Today, we take for granted that we can carry a whole music library
with us and listen to it wherever we like. It was Sony that first made
this possible with its audio compression technology ATRAC (Adaptive
TRansform Acoustic Coding)*1, which was introduced with the MiniDisc in 1992.
ATRAC: A technology that has revolutionized the way we listen to music
ATRAC uses a variety of advanced technologies to
analyze digital sound data, allowing it to reduce the size of that data
while maintaining superb sound quality (ATRAC*1 compresses
music data to approximately 1/5 the data rate of a CD; ATRAC3 and
ATRAC3plus are able to compress music data to approximately 1/10 and
1/20 the data rate of a CD, respectively). This ability to reduce the
size of data has enabled recording media to be made smaller and more
tracks to be recorded on them, changing the way we listen to music.
| |
CD
(Linear
PCM) |
ATRAC*1 |
ATRAC3 |
ATRAC3plus |
| Bitrate |
1411kbps |
292kbps |
132kbps |
64kbps |
DataSize
(One 4 minute track) |
42.33MB |
8.77MB |
3.97MB |
1.94MB |
|
Number of Tracks Recorded into CD-R£¨700MB)
|
About
16tracks |
About
79tracks |
About
176tracks |
About
360tracks |
Commencement of music distribution services
Reducing data size using audio compression technologies has made it possible to send music via the Internet.
In 1999, Sony started the Internet music distribution service "bitmusic" using ATRAC. In this way, ATRAC
has contributed to another major change in our lifestyles, making it
possible for us to purchase music of our favorite artists, 24 hours a
day, from the comfort of our own homes.
ATRAC is a technology perfectly suited to our
network era, supporting Internet music distribution, making music
available for you to listen to on your PC and ensuring high-quality
recording and playback on your portable music devices.
ATRAC continues to evolve
ATRAC is evolving day by day. We are working to
increase the compression ratio in order to make data even smaller while
achieving even higher sound quality. ATRAC*1 has evolved into ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus and now into ATRAC Advanced Lossless, continually providing a richer musical experience.
*1 "ATRAC" here refers to the SP mode used in the MD format.
