What Does MP3 Stand For?

First of all, MP3 is an audio format, a way of storing audio signals such as songs and speaking voices, for example. The accepted definition of MP3 is that it’s a sort of code for putting these signals on storage devices such as those small music players, then making the signals (songs) available to the listener.

The full name of the format is MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. This comes from the Moving Picture Experts Group, which is credited with developing the format. Several groups of engineers cooperated to bring the format to commercial use. It was approved as a standard in 1991.

One key to the MP3 method is the compression of the information so that more can be stored on smaller units. Basically, the MP3 version of a file is about 10 percent of the size of the original audio file from the source. This alone has made the system popular worldwide, because very small players can be carried easily. People can take their music with them wherever they go.

There are some choices within the MP3 format, though. Recording at different bit rates will affect the quality of the file. Bits are the basic unit of computer storage and communication. Along with this rate, the compression process reduces the accuracy of some parts of the file, generally the parts that are determined to be outside the range of human hearing. Compression allows more storage on the same space, as mentioned before, but also allows for quicker transfer between computers or storage locations.

One way to get a better handle on what MP3 is and how it fits into the history of recorded music is to go back to the age of vinyl recordings, commonly called albums if they contained a number of songs. There were also smaller versions which had a song recorded on each side of the vinyl disc.

Then the recording industry and the music industry made the gradual move to tape, a magnetic strip that was used on reel-to-reel, 8-track or cassette. In the 1960s a handful of folks began to experiment with putting quality song recordings on CDs, those compact discs that we all know about now. These became the standard way to record music and store information about 20 years ago.

Then the move was gradually made to MP3, a method that is still battling with the CD world. The format has made it possible to take songs, which can be relatively large files, directly from storage on a Web server, and carry it on a very small playback device called an MP3 player. The process has, over the last few years, become much less expensive and of course, doesn’t involve a CD. This is a key element in the battle between the CD crowd and the MP3 crowd.

With a fairly nice computer and an MP3 player, it is possible to put together a nice list of songs, at about 80 cents each or thereabouts. The system has just about replaced all of the previous methods. Some believe that just as vinyl and tape disappeared, except in museums, so will CD recording.

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