ATRAC offers a natural sound, without added distortion.  Our continuing efforts are not merely directed at increasing detail, resolution and SN.  We consider the music as a whole, and work to achieve a level of playback that reveals the nuances of the original and is true to the intentions of the performer.

To achieve this, we enlisted Sony Music’s studio engineers to evaluate our compression technologies repeatedly, and have succeeded in achieving a level of sound quality that has convinced even their experienced ears.  Despite the compression of the source, the sound is natural and free from any peculiarities that would distract the listener.  Another prerequisite for us is that music files compressed using ATRAC must be playable both on PCs and on portable audio players.  We have reduced the amount of calculation required, in order to reduce the drain on the batteries of portable audio players, and we use high-efficiency bit allocation algorithms for high-speed recording.

Our guiding aim in all this is to produce audio compression technologies that could only have come from Sony, with its wealth of experience in the audio field, from making recordings in the studio to manufacturing portable audio players.



Masayuki Nishiguchi
Dr.Eng.
General Manager

Signal Processing Technology Department No.2
Common Technology Division
Technology Development Group
Sony Corporation

Names of departments are current as
of December 1, 2006