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freeformat
Even though few MP3 players can play it, LAME also offers which option?
640 kbit/s
What is the highest bit rate the LAME encoder allows?
320
The ISO standard dictates that decoders only need to be able to decode streams that have how high of a bit rate?
Constant Bit Rate
What does the term CBR mean?
Layer III
Which early MPEG layer used CBR?
uniform
The early software was restricted to which kind of bitrate?
bit reservoir
What did more sophisticated MP3 encoders use to target an average bit rate?
the complexity of the sound
What did encoders base the encoding rate for each frame on?
variable bitrate audio
What kind of audio can a sophisticated MP3 encoder produce?
layer III
Which type of decoder must support bitrate switching on a per-frame basis?
VBR
What do encoders use when the goal is to achieve a fixed level of quality?
final file size
Using VBR instead of a constant bit rate encoding makes which part of encoding less predictable?
the user
An average bit rate is used when who choses an average value for the encoder to use?
bit reservoir
A partially full frame's ability to have part of the next frame's audio data is referred to as what?
Layer III
What kind of audio is required to use a bit reservoir?
encoding delay
What is a possible result of handling the bit reservoir?
temporary
A bit reservoir allows for what kind of changes in effective bit rate?
constant bitrate
A large benefit of a bit reservoir is that you can use it even while encoding what kind of stream?
sfb21
What can scale factor band 21 be shortened to?
16 kHz
What is the maximum frequency that scale factor band 21 can go up to?
less efficient storage
The encoder has to choose between less acurate representation in band 21 or which factor in all bands below band 21?
wasted bitrate
What does less efficient storage result in for VBR encoding?
tag
What is a section of a file that contains metadeta referred to as?
album
What else can metadeta contain other than the title, artist or track number?
tag formats for MP3 files
What do MP3 standards not define?
a standard container format
What would be needed to support metadata and obviate the need for tags?
ID3v2
Other than the ID3v1, which similar standard format for tag exists?
APEv2
What is the most recently introduced standard for tag formatting?
end
What is the second place in a file that tags are normally stored, with the first being at the beginning?
separate from the actual MP3 frame data
What is important to note about where the tags are stored?
treat them as ignorable, non-MP3 junk data
If the MP3 decoders do not extract information from the tags, what do they do to them?
ReplayGain
What is the name given to the standard for measure and storing the loudness of an MP3 file?
audio normalization
What is measuring and storing loudness of an MP3 file also known as?
the overall playback volume
What does the standard ReplayGain allow a player to automatically adjust?
MP3Gain
What program can be used to modify files based on ReplayGain measurements?
ReplayGain capability
MP3Gain is important because it allows players without what capability to have adjusted playback?
European Union
Where is the basic MP3 decoding and technology patent free?
expired
What happened to the patents that caused them to be patent-free?
31 December 2017
When will the technology be patent - free in the United States?
2007 and 2015
Between which years did most of the MP3 patents in the US expire?
legal threats
What has many organizations claiming ownership of patents related to aspects of MP3 led to?
which patents must be licensed
Legal threats and confusion made it difficult to ensure what about patents regarding MP3 products?
patent infringement
What was the danger of not correctly patenting products?
early stages
At what stage of the technology were these problems prevalent?
MPEG-1 standard
What became publicly available on 6 December 1991?
after prior art has been made public
When can patents not be filed in most countries?
20 years
How long does it take for patents to expire after being filed?
12 months
How long can it take for patents to be approved after initially being filed?
December 2012
When did patents required to implement MP3 expire in most countries?
17 years after the publication date
How long does it take for patents to expire in the United States?
submarine patents
A patent issue much later than normally expected can be referred to as what?
2017
What year is the latest that MP3 related patents will expire on in the United States?
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Who holds the longest running MP3 patent in the United States?
Technicolor
Who administered the longest running MP3 patent in the United States?
Thomson Consumer Electronics
What was Technicolor's previous name?
Layer 3
What patent does Technicolor claim to control?
actively enforcing these patents
What are Technicolor constantly in the process of doing?
September 1998
When did the Fraunhofer institute send out a letter?
a license
What did the letter claim would be required to distribute and/or sell decoders and/or encoders?
infringe the patent rights of Fraunhofer and Thomson
What does selling unlicensed products mean that the seller is doing?
the [MPEG Layer-3] standard
What can products not use if they want to avoid infringing on patent rights?
Thomson
Who was sued for patent infringement on MP3 technology?
Sisvel S.p.A.
Who initially sued to protect their patent rights?
a license to their patents
What did Sisvel grant Thomson to end the lawsuit?
2015
When did the majority of the patents held by Sisvel expire?
9. April 2017
When does the last patent held by Sisvel expire?
MP3 players
What did German officials seize from SanDisk on September 2006?
IFA
At which show did SanDisk have their assets seized?
Sisvel
Which company was the Italian patents firm representing?
The injunction was later reversed
What happened after the injunction was successful?
bringing the Patent Wild West to Germany
The continuous back and forth regarding the decisions on patents was referred to as what?
Texas MP3 Technologies
Who sued Apple, Samsung Electronics and Sandisk in 2007?
eastern Texas federal court
Which court did the lawsuit take place in?
all settled the claims against them
What action did the three companies being sued take?
2009
What year did the lawsuits end?
infringement of a portable MP3 player patent
What was the claim that the lawsuit was based on?
Alcatel-Lucent
Which company allegedly inherited MP3 patents from AT&T-Bell LAbs?
MP3 coding and compression
What kind of patents were allegedly inherited?
seven
How many patents did Alcatel claim Microsoft infringed on?
The court subsequently tossed the award
What subsequently happened after Alcatel was awarded damages?
US $1.52 billion
How much money was awarded to Alcatel by a San Diego jury?
MP3
AAC, mp3PRO and MP2 are all members of the same technological family as which other lossy format?
psychoacoustic
What model type do all of the lossy formats roughly depend on?
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
Which company owns many of the patents that cover the other formats?
open
Opus and Vorbis are two explans of what kind of compression format?
any known patent restrictions
Being open formats means that Opus and Vorbis can be used without what?
free of some limitations inherent to the MP3 format
What are some benefits to some of the newer audio compression formats when compared to MP3?
available free of charge
How can one obtain an open compression format such as Opus or Vorbis?
lossless formats
What is a significant alternative to MP3?
unaltered audio content
What can lossless formats provide?
increased file size
What is the downside of using a lossless format?
FLAC
What is another example of a lossless format other than Apple Lossless?
Free Lossless Audio Codec
What does FLAC stand for?
Chicago
What city did House music originate from?
1980s
What decade did House music first develop?
1984
What year was House music first popularized?
electronic dance music
What genre does House music fall into?
"Pump Up The Volume"
What song by MARRS was an early House hit in 1987?
4/4 beats
House music is characterized by what type of beats?
euro house, tech house, electro house and jump house
What are some subgenres of House music?