Macworld--SoundJam MP 1.0

from Casady and Greene was demoed for me by one of the authors, Jeff Robbin. SoundJam MP is the first fully commercial MPEG3 (MP3) recorder and player software to be shipped for the Mac and it costs a mere $39.95 for the download version. The price of the boxed version is $49.95 and it includes SoundJam on a CD, printed manual and over 100 MP3 songs. The recorder converts audio files and CD tracks to MP3 format. Running on a 450 MHz B&W G3, the conversion speed was 3x, meaning a 3-minute CD soundtrack took only a minute to encode as an MP3 file. A 333 MHz iMac gets 2x, taking a minute and a half to encode a 3-minute CD sound track, according to Jeff. The recorder also decodes. MP3 files can be converted to AIFF and other audio file formats so that they can be recorded on a CD and played in a CD player. The SoundJam MP player shows coordinated video effects while playing a song and has all the controls of a complex stereo systems. SoundJam MP comes with a plug-in called Realizer that makes significant improvements in the sound from MP3 files--I was impressed with the additional bass filled in by Realizer. There are a variety of "skins" that modify the look of the player. Jeff explained that SoundJam's plug-in architecture will allow the incorporation of files with new standards containing copyright protection as they are developed. Computer digital audio looks like a BIG hit.