When the MP3 file burst on the scene at the turn of the century, vinyl was almost a dead format - the domain of collectors, DJs and those folks who stubbornly insisted “it just sounds better, maaaaaan.”
Well who’s laughing now? As the popularity of LPs continues to snowball, the creators of the MP3 file have now pronounced it dead.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, which helped to develop the format way back in the 80s, has announced the “licensing program for certain MP3 related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS has been terminated."
Of course, just because the format that carried Apple’s iPod to global domination has been laid to rest, it doesn’t mean the entire digital music sector is going the same way.
Vinyl sales may have overtaken digital downloads, but these days it's all about streaming. The Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), which the Fraunhofer Institute also helped to create now reigns supreme.
In an email to NPR Bernhard Gill says AAC is the "de facto standard for music download and videos on mobile phones.
“[It is] more efficient than MP3 and offers a lot more functionality.”
Ironically, this isn’t the first time MP3 has been consigned to history.
Way back in 1995, the format was “on life support,” as NPR puts it. It was struggling to acquire licensees and so Fraunhofer decided to give the CD-to-MP3 conversion software away for free.
That, as history has shown, changed things a bit.
