MP3: The Meaning of a Format recounts the hundred-year history of the worlds most common format for recorded audio. Understanding the historical meaning of the MP3 format entails rethinking the place of digital technologies in the larger universe of twentieth-century communication history; from hearing research conducted by the telephone industry in the 1910s; through the mid-century development of perceptual coding (the technology underlying the MP3); to the formats promiscuous social life since the mid 1990s.MP3s are products of compression; a process that removes sounds unlikely to be heard from recordings. Although media history is often characterized as a progression toward greater definition; fidelity; and truthfulness; MP3: The Meaning of a Format illuminates the crucial role of compression in the development of modern media and sound culture. Taking the history of compression as his point of departure; Jonathan Sterne investigates the relationships among sound; silence; sense; and noise; the commodity status of recorded sound and the economic role of piracy; and the importance of standards in the governance of our emerging media culture. He demonstrates that formats; standards; and infrastructuresmdash;and the need for content to fit inside themmdash;are every bit as central to communication as the boxes we call "media."
#2157218 in eBooks 2012-07-09 2012-07-09File Name: B00B9AQBW6
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Unique approach to musical analysisBy FredericThis book was pivotal in my personal musical development. It is very scientific and factual in its approach; using logic and analysis which may seem quite unmusical; but it is all at the service of its title; the Emotion and Meaning in Music.If you are a scientist; I highly recommend this as an approach to classical music.If you are a trained musician; I highly recommend this as an opening into musical and psychological analysis that is not covered in music school.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Timothy S KelleyCOOL BEANS!!!2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Very Well ComposedBy Greality TestThis is a surprising book in the amount of technical information contained. It came up in the suggested list because of recent purchases of Musicophilia; The Singing Neanderthals; and This is Your Brain on Music. It takes music appreciation to the limit for non-musicians.