Re: FN-FORUM: Unsual idea...

date posted 9th August 2003 17:16

On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, Craig Tinson wrote:

> Can anyone come up with a theory on how to "convert an mp3 into a
> number"? I know that sounds weird so I'll explain what I mean...
>
> Imagine converting an mp3 into a wav and loading it into a wav editor..
> you will see a waveform.. there must be a mathematical way of converting
> that waveform into a unique number that will represent that waveform..
> the number would be huge to hold all the information for the waveform...
>
> When I say "number" I don't mean as in integer, long etc.. I mean as in
> a huge set of individual integers..
>
> Hope that all makes sense.. anyone any ideas on how this could be done?

Er... that's what an MP3 file (in fact, /any/ file) is - a set of numbers in
the range 0-255. Alternatively, you could consider the average MP3 as a
50Mbit integer (i.e. a single integer number somewhere in the range 0 to
2^(50e6)-1.)

Thinking this does lead to the somewhat absurd conclusion that copyright
applied to digital media is a bit absurd as it can be thought of as
restricting the right of people to use certain numbers (of course, the
counter argument being that the artists made some effort to calculate a
number that sounds/looks/plays/reads good if you treat it with certain
mathematical operations).

Perhaps if you start by explaining /why/ you want to treat MP3s in this
way?!

> Cheers
> Craig

Best Regards,
Alex.
--
Alex Butcher Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Bristol, UK Need reliable and secure network systems?
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