Faster music downloads for mobile phone users

Faster music downloads for mobile phone users
The US software company Beatnik has begun approaching mobile phone operators with a new music download system that they say can compress songs up to 10 times better than the MP3 format. The new software would allow for much faster downloads on lower-end phones, says the company.

Most music download services are only available to users with more expensive smartphones using 3G networks, which have significanty higher download speeds than GPRS, said Jeremy Copp, chief sales officer for Beatnik.



Copp added that the software compresses songs by "taking common elements or repeated sounds and only replicating them once in the compressed file." The music player on the phone would then be able to recreate the sounds in the right place during playback. The smaller file size would also for much quicker downloads over the same bandwith and could allow users to listen to the song even as the rest is downloading.

Beatnik hopes the new system will make music download services more appealing in developing and 3rd world nations, such as countries in South America and India and Pakistan where most users havent upgraded to 3G or can only afford cheaper phones.

Compared to the broadband service offered by 3G networks, "There's still a huge proportion of the market that doesn't have access to that kind of bandwidth," Copp noted.

For the whole system to function, operators must convert their existing songs to Mobile XMS, Beatnik's file format and users must get the Beatnik software player on their phones. Copp says he hopes to announce a partnership with an operator, manufacturer, and content provider by the end of the month.

Source:
Yahoo!


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 May 2007 13:49
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  • 7 comments
  • OzMick

    So, they're basically turning an MP3 into a MIDI by using samples. That will sound rubbish, songs will sound like a broken record jumping to the same section over and over. If you are that precious about storage space, you may as well just download a MIDI... They've already been doing that for the last 5 years.

    Personally, I don't get why anyone would pay for a song download to their phone in the first place. A cheap USB IrDA adaptor only costs a couple bucks from the right place (US$4 including postage, https://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=648), which works for most phones, and heaps now even have a direct mini USB adaptor.

    30.5.2007 14:25 #1

  • elfman12

    No, it's much more sophisticated than that. It's really just a more intelligent compressions system (like zip/rar) that is tweaked for digital music and targeted to the limitations of the phone it's used on. For ex., if a phone can't produce anything over 16KHZ, why not keep the audio file under 16K as well? Stuff like that.

    Beatnik is the company that Thomas Dolby started, so I'm sure that audio quality is valued highly... and that we'll be blinded by their science. :-)

    30.5.2007 14:35 #2

  • tefarko

    yes, this is like the zip compression that uses a "dictionary" of repeated patterns... must be something new because zip/rar usually get bad compression rates with mp3 files...

    30.5.2007 16:30 #3

  • borhan9

    This is cool to have the new compression, but the question is. Is this a new DRM format as well??

    30.5.2007 19:41 #4

  • plazma247

    More nfo over at:

    http://www.beatnik.com/products/technologies.html

    But if its essentially is sp midi in their xmf format as the mime type indicates isnt it just another wav2midi convertor.

    I agree with OzMick its gota sound pretty pants.

    31.5.2007 09:15 #5

  • Unfocused

    It is getting to the point now that space on the phone really isn't becoming an issue like it once was.

    28.6.2007 05:54 #6

  • noelanne

    just want to know is there any downloads for the boxsuper starview3 as the went down 18/12/08
    any help would be great

    20.12.2008 09:35 #7

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