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Lossless mp3HD format is here

by on23 March 2009

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Is backwards compatible with mp3

Yet another audio format launched late last week, although it seems like there wasn't too much interest in it from the media, as the news spread so slowly that we didn't pick up on it until this past weekend. The good news is that mp3HD is at least backwards compatible with the current mp3 file format and will as such work on all current portable audio players that support mp3 files, although without the lossless benefits.

mp3HD is a new lossless digital audio format that is said to produce 100 percent bit-exact replicas of CD tracks with a bit-rate of between 500 and 900kbps. The bit-rate is dependent on the type of audio content and according to the details provided by Thomson, the company behind mp3HD, Pop, Rock and Folk music creates the largest files with the highest bit-rate while audio books create the smallest files with the lowest bit-rate.

Although mp3HD won't be going for free, the royalty fees seem quite reasonable at US$0.75 per PC or hardware decoder license which might actually mean that this format has something of a chance to make it. However, when you consider how short lived Thomson's mp3Pro format was, we wouldn't bet on it as yet. Currently you can download a free command line encoder as well as a free plug-in for WinAmp that supports mp3HD.

In as much as formats like OGG Vorbis and FLAC hasn't really taken off on a large scale, we'll just have to wait and see if Thomson can manage to pull this one off or not.

You can find more details and download the command line encoder here
Last modified on 23 March 2009
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