Will MusicDNA Overtake MP3?

A new music file format called MusicDNA will give record companies, recording artists and distributors up to 32GB of information to hold, things like album cover art, song lyrics, and even up-to-the minute blog posts and concert guides, along with a sound file.

It\’s possible that if enough companies come on board, there could be a challenge to the dominance of the MP3, giving users a more album-like experience but in digital form. It will give artists and content owners license to increase their prices per download.

This new format was launched by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and luckily doesn\’t require new audio codecs, which is a big plus. Rather, as Stefan Kohlmeyer, Bach CEO, the powerhouse behind MusicDNA explained in an interview, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats.

So what does MusicDNA actually do? Well, it\’s cleaver stuff. MusicDNA analyzes the sound file itself for certain characteristics in 13 categories for example mood and tempo. This data is then encoded as XML and is carried with the file. Content owners can also include data, for example cover art and lyrics, to be included with the file.

What\’s more, this information can also be updated each time the consumer is online–for example, concert details could be added when they\’re announced, complete with links to buy tickets. Bach hopes to generate income by licensing the MusicDNA format to software and hardware producers and manufactures.

One important advantage that Bach has, is that because MusicDNA isn\’t actually a new audio technology, it means that MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software. So MusicDNA could work with MP3 / MP4 player. The player will be able to read the audio file, and disregard the XML information. It\’s just possible that MusicDNA could avoid the same story of other formats which have gone up against the MP3, like Sony\’s ATRAC or even Windows Media Audio. Time will tell.

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