INFO GURU

Watch out MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis--there's a new digital audio format about to be introduced and it's creators are setting their sites on it becoming the new "de facto standard" for digital audio. The new format is called Music 2.0 and it will use MT9 as its file extension:


The new MT9 format first conceived by Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Korea and being shaped into commercial use by venture company Audizen, has separate controls on the sound volume for each musical instrument, such as guitar, drum, base and voice — an ideal tool for music lovers of different tastes as well as karaoke fans. The new MT9 format, which has a file extension format of MT9 and a commercial title of Music 2.0, is poised to replace the popular MP3 file format as the de facto standard of the digital music source. The distinctive feature of MT9 format is that it has a six-channel audio equalizer, with each channel committed to voice, chorus, piano, guitar, base and drum. For example, whether a user turns off the voice channel, it becomes a karaoke player. Or one can turn off all the instrumentsand concentrate on the voice of the main singer as whether he or she is singing a cappella. Korean Giants Samsung and LG are both interested in equipping their mobile phones with an MT9 player and their first commercial products are likely to debut early next year.

If selected as an universal format, the MT9 technology can earn big for both Audizen and ETRI, a Korean governmental research institute. ETRI said that it holds three worldly and six domestic patents for the technology and is planning to file two more that year. The MT9 files are served in an album package. Audizen is currently selling a limited choice of albums at 2,000 won to 3,000 won on its Web site.