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Z500a
8 June 2004
Technologies in detail
Entertainment
Media player
The Media player supports different audio and video
formats, streaming as well as download and playback.
Music
The Media player is a multi-format digital audio player
which enables the user to carry and play a selection of
favorite songs. A range of audio formats are supported:
•MP3
MP3 is the file extension for MPEG audio layer 3.
Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer
2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals.
Layer 3 uses a very efficient compression method,
removing all irrelevant parts of a sound signal that the
human ear cannot perceive. The result is, for exam-
ple, CD digital audio (CDDA) converted to MP3 with
almost untouched quality, compressed by a factor of
around 12. The high compression of audio in MP3
files makes them relatively small, though MP3 files
can be created with different size and quality compro-
mises. The small file size, together with the excellent
sound quality, are the main reasons for the MP3-for-
mat’s huge popularity.
•MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
Unlike the other formats, MIDI is not a recording of
music, but a description which enables a local synthe-
sizer to play the music from the instructions included
in the MIDI file. Since a MIDI file only represents
player information, it is far more concise than for-
mats that store the sound directly. An advantage is
very small file sizes. MIDI is one format used for
polyphonic ringtones.
•AMR
Adaptive Multi Rate. A medium quality compressed
sound format.