The creator of MP3 sends his symphaties to the recording industry

Lasse Penttinen
14 Jul 2003 14:16

BBC has interviewed the man behind the MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer III) audio format, Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg. Even though Dr.Brandenburg was able to develope the complex lossy compression technology for the format, he failed to predict what would be the results. He however dreamed that his inventions could be useful to millions of people. MP3 certainly did became very useful, but not in the way that Dr.Branderburg would have wanted it to.

"People should have easier access to music," he says. "They should be able to listen to it wherever they are and still pay for it.
"My sympathy is always with the artists and even with the record labels. They should get paid for the work they do.
"I don't like the Napster idea that all music should be free to everybody."

But Dr.Brandenburg also realises the stupidity of the strategy that the music industry has chosen

Instead Dr Brandenburg argues that the record labels need to look at ways of using the technology, rather than fighting it.
"There are so many new opportunities for the music industry if they catch on and use the technology."

BBC.co.uk