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Topic: [SPAM] State of the MPEG 4 Audio Address (Read 2059 times) previous topic - next topic
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[SPAM] State of the MPEG 4 Audio Address

Twas a few nights after Christmas, and all through HydrogenAudio, not many creatures were stirring, as they were likely with their in-laws and spouse.

A person decided to write this response, to look back on the year, and see where we've been and where were going next year.  (Hope you enjoy).

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As with all state of the union speaches, we get an update on where we've been and what we've accomplished, so here goes. I hope you'll find this informative and funny.

January 2004 saw some interesting happenings in MPEG 4 Audio. There was a war over extensions, namely to call the files .M4A or .MP4. The standards bearers said that .MP4 was the only one, but your humble reporter decided to have some fun... So he lobbied all audio software developers to start a new trend, let's join Apple and make them our friend. Your software can talk to an Apple I said, but first you must allow the user to call it .M4A.

I bought a domain for $250 with 3 characters the owner had no idea what. In a few weeks I sold it and turned a profit, but not before writing text which is still up there today. The site is no longer mine, but its been fun, as now I can evangelize .M4A via Google to many ones. With developers agreeing to all add support, .M4A was a winner, and .MP4 is relegated to video.

I started a movement, just to see if I could, replace an international standard with 3 strange looking characters. With Apple on board, next came Real and Compaact. The momentum was rolling, there was no looking back.

Even Nero was fiddling while Rome was ablaze, yet they added read support but they couldn't yet SAVE. Then WinAmp joined the party, with a lackluster decoder, which crashed on some files and became very picky.

Coding Technologies pushed and they tried, to get everyone to license their AACPLUS. Now they are succeeding to drive competition away. Look out Mr. Nero or you may get burned. There's rumours of Apple with something up their sleeve, to add HE-AAC support and a player full of flash. If these rumours turn out to be true, then Nero, Real, WinAmp hold onto your hats.

For now, we must struggle with MP3 and MP3PRO, but in a few years I predict it'll be AACPLUS and MPEG 4. Developers will tune and tinker, but MP3's big brother M4A will be a real stinker. He's ready for battle and the path has been paved, with 3GPP and other standards calling his name. The playbook that CT used is one they have hard-tested, and now the star has the 3 extensions: .M4A. Even .M4A without his clothes on (also known as AAC) is being used in streaming radio today.

That leaves a lot of .MP4 files that need to be renamed, which dream of becoming an .M4A

Who says one man can't move a mountain or institute change. It all all happened with the help of his friends on HA.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks for a great year.  I've learned a lot here.