OTA music files squeezed down 10x, thanks to Beatnik
MP3 is all well and good, but some music fans crave better compression these days -- especially when doing over-the-air music transfers. Beatnik says it has a solution that would allow music transfers over 2.5G networks by compressing content up to 10 times as much as the MP3 format. This would possibly give operators the ability to service more customers while using older networks, opening up an new, untapped market. We've gotta ask: are people using older 2.5G networks really in the hunt for music downloads? Yeah, smaller compression would be good and all -- and Beatnik thinks so too -- but we tend to shy away from visions that encourage extending usage of the crazy-slow GPRS and EDGE networks around the world.[Via Phone Scoop]
Filed under: Multimedia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jammin @ Jun 6th 2007 9:07AM
this isn't such a bad idea, remember 1 of the 4 major carriers is still using 2.5G and with upwards of 26 million subscribers that is a lot of potential downloads. Also there are many of Cingular's 62 million customers that don't live in an UMTS/HSDPA market and this could service those who want what is advertised to all others. Just my $0.02
lopes @ Jun 6th 2007 9:52AM
Yeah don't be so arrogant engadget, not every mobile user is the type that reads these blogs and is up on the new technologies and handset upgrades. This is a great idea to kick start revenue streams on older networks that are still alive and kicking.
Robbie @ Jun 6th 2007 7:57PM
this is also another opportunity to have another proprietary file format that you cant copy, move, send, push, or do sh!t with
Anders Borg @ Jun 8th 2007 5:50AM
It's interesting that neither Engadget nor any of the other commenters mention that the music will sound crappy. Already MP3 is bad enough, and compressing 10 times more clearly doesn't improve audio quality.