Terminology

Audio Codecs (MP3, WMA, AAC, etc.)
An Audio Codec is a computer pro­gram that compresses or decompress­es digital audio data, so that the file size of the audio data reduces to a fraction of that of the original raw data. There are a variety of Audio Codecs available such as MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, etc.

Audio encoding
Audio encoding is the process of analyzing the informa­tion in an audio file and rearranging it in a format that has been predefined by a Codec.

Bit Rate
A bit rate is the amount of information that is transferred per second (bit per second or bps). MP3s are measured in thousands of bits per second (kbps) and the higher the kbps, the higher the sound quality.

Compression ratio
This is the ratio of the file size of the encoded audio file to the file size of the same audio data in raw form.

LAME
LAME ain't an mp3 Encoder (LAME) is an open source MP3 encoder engine used in a large number of MP3 soft­ware titles.

Streaming
Streaming audio allows for on-the-fly listening to an audio file. The audio file is streamed from a serv­er where it is received and stored in your buffer on your computer. If you use WinAmp or RealAudio, you will see a message displayed telling you that the audio file is being buffered. The file is not saved.

Ripping (CD Ripping)
The process of digitally extracting audio from CDs to your hard drive in other format

SRS WOW
WOW is a state-of-the-art technology from SRS (Sound Retrieval System) Labs that uses special algo­rithms to improve the quality, dynam­ics, spatial experience and bass tone of digitally compressed audio files. In effect, WOW helps even small speaker systems including PC speakers and television deliver audio with richer bass and an enhanced 3D spatial experience.