Post-reading activity

Task 2. 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 3. Match the words from the box with their definitions.

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

1. a uniform (or universal) resource locator.

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

3. a Motion Picture Experts Group standard for audio compression

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

5. the combination of text, graphics animation, sound and video.

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

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

8. 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.

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

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

Task 4. Find the English equivalents ofthe following word combinations.

1.стандартний спосіб запам'ятовування (зберігання); 2.зжимання цифрових звукових файлів; 3.основна відмінність; 4.хвилина звучання; 5.заміряти характеристики; 6.діскретний код; 7.группувати записи пісень; 8.знайти пісню на диску; 9.робити вибірку із збірок; 10. пульт мікшування.

Task 5. 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 6. 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 7. Complete each gap in this text with a suitable word from this list.

1. brains

2. second

3. MP3

4. hear

5. digital

6. sounds

7. sampling

8. format

9. CDs

10. smaller

11. per

12. inaudible

13. file

14. WAV

15. minute

16. frequency

17. compressing

18. sound

19. removed

20. 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 8. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian.

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 9. Unscramble the letters to complete the definitions from an online dictionary.

1. dheasenpho _________: device which covers each ear and allows you to listen to audio without other people hearing;

2. pertyhtex ________: text with links to other text or other parts of a document or web page;

3. tacvitiyniter __________: allowing two-way communication between a program and the user;

4. pormicnohe ____________ : equipment that allows you to record your voice;

5. batscewf _________: a concert or other event broadcast over the Internet.

Task 10. Translate into English

1. Одним з методів скорочення об'єму, що займає музика, є MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). 2. Файли у форматі MIDI зазвичай містять інструкції типу: «зіграти на такому-то інструменті таку-то ноту протягом такої-то кількості секунд». 3. В результаті MIDI-файли займають незначний обсяг. 4. Проте сам характер представлення звуків не міг повністю задовольнити як користувачів, так і розробників. 5. Потрібно було знайти принципово нове рішення. MIDI- це скоріше не метод запису звуку, а спосіб запису команд, що посилаються музичним інструментам. 6. МIDI-файл (зазвичай це файл з розширенням MID) містить посилання на ноти, а не на запис музики як такий. 7. Коли МIDI-сумісна звукова карта отримує МIDI-файл, карта шукає необхідні звуки в таблиці через ці посилання. 8. Певний інструмент відповідає конкретному посиланню. 9. Так, наприклад, великий барабан визначений цифрою 55. 10. Коли звукова карта знаходить посилання під номером 55, вона видає звук великого барабану. 11. Зразки зберігаються на диску і завантажуються в процесі відтворення звукових сигналів. 12. Крім того, існує можливість для зміни звучання інструментів, а також заміни їх.

Task 11. 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’?