For all you peeps who don’t have the attention to read full articles; here’s the low-down on the new digital music file MusicDNA:
- Norwegian developer Dagfinn Bach, who worked on the first MP3 player in 1993, and Karlheinz Brandenburg, the inventor of the MP3, revealed the “Music DNA†files at Cannes’ Midem music conference.
- The “MusicDNA†file will be able to update with new information whenever the file is activated. “We can deliver a file that is extremely searchable and can carry up to 32GB of extra information in the file itself, and it will be dynamically updatable so that every time the user is connected, his file will be updated ,†Bach said. Update examples would include - blog posts, tweets, music, lyrics, videos, artwork, tour dates, etc.
- The information given with the legally downloaded “MusicDNA” files will update automatically, but pirated files will remain static.
- There will be a beta launch in spring. If all goes well with the beta launch, the full roll out of the “MusicDNA†files is expected summer 2010.
- Independent labels including UK-based Beggars Group – home of Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead – as well as Tommy Boy Entertainment and Delta records in the US are on board, though no major labels yet.
- Each “MusicDNA” track will likely cost more than $1.29 - what iTunes is charging for their newer tracks.
“Out of a rusted old VW Beetle we are making a Ferrari,†said Bach Technology’s Stefan Kohlmeyer. “We are taking an existing idea, giving the end user a lot more and making that file much more valuable — like transforming a tiny house into a huge villa.†Good stuff.
