Post-reading activity

 

Task 1. Answer the following questions.

 

1. What does the term “multimedia” mean? 2. What does MP3 stand for? 3. What is the difference between MP3 and WAV files? 4. What kind of sound does MP3 strip out? 5. What kind of information is included in the tag? 6. Why are MP3 files more suitable for transferring across the Internet? 7. What is downloading? 8. How can the user see the information stored in the MP3 file tag? 9. How can the appearance of MP3 player be changed? 10. Is it possible to listen to MP3 files without a computer? 11. What is MIDI? 12. What is a DVD-ROM?

 

Task 2. Match the words from the box with their definitions.

 

MIDI, MPEG, ripper, skin, down load, MP3, URL, multimedia, tag, DVD-(ROM)

 

a uniform (or universal) resource locator

acronym for musical instrument digital interface. A standard for connecting musical instruments to computer systems.

a Motion Picture Experts Group standard for audio compression

Motion Picture Experts Group, a committee that develops standards for audio and video file formats and compression

the combination of text, graphics animation, sound and video

a program that extracts songs from a CD and turns them into WAV files

a computer program that is used to change the interface of another program, e.g. to change the screen display on a MP3 player program

a label used in a mark up language. It is attached to a piece of text to mark the start or the end of a particular function.

a process of copying a file from a server to a client computer in a network

a digital versatile disk read only memory. An optical disk storage device that can hold a large amount of video data.

 

Task 3. Find the English equivalents for the following Russian word combinations.

1.стандартный способ запоминания (хранения); 2.сжатые цифровые звуковые файлы; 3.основное различие; 4.минута звучания; 5.замерять характеристики; 6.дискретный код; 7.группировать записи песен; 8.найти песню на диске; 9.делать выборку из сборников; 10. пульт микширо­вания; 11. метод расширения сигнала до обычного размера

 

a. compressed digital audio files; b. discrete code; c. a standard way of storing; d. to group songs; e. to randomize the selections; f. the key difference; g. to sample the performance; h. to rip a song from a CD; i. a minute of sound; j. mixing desk; k. a method of decompressing video signals

 

Task 4. Mark the following as True or False.

 

1. MP3 reduces the information stored by removing loud sounds. 2. It is possible to alter the look of your MP3 player by downloading a skin program. 3. You can “rip” audio information from a CD by using a recorder program. 4. One can convert a WAV file to MP3 format by using an encoder. 5. You can view the lyrics, notes and author data by clicking on Track Info. 6. MIDI systems store the actual sound.

 

Task 5. Match each cause and effect, then link them with an-ing clause.

Model: 1) Using MIDI, computers can communicate with synthesizers.

2) A WAV file may sample a song 44.000 times a second, creating a huge mass of information.

 

Cause

Effect

1. Computers with MIDI interface boards can be connected to MIDI instruments. 2. Each side of a DVD can have two layers. 3. MP3 removes sounds we can't hear. 4. You can download single tracks. 5. Each MP3 file has a tag. 6. MP3 players contain several devices. 7. You can download a skin program. 8. You can legally download some music.

a) This permits extra information to be stored on the performer and other track details. b) You can create your own compilation. c) This allows you to sample a new group before buying their CD. d) This gives an enormous storage capacity. e) This allows the music being played to be stored by the computer and displayed on the monitor. f) This enables you to change the appearance of your player. g) These allow you to control the way the music sounds. h) This produces much smaller files.

 

Task 6. Complete each gap in this text with a suitable word from this list.

 

brains

second

MP3

hear

digital

sounds

sampling

format

CDs

smaller

per

inaudible

file

WAV

minute

frequency

compressing

sound

removed

megabytes

 

MP3 is a set of standards for... (1) and storing... (2) audio and video. Whereas CDs and... (3) files require about 11 MB for one minute of sound,... (4) files give you the same... (5) quality in a... (6) which requires only about

1 MB for each... (7) so a single track takes only three to five... (8).

Computers store sound as digital information. They do this by... (9) – taking a sample of the sound thousands of times... (10) second.... (11) store information in a format called CD-DA. This samples 44.000 times per... (12) and is broadly similar to WAV.

MP3 files depend on the fact that our... (13) do not detect all... (14). An MP3 encoder removes from a WAV... (15) all but the parts we don’t... (16). Sounds above 16 kHz are... (17) for the most people so these can be... (18). Quieter sounds masked by loud sounds of a similar... (19) are also removed. The result is an MP3 file which is much... (20) than the WAV original.

 

Task 7. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the use of the Gerund.

 

1. One of the problems in dealing with computer-controlled sound and graphics is that the related files require extremely large amounts of storage. 2. Storing graphics, sound and video files on a high-capacity device such as compact disc (CD) is the solution to the problem. 3. These devices store information by etching the encoded data into the same kind of plastic disk used to store and play back popular music. 4. With the emergence of more realistic computer graphics, many people have found the computer’s monitor to be a limited output device for displaying them. 5. Early computers were seen primarily for storing and displaying information in the form of numbers and text. 6. After printing or displaying the graph you can see the advantages of the new device. 7. Using computer greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to create presentations that use many different forms of information. 8. They succeeded in making a number of multimedia applications. 9. Today, special devices have means of storing video images in digital form on a computer’s magnetic media as computer graphics. 10. By rapidly delivering these digital graphics images to the computer screen one after the other we can simulate the kind of video images we see on our television set. 11. Today software companies are busy creating programmes to manage multimedia resources. 12. We insisted on their developing the programs which vary considerably in design, but are all capable of incorporating text, graphics, sound and video into one program. 13. The difficulty was providing special software for dealing with external devices such as CD-ROM drives and videodisc drives and for incorporation of digital video.

 

Task 8. Translate the following sentences into English.

 

1. Одним из методов сокращения объема, занимаемых музыкой, явля­ется MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). 2. Файлы в формате MIDIобычно содержат инструкции типа: «сыграть на таком-то инстру­менте такую-то ноту в течение такого-то количества секунд». 3. В ре­зультате MIDI-файлы занимают незначительный объем. 4. Тем не менее сам характер представления звуков не мог полностью удовлетворить как пользователей, так и разработчиков. 5. Требовалось принципиально новое решение. MIDI- это скорее не метод записи звука, а способ записи команд, посылаемых музыкальным инструментам. 6. МIDI-файл (обыч­но это файл с расширением MID) содержит ссылки на ноты, а не запись музыки как таковой. 7. Когда МIDI-совместимая звуковая карта получа­ет МIDI-файл, карта ищет необходимые звуки в таблице через эти ссылки. 8. Определенный инструмент соответствует конкретной ссылке. 9. Так, например, большой барабан определен цифрой 55. 10. Когда звуковая карта находит ссылку под номером 55, она выдает звук боль­шого барабана. 11. Образцы хранятся на диске и загружаются в процессе воспроизведения звуковых сигналов. 12. Кроме того, существует возможность для изменения звучания инструментов, а также замены их.

 

Task 9. Topics for discussion.

Multimedia programs bring a variety of media resources under the control of the computer. Describe the different types of media that are now being used in multimedia programs.

What is digital audio? How is it used?

Many experts believe that multimedia will play an important role in future. Describe how multimedia may be used in different spheres of human life.

 

Task 10. Read Text B and find answers to the following questions.

 

1. Is it possible to bring information in the form of graphics, sound and video under computer control? 2. Is there any difference between the videodisk player and compact disk player? 3. Why are multimedia authoring systems widely used to manage the presentation of information? 4. Explain the term ‘virtual reality’?