Background.

K+K Research is a development team working with audio compression technology. We combine forces from other tasks, our main programmer (KA) is a very skilled programmer working in C++ (and other languages). Our main optimizer (KM) has long time experience from beta-testing various other programs and has been working in the audio field for two decades.
Music Publisher 02 is the latest product from this innovative team, we have plans for several new products in the future.

Products.

Music Publisher 02 is a complete software package for music distribution and similar...
It uses our TAC technology to give very high audio quality (better than AAC as used in MP01) and it also uses our ABM (Adaptive Bitrate Managing) technology to determine what bitrate ensures perfect quality in a given music track.
(with comprehensive analyzing followed by encoding).

MP02 Features.

Music Publisher 02 consists of several elements.
A high quality TAC encoder with ABM, a Frontend / GUI for controlling this encoder , with various settings for the best possible compromize between encoded file length (bitrate) and audio quality, and latest a TAC plug-in for use with Winamp (2.**) to play the TAC files.
You can see picture of the frontend on main page and this will give you a good idea of the available functions and features.
MP02 works from wav-files, if your source is DAT you have to input through AES/EBU digital input on your soundcard and if your source is CD-audio you have to convert (rip) the audio tracks to wav files. (you will find links to 2 good rippers below).
Encoding speed is real fast; 0.6 X realtime encoding on a P2-300 (way faster than AAC) and CPU usage when playing TAC files is also quite good , app. 15% cpu usage on a P2-300.

2-channel Applications.

The main application for our 2-channel TAC package (Music Publisher 02) is Music Publishing over the Internet (other medias are of course possible like CDR...) and the software package is designed to make this an easy task.
Other uses would be studio => radio transfer , studio => post production transfer or similar.
Naturally high quality computer music,
, multimedia jukebox, radio station usage , and similar are applications for which MP02 is well suited.

Multi-channel Applications.

We dont at present support multi-channel in our MP02, users in this field are requested to contact us.We are thinking about implementing a hardware version of our TAC technology and this could support multi-channel too.

Comparisons with AAC.

We have been working closely with AAC (both MP01 and Liquifier Pro) and the limitations of AAC made it clear that we had to do something else if we wanted to take audio quality to a higher level than specified in ISO AAC.
We have done so by implementing several techniques not possible in AAC and also by using our ABM , which is basically a bitrate optimizer ( somewhat like VBR) but smarter in several ways....
We suggest that you listen to our sample tracks and judge for yourself. Here is a link to KM's site with comparisons of audio quality , including MP01 + MP02 and many other formats and programs;
Best of audio compression

Prices and Licensing.

MP02 is available for private use (non-professional) and will cost $59.95. And MP02 is also available for professional use
with selling of TAC music tracks and redistribution of TAC plugin. This will cost $249 (and no further license fees)
MP02 is in beta-stage right now, contact us for more information regarding MP02, TAC , release date ....

Future plans.

First plans are to have a multi-channel version of MP02 , and a hardware encoder/decoder. Then we can see a market and a potential in home-stereo hardware player and also in a car hardware player, all utilizing TAC , the best audio compression available now and for the near future.

Links.

We have a few links for you about audio technology;
Best of audio compression
EAC RIPPER
WINAMP 2.10
CDEX RIPPER
AUDIO FRONTIERS - encoding formats explained