• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Mastering the MP3 Audio Experience The Definitive Guide ~~/ REILLY® Scot Hacker Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 1 MP3 The Definitive Guide Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 2 MP3 The Definitive Guide Scot Hacker O'REILLY® Beijing · Cambridge · Farnham · KO!n · Paris · Sebastopol · Taipei · Tokyo Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 3 MP3: The Definitive Guide by Scot Hacker Copyright © 2000 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 101 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472. Editor: Simon Hayes Production Editor: Maureen Dempsey Cover Designer: Hanna Dyer Printing History: March 2000: First Edition. Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O'Reilly logo are registered trademarks. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. The association between the image of a hermit crab and MP3 is a trademark of O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hacker, Scot MP3: the definitive guide/Scot Hacker.-1st ed. p. em. ISBN 1-56592-661-7 (alk. paper) 1. MP3. 2.MP3 players. 3. Music-Computer programs. 4. Internet (Computer network)­ Computer programs. I. Title. ML74.4.M6 H33 2000 780' .285'65-dc21 00-025403 ISBN: 1-56592-661-7 [4/00] [M] Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 4 Table of Contents Preface ... .. ...... ... .. ... .. ... .. .. .. ... .. ... .. .. .. ..... ... .. ... .. ... .... .. .. .. .. .. .. ....... ...... .. .. ... .. .. vii 1. The Nuts and Bolts ofMP3 .................................................................... 1 MP3 Basics .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Rights, Piracy, and Politics .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 2. How MP3 Works: Inside the Codec ................................................... 22 A "Perceptual" Codec .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 The Anatomy of an MP3 File ......................................................................... 41 3. Getting and Playing MP3 Files .......................................................... 47 Choosing and Using an MP3 Player .... ...... .... .... .. .. ...... ...... .... .. .. .. .. .... .. .... .... .. 47 Players by Platform ........................................................................................ 52 Obtaining MP3 Files . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 86 Organizing Your Collection .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 94 Equipment Considerations . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 99 4. Playlists, Tags, and Skins: MP3 Options ....................................... 104 MP3 Options and Considerations .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 105 Equalization and Sound Quality .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 106 ID3 Tags and Playlists: The Virtual Database ............................................. 116 Skins: Dressing Up MP3 Players .................................................................. 133 Plug-ins: Extending Your Reach .................................................................. 139 Listening to MP3 Streams .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 148 Performance Considerations ........................................................................ 153 v Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 5 vi Table of Contents 5. Ripping and Encoding: Creating MP3 Files ............................... 160 General Encoding Principles ... ..... .. ..... ... .. .. ....... .. ....... ... ... ...... .. ... 160 General Ripping Principles . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 173 Ripping and Encoding Tools .. ... ..... ... ..... ... ....... .... ... ... ... ...... ....... ...... 175 Ripping from Other Sources . .. ... ... ... ... .... ... .. .. ... ...... ... ....... ... ... .. 193 Roll Your Own Compact Discs . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 201 6. Hardware, Portables, Home Stereos, and Kits ........................... 209 Playing MP3 Through Your Home Stereo .................................................. 210 Portable Players ............................................................................................ 214 Hand-Held Computers and Other Devices ................................................. 230 Home Stereo MP3 Players ........................................................................... 233 Car Players .................................................................................................... 241 Kit Players ..................................................................................................... 250 7. The Not-So-Fine-Print: Legal Bits and Pieces .............................. 261 The Rules of Engagement ............................................................................ 261 The Players ................................................................................................... 268 8. Webcasting and Servers: Internet Distribution ......................... 284 The Fundamentals of Internet Distribution ................................................ 284 Offering Files for Download ....................................................................... 285 Webcasting: Real-Time MP3 Broadcasting ................................................. 301 An Interview with MP3.com's "High Geek" ............................................... 322 9. Competing Codecs and Other File Formats ................................ 329 The Architectures .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 330 The Codecs ................................................................................................... 345 Appendix: ID3v1 Genres .............................................................................. 363 Glossary .............................................................................................................. 3 65 Index .................................................................................................................... 375 Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 6 Preface This book has a simple premise: People want to build MP3 collections of the music they like and respect. To do justice to that music requires that the MP3 files constituting a personal music collection be of a high audio quality. But MP3 is generally considered to be a convenience format, not an audiophile format-its main advantages are its flexibility and its portability. While the press generally refers to MP3 audio as being "near CD quality," audio­ philes often point to anomalies in the fidelity of the typical MP3 download. But there's a big difference between the average MP3 file downloaded from the Inter­ net and a file you encode yourself, at a decent bitrate, from your own source material, using the encoder you feel yields the highest quality. MP3 is very much capable of achieving CD quality-you just have to pay a little attention to the vari­ ables. As I began to research the MP3 scene in earnest, I found that only a small fraction of available resources were paying close attention to MP3 quality issues. As a hobbyist audiophile, I found this dissatisfying, and felt that it was important to provide readers with a "no-compromise" approach to MP3-you can have your convenience factors and a quality audio experience at the same time. While this book provides plenty of introductory material that will coach any reader through the basic mechanics of MPEG audio, it puts quite a bit of emphasis on fidelity issues, in addition to some of the peripheral topics not covered in depth in other books and online resources. Beyond the basics, for example, we'll be taking a close look at the many legal issues surrounding the MP3 scene, the challenges of building your own MP3 playback hardware, the technical details involved in set­ ting up your own MP3 streaming server, and more. It was also important to me that this book not be overly Windows-centric. Microsoft Windows may be king in terms of both the number of users and the number of MP3 applications available, but I'm not convinced it's the best possible vii Facebook's Exhibit No. 1062 Page 7 viii Preface MP3 playback and creation platform, for reasons we'll go into elsewhere in the book. The number of MacOS users is increasing once again, Linux use is rising at an incredible clip, and BeOS is highly optimized for media content creation and consumption, with lots of built-in MP3-specific goodies. Accordingly, I've tried to balance coverage of non-Windows operating systems evenly throughout this book. Even if you use only one operating system, I hope you'll find reading about some of the alternative approaches illuminating. It practically goes without saying that the amount and variety of available MP3 playback and creation software is growing at an incredible rate, as

Load more

  111

Copy Link