MP3 Support Confirmed for Nintendo 3DS Sound

[teenprogramming]

Here’s a piece of news that many, many of you will probably welcome.

On the show floor of the Nintendo 3DS Preview Event, it was confirmed that Nintendo 3DS Sound, the 3DS’s music player, would include full support for MP3 files. Nintendo first started probing the waters of music playback on their systems with a little-known MP3 player cartridge on the GameBoy Advance, followed by limited support for MP3 files in the Wii’s Photo Channel.

An update to the latter, however, dropped MP3 support in favour of AAC, which Nintendo cited as being a superior format due to its more efficient compression. Despite the criticism of this odd decision, Nintendo continued to futilely push AAC support by supporting it exclusively in the DSi’s Nintendo DSi Sound application, which was essentially the DSi’s equivalent of the Music app one would find on an iPod Touch.

Whether you believe that AAC is a superior format to MP3 or not, the fact remains that it unnecessarily complicates the process of copying your music to your device, if you – like most people – keep your music collection in the MP3 format, by adding the step of transcoding all your songs (and needing to find a program to do it).

Nintendo haven’t dropped AAC support in the DSi, so you still have the option of using it if you want to, or happen to already have your library in AAC (this is what they should’ve done with the DSi and the Wii in the first place). The (re-?)addition of MP3 Additionally, we also got reconfirmation of SDHC support, so you’ll have up to 32 GB to store your music on. Depending on the length and bitrate of your MP3?s, this could translate to anywhere from a whopping 6000-8000 songs (assuming you aren’t planning to use the SD card for anything else, like photos). Now, all that’s left to wish for is SDXC support, which will raise that 32 GB to a potential 2 TB (2048 GB) – one of the largest sizes you can get a modern desktop hard drive in.

We can dream…

Source

 

[emigre]

Thank fuck for that.

 

[SparkFenix]

Yes

We do need SDXC support

 

[basher11]

i'd still use my iPod.

glad to see that they're finally using mp3 now though.

damn AAC's...

 

[Quietlyawesome94]

Theres a reason most people call ipods "mp3 players" It's only like the most popular music format out there. Nintendo would be gay as Paul Reuben if they didn't support it.

 

[amptor]

Yeah SDXC support would have been a better choice. Console manufacturers seem to always be a step behind one one thing or another. lol. At least Nintendo finally puts out a new console rather than a 4th rehash of the same sh!t. My DSi is covered with a thick coat of dust. True it is far superior to the DS and DS Lite but the games essentially look the same

And that DSi XL is a blunder. Too big clunky geeky looking gadget. I'll stick with the DSi and now the 3DS will be a welcome addition.

And also thank God for everything. An iPhone 4 costs $600, 3DS is only $250 and does everything and more than I would want from that overpriced Apple product. The current generation of iPod Touch is disappointing for me too because it doesn't have the aesthetics of the iPhone 4. Lame. lol. Nintendo will always win on the handheld market. The 3DS is pure absolute proof of that.

 

[Forstride]

Would be interesting to me if the speakers don't suck like the DSi's did. Oh well, I have my iPod for music.

On the topic of SDXC, it would be nice, but honestly, how many of you even own an SDXC card? It's pointless to them because they don't think the audience they're trying to reach are going to buy $100+ SD cards to use for the 3DS, or already have one.

 

[purplesludge]

Would be interesting to me if the speakers don't suck like the DSi's did. Oh well, I have my iPod for music.

On the topic of SDXC, it would be nice, but honestly, how many of you even own an SDXC card? It's pointless to them because they don't think the audience they're trying to reach are going to buy $100+ SD cards to use for the 3DS, or already have one.

But if the 3ds lasts 4-5 years how much will the cards be then?

 

[Berthenk]

Ah, more costs for Nintendo. Seems like the 3DS isn't that cheap to produce at all. Has anyone taken a look at the MP3 licencing costs/royalty?

 

[DiscostewSM]

Would be interesting to me if the speakers don't suck like the DSi's did. Oh well, I have my iPod for music.

On the topic of SDXC, it would be nice, but honestly, how many of you even own an SDXC card? It's pointless to them because they don't think the audience they're trying to reach are going to buy $100+ SD cards to use for the 3DS, or already have one.

You're thinking about right now, in the present. In a few years, those cards will drop in price.

I've checked around, and saw that many SD card readers that have SDHC support have been known to be extended to SDXC support by updating the drivers/firmware. I know the Wii didn't have SDHC support until later on via system update, so it's possible they are capable of it again with the 3DS and SDXC support, but I dunno.

 

[KingVamp]

They're doing it right this time.

 

[Fear Zoa]

And 10,000 Sony fanboys cried that day...having lost one of the few legitimate advantages the PSP has over the ds

 

[purplesludge]

Ah, more costs for Nintendo. Seems like the 3DS isn't that cheap to produce at all. Has anyone taken a look at the MP3 licencing costs/royalty?

Wow did not know there was a licensing cost.

 

[Veho]

Ah, more costs for Nintendo. Seems like the 3DS isn't that cheap to produce at all. Has anyone taken a look at the MP3 licencing costs/royalty?

Hardware: decoder: $0.75 per unit? Wow, hefty

 

[KingVamp]

Ah, more costs for Nintendo. Seems like the 3DS isn't that cheap to produce at all. Has anyone taken a look at the MP3 licencing costs/royalty?

Hardware: decoder: $0.75 per unit? Wow, hefty

There are a lot of people in this world dude...

 

[heartgold]

Already heard from another site, kinda useless if you think about it, you got phones, ipods whatever better suited listening to music. This is one featue I will not be using. Now if there was a video player or something yeah I'd love it!

 

[LightyKD]

Ah, more costs for Nintendo. Seems like the 3DS isn't that cheap to produce at all. Has anyone taken a look at the MP3 licencing costs/royalty?

Hardware: decoder: $0.75 per unit? Wow, hefty

There are a lot of people in this world dude...

Agreed!

$0.75 X roughly 2,000,000 units per region (US, UK, JP) which is a total of 6,000,000 3DS systems = $4,500,000. That's a LOT of money!

 

[Veho]

Well by that logic, they shouldn't make consoles at all! If one 3DS costs $200 to make (numbers pulled out of ass), that's $200 X roughly 2,000,000 units per region, that's a total of such a LOT of money, it makes your lot of money look miniscule in comparison. Initial investments are huge, they wouldn't even notice the extra $0.75 per unit. And besides, they could just charge an extra $1 per unit, and come out ahead

 

[KingVamp]

Well by that logic, they shouldn't make consoles at all! If one 3DS costs $200 to make (numbers pulled out of ass), that's $200 X roughly 2,000,000 units per region, that's a total of such a LOT of money, it makes your lot of money look miniscule in comparison. Initial investments are huge, they wouldn't even notice the extra $0.75 per unit. And besides, they could just charge an extra $1 per unit, and come out ahead

They have workers to pay $1 per unit.

Money from games would make them profit from this. A 3DS could be $400-500 to make and they could have put it at that price, but decide not to...

Plus I want my 3DS they have to make them.

QUOTE(Veho @ Jan 22 2011, 04:20 PM) If one 3DS costs $200 to make (numbers pulled out of ass)

What else is in there?

 

[LightyKD]

Well by that logic, they shouldn't make consoles at all! If one 3DS costs $200 to make (numbers pulled out of ass), that's $200 X roughly 2,000,000 units per region, that's a total of such a LOT of money, it makes your lot of money look miniscule in comparison. Initial investments are huge, they wouldn't even notice the extra $0.75 per unit. And besides, they could just charge an extra $1 per unit, and come out ahead

I totally agree with you. Honestly, conversations like this makes me wonder exactly how much it cost to produce a console. When you think about R&D, production, advertisement, shipping, ect, it's insane!

Starting with next gen, maybe the NPD should tally up this stuff.