At the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany, ST Microelectronics demonstrated for the first time an MPEG Layer 3 Audio Decoder chip aimed at portable MP3 file players and personal computers, along with a prototype high-density Flash memory chip designed for the same application.

Already available in production quantities, the STA013 MP3.doc (MP3 Decoder-On-a-Chip) MPEG Layer 3 Audio Decoder integrated circuit decodes Layer 3 compressed elementary streams as specified in the ISO MPEG1 and MPEG2 standards. It also decodes streams encoded using low sampling rates as specified by MPEG2.5. Serial interfaces are used for both input and output, allowing the circuit to be housed in a compact SO28 small outline package. The output interface is software programmable to adapt it to the most common DAC architectures.

Thanks to the use of a dedicated DSP based on a VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) architecture optimized for audio algorithms, the STA013 offers the lowest consumption on the market -- just 45mA at 3V -- thereby extending the play time of battery-powered mobile players.

MP3 decoder chips like the STA013 MP3.doc enable a new class of consumer product, the personal stereo with no moving parts. Called ımechalessı -- a contraction of mechanism-less -- these players store music in compressed digital format in Flash memory chips. Music can be downloaded into the player from a personal computer or a dedicated download unit, so the same Flash memory is used all the time. Alternatively, a low cost player with no internal memory can be used with plug-in MMC memory cards.

Portable MP3 players are attractive to consumers because they are completely immune to shocks and vibration. From the makersı point of view, they are simple to manufacture because they have no mechanical parts; this makes them particularly attractive to companies that are new to the market.

MP3 has become, rapidly, the bane of the music recording industry. With the majority of music transfers on the Internet in the MP3 standard the movement of copyright materials has become a major problem -- or it is perceived that it will be. The first dedicated MP3 players became available last year despite legal action and the growth of such players is expected to be a major industry, particularly in the area of portable players. The MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) audio compression standard was developed by Thomson and the Fraunhofer Institute and gives a 10:1 compression with no measurable deterioration in the decoded audio. The players are, of course, non-mechanical and are therefore ideal for portable and mobile use, and in situations where vibration is endemic.

The STA013 is the first decoder chip and will receive a lot of designer attention for the next-generation of products. Use of the decoder plus ST's new flash memory will reduce the build cost of a MP3 player quite dramatically. The flash memory is almost as important as the decoder, and in this case ST is following the trend started by analog memory maker ISD and followed by Intel in their multi-level flash.