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'MP3' Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary

Posted by timothy on from the instant-nostalgia dept.

Sachin Garg writes "The Data Compression News Blog reports that on July 14th 2005, the name "MP3" celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this day back in 1995, the researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS decided to use ".mp3" as the file name extension for their new audio coding technology. Development on this technology started in 1987, in 1992 it was considered far ahead of its times, then MP3 became the generally accepted acronym for the ISO standard IS 11172-3 "MPEG Audio Layer 3" and no other coding method so far (2005) could uncrown MP3 as the popular standard for digital music on the computer and on the Internet."

3 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. MP3 in Name Only by ndansmith · · Score: 4, Insightful
    . . . and no other coding method so far (2005) could uncrown MP3 as the popular standard for digital music on the computer and on the Internet.

    That is the perception, at least, on the internet. Music files will probably be "MP3" for a long time, just like Pepsi is often referred to generically as a "Coke." iTunes Music Store, for example, uses .m4a and .m4p (their AAC format) file extensions. Considering that iTunes Music Store sells so many of these files (hundreds of millions), and that iTunes (a popular cross-platform music player) rips by default to .m4a, and that .mp3 is clearly behind the curve of audio compression technology, the time may be coming soon when .mp3 is king in name only.

  2. Re:The bad old days... by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe the apologies should really go to Frank Sinatra or Ervin M. Drake...

    (But the version from the Simpsons was wonderful, too.)

  3. Why OGG Is Worse by teneighty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While Ogg is technically superior, it's never going to catch on because:

    • MP3 is "good enough" for many people.
    • Few players support it.
    • The name "Ogg Vorbis" is a huge handicap to overcome.

    As a geek, I'd love the see technical superiority win, but I don't think Ogg is well-positioned to have any chance of taking marketshare from MP3s.