Sound of CD-Quality Music Flowing on Web

Almost since music fans first ventured onto the World Wide Web to visit the home pages of their favorite bands, they have envisioned a day when they could download songs from the Internet directly onto compact discs in their PCs.

That day may have come a little closer earlier this month when a Silicon Valley start-up called Liquid Audio debuted a Sammy Hagar song called “Salvation on Sand Hill” using their new suite of software designed to transmit CD-quality music over the Internet.

Sound, including music, is no stranger to the multimedia Web sites that have lured tens of millions into cyberspace. Seattle-based Progressive Networks has done much to promote the cause of sound on the Web: events ranging from baseball games to campaign speeches have been broadcast over the Internet using the company’s RealAudio player.

But Liquid Audio executives say their technology represents a breakthrough in the quality of music that can be transmitted on the Web. In the not-too-distant future, they say, it will allow artists to create Web sites with clips of their latest songs. If listeners are intrigued, they can copy the songs onto a blank CD for about half the cost of buying it in a record store.

The process begins with a program called Liquifier, which allows music creators and record companies to select the music they want to make available over the Internet. Text and graphics--perhaps the cover art for a CD or the relevant copyright and royalty information--can be added as well.

The Liquid MusicServer then handles the task of actually transmitting music from the host computer to a listener who has a copy of Liquid MusicPlayer. The player can be downloaded for free from Liquid Audio’s Web site (https://www.liquidaudio.com).

At the heart of Liquid Audio’s software is Dolby Laboratories’ AC-3 compression technology, which is used in high-definition television and digital videodiscs. Liquid Audio engineers made proprietary enhancements to crunch the music data down into packets that can be transmitted efficiently over the Internet while retaining CD-quality sound.

The technology could help spark a renaissance in the music industry by providing independent musicians with a cost-effective way of reaching potential listeners, said Tess Taylor, president of the Los Angeles Music Network, an association of record industry professionals. It will also allow for a perfect match of supply and demand, and that efficiency will mean lower prices for everyone, she said.

But others are skeptical that Liquid Audio will have a major impact. The technology is at least as good as other methods of transferring music files on the Web, but “it doesn’t enable you to do anything you couldn’t do before,” said Jim Griffin, director of technology at Geffen Records.