Although
you can convert an MP3 back to an AIFF, it will not be the same quality as the original AIFF from which the
MP3 was made. The process is similar to converting a TIFF to a JPEG; if you try to convert back to the TIFF,
the quality of the image is reduced.
MIDI Files
In the 19th Century, before the technology to electronically record audio existed, a musical performance
could be ???recorded??? by making a series of stipples on a cylinder. The performance could then be played
???live??? for the listener through a music box. Later, player pianos used rolls of paper with appropriate holes
punched in them to cause the piano keys to mimic the performances of far away or long-dead musicians. In
the early 1980s, electronic musical instrument manufacturers created the Musical Instrument Digital
Interface (MIDI) to enable the keys of one electronic keyboard to trigger the sounds in another. It wasn??™t
CAUTION CAUTION
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Including Multimedia Elements Part V
long before somebody realized that the MIDI information being output by all electronic keyboards could be
recorded, thus turning any electronic instrument into a modern-day music box or player piano.
The key to using MIDI files on the Web is their very small file size. A MIDI file is the ultimate in compressed
sound: The musical instruments aren??™t even included! For example, a 3-minute, full-fidelity, 128-
bps stereo MP3 file weighs in at just under 3MB.
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