MP3 Blog

An MP3 blog is a type of weblog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as musicblogs or audioblogs. MP3 blogs have become increasingly popular since the beginning of 2003. The music posted is normally hard-to-find, often has not been issued in many years, and selections are often restricted to a particular musical genre or theme. Several MP3 blogs offer music in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Ogg formats, as well as MP3.

One of the first widely known MP3blogs is Fluxblog, which was created in 2002, and continues to offer a mix of music generally centered on recent rock and pop and offering commentary on the songs, artists, the music industry and music in general. There are now thousands of MP3 blogs covering a cornucopia of musical styles.

Many MP3 blogs post copyright infringing material, but manage to avoid prosecution by the copyright holders; perhaps because even the most popular MP3 blogs have only thousands of regular visitors, making them a much smaller concern than file sharing programs. Besides this, by concentrating on music that is either no longer available new or has not been reissued in many years, they do not affect the profits of companies, so there is little point in engaging in a costly lawsuit. MP3 blogs often include a disclaimer stating that they are willing to remove music if the copyright owner objects, and have been known to do so. They normally either provide a link to where the user can buy the album the music was taken from, or periodically remind the user to buy the music. Also, through raising awareness of little known acts, they can act as a form of free advertising.

A number of indie music companies as well as hundreds of artists have begun to send promo CDs to them in the hopes of gaining free publicity. Major labels with small acts to promote have also attempted to use MP3 blogs. In 2004, Warner Bros. sent tracks by their act, Secret Machines, to a large number of sites. The track was posted by the group MP3 blog Music (For Robots), and drew attention not only for the song but also due to the fact that several comments praising the track came from IP addresses within the Warner Bros. network. The publicity generated by MP3 blogs crossed the line from the internet to TV in early 2005, when Music (For Robots) was featured during MTV's TRL program for bringing the Hysterics, a Brooklyn rock band comprised of four 14 and 15 year-old high school students, to the network's attention.

MP3 blogs have recently been responsible for bringing wider attention and popularity to the netlabel scene. Many MP3 blogs link strictly to music that is authorized for free distribution via the internet.

MP3 Surround

MP3 Surround is a type of MP3 that supports 5.1 channels of audio.

It was developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Agere Systems and released in December 2004.

MP3 Surround is backward compatible with standard MP3. The data overhead is 16 kbit/s, which allows for file sizes similar to standard stereo MP3 files. The current evaluation encoder is licensed for personal and non-commercial uses. An MP3 Surround file can be created from 5 or 6 channels of WAV audio.

Several companies, such as DivX and Magix, have announced support for the new codec.

In January 2006, Thomson and Fraunhofer IIS also released two new companion technologies: Ensonido, which allows playback of MP3 Surround 5.1 channel sound through headphones, and MP3 SX, which upgrades standard stereo mp3 file to mp3 surround files.