Occasionally referred to as audio indexing, audio mining is a computerized task involving the processing of an audio file, extracting the dialog and creating a textual transcript, and searching the transcript for certain words or phrases. Considering the amount of audio content on the Internet and other sources, it is clear that audio mining is a growing technology. To get an idea of what audio...

Billing itself as "the most complete CD-ripping solution available" as well as the fastest (a 40 percent increase in performance since the last edition), Easy CD-DA Extractor supports a variety of formats: mp3, Windows Media Player, Ogg Vorbis, TwinVQ, .wav, and .aiff. Using the program, you can copy CDs and convert from any of the supported formats (except .aiff) to any other. Users can define...

How is digital storytelling different than just plain old storytelling? Digital storytelling utilizes computer-based tools to tell stories, which is the key difference. The method is not so new, as it has been going on in earnest for two decades. This particular manifestation of digital storytelling is part of the University of Houston, and it contains a primer on the subject (the How To section),...

With the exception of orchestral performances and truly "unplugged" concerts, today's music has evolved into a very hi-tech industry. It takes elements from many disciplines, including computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, mathematics, and physics. Because music technology encompasses everything from audio compression and encoding to advanced sound equipment, this Topic in Depth...

This week, RealNetworks released the beta version of their Player application for the Mac OS X. The application contains many of the features common to the previous versions of RealPlayer, along with a new feature that helps eliminate buffering over high-speed connections. In addition, this version of RealOne Player also contains RealVideo 9, which assists in the viewing of video clips and other...

SoundWIRE, which stands for Sound Waves on the Internet from Real-time Echoes, is a research group investigating streaming audio and underlying network performance characteristics. A novel utility developed by the group measures network delay by recirculating a basic signal between two hosts. "The internet connection itself is thereby converted into a vibrating acoustic medium, producing a...

Speex is an audio codec used to compress speech-based audio, and is an open source product that can be freely downloaded at this site. "The Speex Project aims to lower the barrier of entry for voice applications by providing a free alternative to expensive proprietary speech codecs." Extensive documentation and the codec's source code are also available. In addition to the download, this site...

If you don't know analog from digital, you may wish to spend a few hours reading up on the nuances of electronic music right here. Created by the University of California at Santa Cruz Electronic Music Studios, this site features over a dozen illustrated essays that explore different subjects related to the production of electronic music. The subjects covered here include "Sound Propagation",...

Released on February 25, 2002, this article from the National Academy of Sciences' Beyond Discovery online magazine "describes the development of the mathematical modeling technique known as wavelets." Used in image compression and digital signal processing, wavelet functions are important for computer graphics and animation. The article is very well organized and can be understood by anyone with...

Dr. Ellen Voorhees, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has submitted an online copy of her keynote paper for the Music Information Retrieval/Music Digital Library (MIR/MDL) evaluation workshop. This workshop presentation is a part of the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (held in Portland, Oregon July 14-18), and discusses background information of the Text REtrieval...