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New aacPlus DirectShow Plug-in enables Microsoft’s Windows Media users to enjoy near CD-quality radio at a mere 32 kbps.

Professional broadcast equipment manufacturer Orban / Circuit Research Labs, Inc., along with its partner, Coding Technologies, announced today the immediate availability of a public beta for the new Orban / Coding Technologies AAC/aacPlus(TM) Player Plugin. When installed, this free software will enable any of the 80+ million users of Microsoft’s Windows Media Player to take advantage of the remarkably high-quality, low-bandwidth audio format that is changing the way consumers experience digital audio via the Internet, mobile and broadcast applications.

The Orban / Coding Technologies AAC/aacPlus(TM) Player Plugin is a free, full-featured Microsoft DirectShow component that enables MPEG-4 aacPlus audio files and streams within Windows Media Player. aacPlus (also known as HE-AAC) is an industry standard superset of the AAC codec that uses Coding Technologies’ Spectral Band Replication (SBR) and Parametric Stereo (PS) audio compression technologies to provide CD-quality audio in a footprint four times smaller than content encoded with MP3 (MPEG Layer-3) technology. Digital television, radio and Internet broadcasters take advantage of aacPlus to deliver high-quality audio streams while realizing dramatic savings in bandwidth costs.

Consumers listening to aacPlus streams benefit from an enhanced listening experience. Their compact bit rates virtually eliminate content rebuffering, a process that interrupts source playback and negatively affects the consumer’s listening experience.

"Orban and Coding Technologies realized that Windows Media player users should be able to enjoy the outstanding efficiency and quality of aacPlus," said Greg Ogonowski, Orban/CRL vice president of product development. "The AAC/aacPlus Plugin moves MPEG4 standards-based streaming into a previously closed system. This is a good thing for consumers."

"Content rebuffering is the static of digital radio," said Shawn Hopwood, senior director of Coding Technologies. "We’re delighted to work with Orban to bring the high-quality audio and the continuous streaming experience of aacPlus to such a large Windows Media listening community."

"Spacial Audio Solutions welcomes the addition of the Orban aacPlus Windows Media plug-in," said Louis Louw, CTO of Spacial Audio. "In conjunction with Orban’s Windows Media plug-in, Spacial Audio’s recent adoption of aacPlus will allow broadcasters to offer more player choices for listeners."

The Orban / Coding Technologies AAC/aacPlus Player Plugin works with Microsoft Windows Media version 9 or 10. It supports standard ID3 metadata tags that display real-time stream data such as artist, album, and song information. Installing the free plug-in component is fast and simple. It takes less than a minute to install and requires no authentication, registration, monitoring or tracking.

The Orban/Coding Technologies AAC/aacPlus(TM) Player Plugin can be downloaded without charge from: http://www.orban.com/.

Consumers can tune into a wide variety of MPEG-4 aacPlus Internet Radio streams at: http://www.tuner2.com/.

Jack Cook (2693 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook