What is an MP3 Player?

Mp3 is a player that can play music files. It is mainly composed of memory (memory card), display (LCD display), central processing unit [MCU (microcontroller) or decoding DSP (digital signal processor), etc.

MP3 player is actually a function-specific small

When the calendar turned to this page in 2007, the MP3 player has gone through several years of development, and the competition in the player market has become fierce. New MP3 products are launched almost every week or even every day. The speed is really amazing. ^[10]

Europoint Thomson Consumer Electronics controls the licensing of MPEG- / 2 Layer 3 patents in countries that recognize software patents. These countries include the United States and Japan, and EU countries are not included. Thomson is actively strengthening the protection of these patents. Thomson has been granted software patents by the European Patent Office in EU countries, but it is unclear whether they will be strengthened by the jurisdiction there. See software patents in the European Patent Agreement. Please refer to their website for the latest information on Thomson patent documents, licensing agreements and fees. In September 1998, FraunhoferInstitute sent a letter to several MP3 software developers stating that "issuing or selling an encoder or decoder" requires authorization. The letter states that unauthorized products "offend Fraunhofer and Thomson's patent rights. To manufacture, sell, or publish products that use the [MPEG Layer-3] standard or our patents, you need to obtain a license agreement from us for these patents. "These patent issues have greatly slowed unauthorized MP3 software development and led people's attention to developing and welcoming other alternatives such as WMA and Ogg Vorbis. Microsoft, the maker of Windows development systems, moved from MP3 to their own Windows Media format to avoid patent-related licensing issues. Until those key patents expire, unauthorized encoders and players appear illegal in countries that recognize software patents. Despite these patent restrictions, the eternal MP3 format continues to move forward; the cause of this phenomenon appears to be a network effect caused by: * Familiar with this format, and not aware of the existence of other alternative formats, * These available The choice of format does not generally have the obvious advantage over MP3. * A lot of music in MP3 format, * A lot of different software and hardware using this format, * No DRM protection technology, which makes MP3 files can be easily modified, Copy and republish via the Internet. * Most home users do not know or care about software patent disputes, which are usually independent of their personal use of the MP3 format. In addition, patent holders are reluctant to levy an increase in licensing fees for open source decoders, which has also led to the development of many free MP3 decoders. In addition, despite their attempts to prevent the release of the encoder's binary code, Thomson has announced that individual users using free MP3 encoders will not be charged. Although patent fees are an issue that many companies need to consider when planning to use the MP3 format, it has little impact on users, which has brought this format's popularity. Sisvel SpA and its US subsidiary Audio MPEG, Inc. have previously sued Thomson for infringing MP3 technology patents, but those disputes ended in November 2005 with Sisvel granting Thomson MP3 licenses. Motorola and Audio MPEG signed MP3 License agreement. Since Thomson and Sisvel each have separate patents that they claim are necessary for the codec, the legal status of the MP3 patent is unclear. Fraunhofer's patent expired in April 2010, and MP3 algorithms are not protected by patents.