An MP3 is a compressed file format used on computers and portable MP3 music players, and
playback devices, (there are many variations of these, which we'll describe further on).
The development was done at the Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen, in Germany,
starting in 1987 and completed in 1989. The format was patented in Germany and became
part of the MPEG standard in 1992, and was granted an American patent in 1996. The official
name is 'MPEG layer 3' which has become abbreviated to MP3. From there the format was
made popular through the file-sharing network of Napster and others, and the illegal music
downloads over the next few years, checkout this page_of_reviews of legal music d/load
sites.
Once compressed the file takes up only a fraction of the space of the original music file. As an
example a CD holds 18-24 music tracks in the Standard (wave) format, whereas on the same
sized CD in MP3 format you will get 200 - 300 music tracks, Depending on the file
compression you choose. Have a look at the compression chart at the end of this ebook to
compare.
File compression is what makes this format versatile and practical for almost anybody, you
only copy the songs you like to your player not the whole album, which may only have 3-5
songs that you like.
Over the past 8 years:
Manufactures have been developing MP3 players, to enable these files to be more
transportable and used in many places other than just our computers.
Tags: mp3