Audizen is a Korean company promoting the MT9 digital music format, a proposed follow-up to the ubiquitous WAV, MP3 and AAC formats on computers, websites and iPods. Whereas MP3s are merely compressed versions of songs, MT9 has separate controls for each musical instrument. Listeners can tweak the volume for each channel - such as guitar, drums, bass and vocals - muting or amplifying their favourite parts.
The technology was first developed at Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute before being acquired by Audizen. In April, Audizen's engineers presented MT9 to the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), an international body responsible for digital technology. "They immediately voted to make it a candidate for the digital music standard format," CEO Ham Seung-chul told the Korea Times. The list of candidates will be further whittled down at a June conference in Germany.
Songs mastered for the MT9 format not only allow you to take out the annoying saxophone solos, they can also convert any song into a karaoke-friendly instrumental version, or even a more intimate a capella.
Samsung and LG Electronics are both interested in adding MT9 capabilities to their mobile phones, according to Seung-chul. And MT9-equipped devices are promised for as early as next year. That means they'll arrive just in time for the next Black Eyed Peas album. First we'll be able to mute Fergie ... then Will.I.Am ... then the backing track ... and before we know it ... bliss!
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