The MP3 isn't dead yet, but it's now on its last digital legs

Digital file formats don't usually get the rock star treatment when it comes to entering the public's consciousness, but if one ever did, the MP3 format is it. 

But that's all coming to an end — or at least that's what recent events point to.

Just last month, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the Germany-based organization that began developing the audio data compression algorithm in the '80s, ended its licensing program for the MP3 digital file format. The move may serve to push the format further into the shadows of internet history as more efficient and better sounding digital file formats, such as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), continue to rise in popularity.     Read more...