Say Hello to the New MP3

It's called the MT9. Some are referring to it as Music 2.0. Whatever you call it, this will change the way you listen to music.

Korean computer engineers are introducing a new digital music format that has separate controls on the sound volume for each musical instrument.

The distinctive feature of MT9 format is that it has a six-channel audio equalizer, with each channel dedicated to voice, chorus, piano, guitar, base and drum. For example, if a user turns off the voice channel, it becomes a karaoke player. Or one can turn off all the instruments and concentrate on the voice of the main singer as if he or she is singing a cappella.

The first thing I immediately thought of was sampling. Producers are going to have a field day with this. Imagine being able to isolate a certain element of the song and load it into your MPC or sampling software? That bananas. Producers and DJs spent years digging for breaks in records just to use the drums. This new music format will be able to isolate those drums in seconds. DJs will be able to turn down the vocals and, boom. you got an instrumental. The possibilities are endless.

Oh yeah, and just like MP3, these are easily shared.

Unlike other digital formats exclusively used by big companies such as SK Telecom, Audizen allows users to copy the MT9 files, making it a more attractive format. ``It's like having a CD or cassette tape. Once you buy it, you can lend it to your friends. We don't want to be too fussy about DRM (digital right management),'' he said.

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