Posted by aniramca on 03/25/07 19:50

I consider that one of the amazing invention in the creation of
digital music file is a midi file. Unfortunately, the inventors of
midi music did not appear to receive acknowledgements or adequate
praises from the general public. Younger generation people do not even
know what a midi is, as they are listening to their musical tunes
using an mp3 players.
Who are these inventors? I heard it was a group of people
(Smith,Kakehashi and Oberheim) who invented in the early 1980s. They
deserve much better appreciation from all of us. Perhaps not from
those who manufacture Giga and Terra bytes memories. Unfortunately,
we are now living in an era, in which big companies decide what is
good for the public. Big means better. Bigger files are better than
tiny files, as it will require more memories, running newer and faster
operating system, etc. I am still quite amazed on how a music file
(example: the full 15 minutes of Beethoven's piano classic - Moonlight
Sonata (all 3 movements) can be filed in just a mere 70 kB as a midi
file. How many MB will that be in mp3, or in WMA?
I know that there are shortcomings of using a midi file... one that I
heard of is that it cannot be used to record human voice (songs).
Therefore, it was used for instruments only. I have a Yamaha
electronic piano, and it was equipped with a driver for accepting midi
files. I only need one Smart Card of 64 MB, and it is more than
adequate to store digital library of thousands of piano tunes. Forget
about that USB keys of 1 or 2 GB!
My question is how come there was no further extension or development
from very efficient midi files? I am not an inventor and know the
details, but can human actually invent musical files similar to midi
that can capture other voices, better voice, etc. etc. ? Why did we
suddenly venture into mp3, WMA, etc? Did midi developers meet a dead
end and could not improve their midi files? Will big companies who
make and run computers, music business, etc. one day abandon midi file
all together?
Is this a familiar story that this kind of invention is nowadays
driven by a capitalist market? I sometimes wonder whether people also
can invent a walkie talkie with multi channels, and can go across
20-50 km ranges (say, inside a metropolitan city). I have seen the one
that can be used up to 10, perhaps 20 km. Was the technology not
possible, or was it blocked for the benefit of developing cell phones,
in which people has to pay for the service? Why do we need to
subscribe cable TV, or now satellite radio? Could human invent a more
powerful TV and radio transmitters and/or receivers which can bypass
the use of subcribed cable and satelitte transmission? Did they create
large files on purpose, so that they can be cut down into tiny pieces
and scrambled? In the mid 1900s, people listen short wave radios
across the globe... for free. Why we abandon this idea now?
May be the world nowadays do not appreciate inventors who genuinely
have brains to create something better for the human kind.... for free.

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