ATRAC Audio Compression Technology Development Policy

[zerodB]

I was browsing Sony's ATRAC Web Site, and thought I would share:

ATRAC offers a natural sound, without added distortion. Our continuing efforts are not merely directed at increasing detail, resolution and SN. We consider the music as a whole, and work to achieve a level of playback that reveals the nuances of the original and is true to the intentions of the performer.

To achieve this, we enlisted Sony Music’s studio engineers to evaluate our compression technologies repeatedly, and have succeeded in achieving a level of sound quality that has convinced even their experienced ears. Despite the compression of the source, the sound is natural and free from any peculiarities that would distract the listener. Another prerequisite for us is that music files compressed using ATRAC must be playable both on PCs and on portable audio players. We have reduced the amount of calculation required, in order to reduce the drain on the batteries of portable audio players, and we use high-efficiency bit allocation algorithms for high-speed recording.

Our guiding aim in all this is to produce audio compression technologies that could only have come from Sony, with its wealth of experience in the audio field, from making recordings in the studio to manufacturing portable audio players.

Masayuki Nishiguchi

General Manager

Audio Codec Development Department

Technology Development Group

Sony Corporation

It seems like the ATRAC site has been updated recently - there's some basic info on the technical improvments of ATRAC3plus over the ATRAC3 codecs, and some info about the recently adopted ATRAC Advanced Lossless.

[pata2001]

Hmm, I dunno. 48kbps is not something you can say free from artifacts. Although I do admit Atrac3+ 64kbps seems to have improved in SS3.3 compared to earlier versions.

"To achieve this, we enlisted Sony Music’s studio engineers to evaluate our compression technologies repeatedly, and have succeeded in achieving a level of sound quality that has convinced even their experienced ears."

IMO this is not good enough. I want Sony engineers to compare and do ABX of their Atrac codec to the latest Lame and OGG codec, and see if Atrac is still up to snuff.

[zerodB]

It's only a corporate press release really, the term "development policy" is a bit of a misnomer. Still, it's better than nothing.

[ZosoIV]

If only Sony would open the format up, there could be the possibility of a group of people tuning the codec for better quality, as is done with LAME or Ogg Vorbis. Somehow, I don't see that ever happening if Sony feels that ATRAC3plus is already "good enough" for its engineers! I'll beg to differ on that point.....