Terms Definitions

In the following post I am going to define some of the terms related to podcasting and to the reproduction of audio.

Jingles : A jingles is a short tune normally used in advertising and for other commercial uses. They are a form of sound branding, and in the world of podcasting they are widely used for example in new programs or radio programs, since all of those use jingles. In other words, jingles are short clips of audio.

Loops : A loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Loops can be created nowadays with the new music technologies, and they are used in radio programs and news reports when for example, they change from one news story to another.

MP3 (.mp3) : Probably the most famous audio format, MP3 is the name given to the file extension of the type of file MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses audio coding to eliminate any unimportant or irrelevant parts of the sound signal, thus eliminating the things that humans cannot hear. It also increases the frequency resolution by 18 times compared to that of level 2. The result of all of these characteristics, is that it shrinks the storage space of the sound by a factor of 12 from something like a CD, without sacrificing its sounds, therefore allowing users to have more songs in the iPods for example. It can be opened and used practically on every device.

MP4 (.mp4) : MP4 is a file format created by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as a multimedia container format designed to store audiovisual data. The MP4 is largely replacing earlier multimedia file formats, and creating some changes in the way that vendors sell audiovisual files to the public.The MP4 is based on a QuickTime file format, and has various file name extensions that can help provide clues to what kind of content is contained in the file. This has led to some confusion on the part of users over just what an MP4 is and how a particular MP4 is set up. Experts point out that some MP4 files are encrypted with what’s called Fairplay Digital Rights Management, which is a technology used by Apple to protect some of the content that it sells on the iTunes platform.

Metadata : Metadata describes how and when and by whom a particular set of data was collected, and how the data is formatted. Metadata is essential for understanding information stored indata warehouses The metadata for compressed and uncompressed digital music is often encoded in the ID3 tag. Common editors such as TagLib support MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, Speex, WavPack TrueAudio, WAV, AIFF, MP4 and ASF file formats.

Stingers : A sound effect or musical effect that punctuates a punchline or emphasizes a thought. This technique is often used by DJs and comedians.

Sound Effects : Sound effects (or audio effects) are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point without the use of dialogue or music. 

Timeline : It is the duration of a sound or clip when editing this data in a program used for these purposes. Normally, in a timeline one can see the length of the audio or clip and an overview of the order and timing of how the audio or clip will appear.

Track: any of a number of separate sections in the recording on a record, CD, or cassette

XML : XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. For example, computer makers might agree on a standard or common way to describe the information about a computer product (processor speed, memory size, and so forth) and then describe the product information format with XML. Such a standard way of describing data would enable a user to send an intelligent agent (a program) to each computer maker's Web site, gather data, and then make a valid comparison. XML can be used by any individual or group of individuals or companies that wants to share information in a consistent way.

RSS : RSS is the acronym used to describe the de facto standard for the syndication of Web content. RSS is an XML-based format and while it can be used in different ways for content distribution, its most widespread usage is in distributing news headlines on the Web. A Web site that wants to allow other sites to publish some of its content creates an RSS document and registers the document with an RSS publisher. A user that can read RSS-distributed content can use the content on a different site. Syndicated content can include data such as news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project updates, excerpts from discussion forums or even corporate information.

I hope this post has been helpful!

Comparison Audio Formats

In our world today, audio formats are one of the most important things related to technology. The release of the iPod especially, increased the demand of audio that occupied less space but without loosing quality, therefore many audio formats appeared, such as the famous and probably most used MP3, but others such as AIFF, WAV, WMA and RA.

In this post I am going to explain the characteristics of each of these audio formats and their differences.


MP3 (.mp3) : Probably the most famous audio format, MP3 is the name given to the file extension of the type of file MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses audio coding to eliminate any unimportant or irrelevant parts of the sound signal, thus eliminating the things that humans cannot hear. It also increases the frequency resolution by 18 times compared to that of level 2. The result of all of these characteristics, is that it shrinks the storage space of the sound by a factor of 12 from something like a CD, without sacrificing its sounds, therefore allowing users to have more songs in the iPods for example. It can be opened and used practically on every device.

WMA – Window Media Audio (.wma) : This audio format is a Microsoft file format for encoding digital audio files, and is similar to MP3. However, though being similar, it can compress files at a higher rate than MP3. A really good aspect of this audio format is that the file extension can be of any size compressed to match any different connection speeds, or bandwidth. It is often used to play music from the Web. However, this audio format cannot be played on an iPod.

WAV (.wav) : WAV is the format used for storing sounds in files developed by Microsoft and IBM together. Originally, the support for WAV files was built into Window 95, and it was the de facto standard for sound on PCs. These .wav files can be played nearly by all Windows application that supports sound. It is often saved in a 44.1 KHz, 16-bit, stereo format, usually used for CDs. Therefore this format is really similar to AIFF, explained below.

RA – Real Audio (.ra .ram .rm) : Real Audio is a proprietary format, and is used for streaming audio that enables you to play digital audio files in real-time. To use this type of file you must have RealPlayer (for Windows or Mac), which you can download for free. Real Audio was developed by RealNetworks. 

AIFF – Audio Interchange File Format (.AIF or .IEF) : AIFF is a common format for storing and transmitting sampled sound. It was developed by Apple and if the standard audio for Macintosh computers. It is also used by Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI). A big difference from the rest of formats, is that AIFF format does not support data compression, so AIFF files tend to be large. Its quality audio is similar to that of a .wav file and it is commonly used to store standard CD audio.It has a sampling rate of 44.1 KHz and are 16-bit.




I hope this post has been helpful. Thank you for reading!