Thomson unveils MP3HD

The current sound formats have been around for quite a while. It seems we’ve been dealing in MP3 and AAC forever. Neither are perfect when it comes to representing the original sound recording, though most consumers tend not to worry too much about that. A new generation is here, though, bringing in the next generation of the MP3.

Thomson, one of the companies responsible for the MP3 file format has released the next generation, the MP3HD. The format is lossless, so it will retain much more of the original sound than the original MP3. It’s the same thing that makes FLAC and Apple Lossless so popular among audiophiles. It is also backwards compatible, so there’s no worrying about playing it back. The MP3HD files also contain the old MP3 files within them for playback if MP3HD isn’t supported. Why anyone would prefer the original MP3 over MP3HD is beyond me, however. MP3HD is capable of bitrates between 500Kbps and 900Kbps, much higher than that of MP3. Sure, it produces much larger files than MP3, but to some people that might be worth it.

I’m hopeful that this takes off eventually as the format of choice among the general populace, even if it means less songs per music device. 128 Kbps, which is standard for most people to rip songs, can be painful at times. The sound just doesn’t come out well at all. It doesn’t bother a majority of people, so it might take a while, though. Or, Amazon and other music stores that deal in MP3s could jump on it and offer songs in the new format as well. After all, the average consumer might not notice the difference at first, but its bound to happen that some of them will.

Read [Electronista]