode; also, the type of CD you
buy in stores.
ripper - Software
that digitally yanks tunes from your CDs and turns them into files on your
computer (WAV files in Windows, AIFF
files on a Mac).
sampling rate - The precision with which a digital file
describes the analog sound it represents. Basically, a lower rate produces files
that sound worse and take up less drive space than those with a higher rate. CDs
have a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, and DAT machines have a sampling rate of 48
kHz. MiniDisc player/recorders with a built-in sampling rate converter can
handle both rates.
secure audio file - A downloadable
music file that must be paid for in order to be heard and/or cannot be
duplicated without some loss of audio quality.
sideload - When instead of downloading something from a
server, you send it over to the space in your account on a third-party storage
site.
signal-to-noise
ratio - A measure of the strength of the audio signal in comparison to
that of the background noise. Essentially, a low signal-to-noise ratio means
that the device or file has lots of hiss and static, while a high rating means
clear-sounding audio.
skin - You
can change all kinds of graphical elements of skin-enabled programs such as
Winamp or Sonique by creating skins.
sound card - A piece of circuitry you can add to your
computer that allows it to play and record sound. Sound cards have outputs on
the back in a variety of formats that enables sound to travel to headphones,
speakers, stereos, MiniDisc players, and so on. Typically, sound cards accept
and emit analog signals, but some specialised sound cards handle digital input
and output.
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips
Digital Interface) - A standard format used for transferring data
between two digital audio devices over (more commonly) a standard RCA cable or
(less commonly) an optical cable.
splitter - A cable or adapter with one input or output on one
end and two on the other.
spoof
- To make a computer pretend to be someone else's computer by identifying itself
using the same IP address as the victim's machine. In this way, it can be
possible to pretend to be that person in many Internet protocols (posting to
Usenet, sending ICQ messages, and so on).
SRS - A type of DSP that can add a
three-dimensional sound effect to your music, as well as intensify the bass, if
you so desire. With most MP3 players that have SRS capabilities, you can
configure the feature to sound right to your ears.
standard bit rate (SBR) - The standard type of compression
wherein an entire audio file is encoded at the same bit rate, as opposed to variable bit rate encoding.
stereo - Two channels of audio. When you listen to something
in stereo, different sounds come out of the left and right speakers or
headphones. Since stereo tracks contain twice the information of an equivalent
mono file, they are twice the size.
streaming - The transmission of audio across the Internet
from a server to an audio player client.
TOSLINK - A type of digital connection that
uses optical signals to send a signal flawlessly, without losing any
information. It's used for connecting MiniDisc players to stereos and certain
sound cards.
transcode - To
encode music from one codec into another
codec -- for example, from RealAudio to MP3.
variable bit rate (VBR) - A type of compression
wherein certain audio sections are encoded at different bit rates so that
complex sounds are encoded at a higher rate while simple sounds are encoded at a
lower rate, as opposed to standard bit rate encoding. This
means you get the best sound possible for a certain amount of disk space, but
certain players occasionally have problems decoding VBR audio
files.
visualisation -
A feature or plug-in in a software audio player that renders shapes and colours
in sync with the music.
VST plug-in - VST plug-ins are a standardised type of effects
plug-in, used in conjunction with digital multitracking
software. The major benefit of using VST plug-ins is that they can be
applied to audio in real time, the way hardware audio effects can
be.
watermark
- Aunique inaudible code, which is inserted into an audio file in order to
identify the first person who legally purchased the file. If you buy a
watermarked MP3 and then distribute it over the Internet, the RIAA will be able to tell
that you are the person who originally broke copyright law and distributed the
file. Watermarks have yet to be deployed by the SDMI.
WAV - An uncompressed Windows audio file. WAV
files occupy an incredible amount of disk space, thus the need for compressed
formats, such as MP3.
WMA - The
Windows Media Player format, which (according to independent testing) sounds as
good as MP3 at half the bit rate (and therefore half the file size).
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craZbee
11/03/2006 10:09 AM
Was wondering what the term "Janus" means since i've looked at some mp3 players and one of them supported that format
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