An Ots Album file can be likened to a virtual CD or DVD; a single album file that contains multiple items (tracks, track information, album cover art, etc). Ots Album files provide an intelligent approach to file organization and uphold the integrity of the album concept, as the creator originally intended.
The development of the Ots file format was necessary for two major reasons:
There is no standard or efficient manner of storing the additional data types that the new generation of audio/video application requires.
MP3 is a streaming format and was never designed as a file format.
MP3, WMA (non-DRM protected), MP2, MP3+G, MPEG1, MPEG2, and VOB files can be easily converted to Ots Album files.
Note: Some VOB files use AC3 audio compression. These types of files require an AC3 Filter to be installed on your system. See the Ots Studio documentation for more information.
There is no loss of audio quality when you convert an MP3 file to an Ots Album file.
An Ots Album file stores a lot more information than just the audio data that an MP3 file contains.
An Ots Album file is slightly shorter than the original MP3 file - even with all the extra information it stores.
A single Ots Album file can contain many items (or songs), just like a CD or DVD.
Some examples of the additional data that an Ots Album file stores are CD/DVD cover art, mixing information, genre, release info, copyright info, and of course title and artist information. The ability to store beat, time-coded lyrics, lighting control and any other future data types has also been catered for.
You can convert an Ots Album file back to an MP3 file and the MP3 file will be identical to the originating MP3 (i.e. no quality loss or truncation).
An Ots Album file makes certain technical feats in the playing software possible or more feasible.
An Ots Album file is fully extensible and expandable. Powerful forwards and backwards compatibility mechanisms are in place to prevent annoying file version not supported errors that you may get with other file formats.
Ots Album files are not limited to MP3 compression. Although MP3 compression is brilliant, with time obviously more sophisticated compression algorithms will become available. Ots Album files will be able to benefit from them without altering the entire format.
Preparing your media collection