Specifications

Chapter 1 – Introduction
1.1 Motivation
MP3s are quickly becoming a very popular format for audio storage. As a result, the
number of MP3 players available on the market is increasing rapidly. Most of these
players require the data to be stored locally on the player and the data is usually
transferred onto the player from a computer. Though there are many players now
available on the market most people still listen to MP3s played through their computer.
This is probably because the software to play MP3s on a computer is free and the user’s
MP3s can be stored in one place. The problem appears when the user wishes to play the
MP3s stored on their computer in an environment away from the computer. The options
for the user up until now have been to convert the MP3s to traditional CD audio or
download them onto a portable player.
After reading a review of the AudioTron by Turtle Beach on Tom’s Hardware [2], it
became apparent that it would be very useful to be able to use MP3s that are stored on a
computer and play them remotely into a normal stereo. The AudioTron, as described in
chapter 2 section 2.3, is an MP3 player with a network interface that has no local
storage. It retrieves all the MP3 data through a network connection from computers on
the local area network (LAN) or internet. The idea of being able to have a stand alone
device that can play MP3s through a network connection opens up a new possibility.
Having the ability to store all the MP3s on a computer where it is easy to manipulate
and manage them and still be able to play them in an environment remote from the
computer.
The problem with current MP3 players (or even other forms of audio storage) is that the
data has to be accessible locally to the player. This means that the data has to be
transferred (or copied) to the player before it can be played. This is probably the reason
why MP3s are very useful in the player market because they can reduce the storage
requirements by a factor of ten. [17] Their small size also renders them more suitable
for transmission between devices, across wireless or wired mediums. This makes them
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