Audio Formats and Players

	What are the media formats of domizil releases and how can i play them on my computer? Our music releases are delievered in mp3 or mp3 surround. For Video formats see below. The mp3 format, (MPEG-1/MPEG-2 Layer 3) has been an ISO standard since 1993. Unlike other digital music formats, mp3 is backward and forward compatible ensuring that every mp3-file created in the past can be played on all current and future digital audio players. Reciprocally, old software and hardware devices can play an mp3 file created with the most recent software. As illustrated by the "mp3 - playing everywhere" initiative, consumers can be assured that their current investment in creating an mp3 content library will never be obsolete. mp3 Surround is a format for storing compressed multi-channel audio material. It allows encoding multi-channel sound data in high quality at bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo material. Most important, the new format is completely backward compatible to existing stereo mp3 software and devices. You can play back mp3 Surround files on any existing MP3 player or device in excellent stereo quality. To enjoy the full surround experience on a PC or Mac, your computer needs an mp3 Surround player application, and a multi-channel sound card connected to a 5.1-channel loudspeaker setup. If you have an Ensonido enabled player like the Fraunhofer IIS MP3 Surround Player V2, you can also listen to MP3 Surround sound over common stereo headphones using the Ensonido virtual surround processing (press the 5.1 headphone button). Suggested mp3 and mp3 surround player: Fraunhofer IIS mp3 Surround Player on all4mp3.com Suggested all-format media player (Audio, Video, DVD): VLC media player VLC media player is a free and highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. The informations here are generously provided by: – all4mp3.com – Fraunhofer Institute, Germany – videolan.org