How Many Music Playback Formats Have There Been?
And how many have you used? A quick inventory of my music collection says that I’ve used (or at least possess) music in the following formats:
- Wax cylinders
- 78s (both Berliner and Edison-style discs)
- LPs
- 12-inch singles
- EPs (Both 33 1/3 and 45 varieties)
- 45 RPM singles
- Cassettes
- DAT
- MiniDisc
- Reel-to-reel
- 8-track
- Compact discs (5-inch and 3-inch varieties)
- DVD-Audio
- HD-Audio
And that’s just the physical formats. If I look back through all the digital detritus on my hard drives, I have the following digital formats, not all of which can be played back anymore.
- WAV
- MP3
- WMA
- M4a
- M4p
- FLAC
- OGG-Vorbis
- AIFF
What formats have you used in your lifetime? Try this article at CNET for more thought-starters. (Via Tom)
