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MP3
Stereos
You
may have heard the buzz words, “MP3 stereos”.
You may be asking yourself, “What the hell
is a MP3 stereo?” Well, that is what I will
try to answer this month.
First,
a little background on what the MP3 audio format
is. MP3 means Mpeg Audio Layer 3. It is simply
a compressed audio format. A typical CD contains
about 12 to 20 songs in an uncompressed format.
One uncompressed song can be about 40 megabytes
(MB). That same song can be compressed with the
MP3 format to about 4 MBs. As you can see this
is a huge savings on space. Imagine a CD that
can hold up to 200 songs. That is what MP3s are
all about.
So
how does a MP3 compress the audio down? The MP3
encoder software (the software that takes uncompressed
music and compresses it) removes the portions
that are too high or too low for the human ear
to hear. Second, when different tones are close
to each other, the human ear has problems distinguishing
between the tones. The encoder software averages
these tones together. The result is a smaller
file without any distinguishable degradation of
music.
Of
course you need a MP3 player to play MP3 files.
Many car stereo manufactures have answered the
MP3 revolution with new car receivers that play
the MP3 audio format. These new receivers will
play MP3 encoded CDs, normal audio CDs, and CDRs
(CD recordables). Most MP3 car stereo receivers
will display the ID3 track information. This is
information stored in the MP3 file about the artist,
song title, album title, etc. This allows you
to see what songs are playing.
The
MP3 audio format is a great alternative to having
multiple disc CD changers. Of course you need
to have a computer with a CD writer to make MP3
CDs. If you are interested in purchasing an MP3
car receiver, I would suggest creating an MP3
CD and taking it with you to the stereo store.
This way you can make sure the MP3 player will
play your MP3 cds.
If
you would like more information on the MP3 audio
format, check out these links:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/mp3.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/mp3-player.htm
For
more information on how to create MP3 cds, check
out this link:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question434.htm
As
always, you can send me an email at the address
below.
Until
next month... L8R
Vincent Wright
sales@kmwperformance.com
http://www.kmwperformance.com
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