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Thomson Releases MP3 Surround

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the bouncing-around-the-room dept.

Anonymous Howard writes "Thomson has released MP3 Surround, a new MP3 codec. They claim that MP3 Surround supports high-quality multi-channel sound at bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo MP3 material, resulting in files half the size of common compressed surround formats while maintaining backwards compatibility. Wasn't MP3 Pro supposed to be a great new MP3 codec, but never took off? I wonder if this is going to go the same route. Does anyone have a technical view of MP3 Surround? Does it have potential?"

5 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. It could be used in games. by Knetzar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To me this codec seems more useful for programmers of games and multimedia applications then for home users.

  2. Screw Potential! by way2trivial · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wanna know- does it have DRM?

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    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  3. Oh Joy. by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I haven't even ripped the shrinkwrap of my new sound card (top o' the line as of 5 AM, today) and it's time to look for replacements.

    But... what music is in surround? Probably that long hair stuff conducted by some symphony orchestra. Certainly not The Beatles ... unless yetanother version of remastered classics come out.

    Screw it. I'll just go downtown and listen to some live music.

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    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  4. Re:No by Zeal17 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It won't replace current mp3s. It will only be a method of compressing 5.1 channel surround sound files. It will only be useful for ripping DVD audio, or attaching it to DVD movies that have been compressed with divx or something.

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    "If it sucks without butter, it still sucks with butter, only creamier." - AC
  5. No, really, why not OGG? by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Especially since OGG Vorbis can support 255 independant channels...

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