Tattoo

Tattooing is also used as a form of cosmetic surgery, like permanent cosmetics, to hide or neutralize skin discolorations. After that, MP3 algorithms become public domain and all of these counter-productive legal hassles go away. An example is the symbol (Φ) tattooed in the ears of pet cats and dogs in Australia to indicate that they have been neutered. The Fraunhofer patents expire April 2010. Tattoos may be located anywhere on the animal's body including its ear (common for small mammals) or inner lip (bears). With Thomson and Sivel both owning separate patents which they claim are needed by the codec, the legal status of MP3 remains unclear. Animals are marked with symbols or alphanumeric characters for identification. Motorola also recently signed with Audio MPEG to license MP3.

Tattooing is also used in managing wildlife and livestock. [3] previously sued Thomson for patent infringement on MP3 technology[4], but those disputes were resolved in November 2005 with Sisvel granting Thomson an MP3 license. Japanese people commonly soak the tattoo in hot water to clean it. [2] and its US subsidiary Audio MPEG, Inc. Some tattooists will recommend leaving the covering on for several hours or overnight, and then gently washing the area. Sisvel S.p.A. Immediately after completing the tattoo, most tattooists will cover the area to keep out dirt and keep the tattoo from oozing into clothes; sometimes the area is wrapped in clingfilm, paper towel, poultry packs (that come in chicken packs) or gauze. Thus while patent fees have been an issue for companies attempting to use MP3, they have not meaningfully impacted users, allowing the format to grow in popularity.

New tattoos are wounds which must be looked after properly. Furthermore, while attempts have been made to discourage distribution of encoder binaries, Thomson has stated that individuals using free MP3 encoders are not required to pay fees. Most tattoo artists recommend and sell them. Additionally, patent holders declined to enforce license fees on open source decoders, allowing many free MP3 decoders to develop. These products are safe, efficient, and dermatologically tested. In spite of the patent restrictions, the perpetuation of the MP3 format continues; the reasons for this appear to be the network effects caused by:. In the last few years, cosmetic and pharmaceutical aftercare products have been developed for the tattoo world. For information about licensing fees see here and here.

There is also the possibility of allergic reactions to these products, and application to a new tattoo can cause skin reactions leading to loss of ink and permanent damage to a tattoo. Until the key patents expire, open source / free software encoders and players appear to be illegal for commercial use in countries that recognize software patents. The majority of these products contain petroleum or lanolin which, when applied to a new tattoo, can clog skin pores and actually retard the body's healing process. Microsoft, the makers of the Windows operating system, chose to move away from MP3 to their own proprietary Windows Media formats to avoid the licensing issues associated with the patents. These products were intended to prevent cuts, burns, scrapes, and abrasions from becoming infected and not for the healing of new tattoos. These patent issues significantly slowed the development of unlicensed MP3 software and led to increased focus on creating and popularizing alternatives such as WMA and Ogg Vorbis. Tattoo artists have had to recommend a variety of products available from local drug stores. To make, sell and/or distribute products using the [MPEG Layer-3] standard and thus our patents, you need to obtain a license under these patents from us.".

However, many of the most notable tattooists do not belong to any association. The letter claimed that unlicensed products "infringe the patent rights of Fraunhofer and THOMSON. Membership in professional organizations, or certificates of appreciation/achievement, may imply that the artist is aware of the latest trends in equipment and sterilization. In September 1998, the Fraunhofer Institute sent a letter to several developers of MP3 software stating that a license was required to "distribute and/or sell decoders and/or encoders". A reputable artist will:. See Software patents under the European Patent Convention. The studio should have all of the following:. Thomson has been granted software patents in EU countries and by the European Patent Office [1], but it is unclear whether or not they would be enforced by courts there.

See the sections under "Risks" above. Thomson has been actively enforcing these patents. They also cite a well documented case Tattoo-Induced Skin Burn During MR Imaging by Wagle and Smith. Thomson Consumer Electronics controls licensing of the MPEG-1/2 Layer 3 patents in countries that recognize software patents, including the United States and Japan, but not EU countries. However, research by Shellock and Crues MR Safety and the American College of Radiology White Paper reports adverse reactions to MRI and tattoos in a very small number of cases. MP3, which was designed and tuned for use alongside MPEG-1/2 Video, generally performs poorly on monaural data at less than 48 kbit/s or in stereo at less than 80 kbit/s. In any case, today the majority of professional tattoos do not contain metal particles and therefore raise no concern for MRI or x-ray. Thomson claims that its mp3PRO codec achieves CD quality at 64 kbit/s, but listeners have reported that a 64 kbit/s mp3PRO file compares in quality to a 112 kbit/s MP3 file and does not come reasonably close to CD quality until about 80 kbit/s.

The television show MythBusters tested the theory, and concluded that there is no risk of interaction between tattoo inks and MRI. The developers of the patent-free Ogg Vorbis codec claim that their algorithm surpasses MP3, RealAudio and WMA sound quality, and the listening tests mentioned above support that claim. Allegedly, the magnetic fields produced by MRI machines could interact with these metal particles, potentially causing burns or distortions in the image. Though proponents of newer codecs such as WMA and RealAudio have asserted that their respective algorithms can achieve CD quality at 64 kbit/s, listening tests have shown otherwise; however, the quality of these codecs at 64 kbit/s is definitely superior to MP3 at the same bitrate. There has been concern expressed about the interaction between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures and tattoo inks, some of which contain trace metals. What is considered 'CD quality' is quite subjective; for some 128kbit/s MP3 is sufficient, while for others 200kbit/s or higher MP3 is necessary. The local department of health regulates tattoo studios in many jurisdictions, and should accept requests for records and violation histories of tattoo parlors. At high bitrates (128kbit/s+), most people do not hear significant differences.

The following precautions can also reduce the risk of infection: shops should appear clean; sinks with hot water and soap should be available in the bathroom as well as in the studio; tattooists should wash their hands regularly and wear latex gloves; surfaces should be cleaned with disinfectant and floors should appear clean; proper procedures for sterilizing equipment should be followed strictly. At 64kbit/s, AAC-HE and mp3pro performed marginally better than other codecs. People who have a compromised immune system, including those who have no spleen, should consult a physician before getting a tattoo or body piercing. At 128kbit/s, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, MPC and WMA Pro tied for first place with LAME MP3 a little behind. Infections include surface infections of the skin, Staphylococcus aureus, infections that can cause cardiological damage, sexually transmitted diseases, and some forms of hepatitis. Listening tests have attempted to find the best-quality lossy audio codecs at certain bitrates. Infection from tattooing in clean and modern tattoo studios is rare. These include:.

This is not necessarily useful, however, because it may take years of exposure before an allergic reaction occurs. While they are not similar to MP3, they are good examples of other compression schemes available. Some tattoo artists do small test patches of pigments to be used allowing a week or two for the client to develop a negative reaction before proceeding with the actual tattoo. There are also some lossless audio compression methods used on the Internet. People with allergies should think carefully about getting a tattoo because of the risk of anaphylactic shock (hypersensitive reaction), which can be life threatening. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft owns many of the basic patents underlying these codecs, with Dolby Labs, Sony, Thomson Consumer Electronics, and AT&T holding other key patents. Allergic reactions to latex should also be stated before being tattooed or pierced. mp3PRO, MP3, AAC, and MP2 are all members of the same technological family and depend on roughly similar psychoacoustic models.

It should go away with time, but can be very uncomfortable, so one should still consult a doctor. Many other lossy audio codecs exist, including:. A reaction to the green soap will result in itchy redness that may swell. Typically, the average volume and clipping information about audio track is stored in the metadata tag. People who are allergic to green soap should let their tattooist know before being tattooed, because the area is cleaned before and during the tattoo with green soap and it will ultimately get into the tattoo. The most popular and widely used solution for storing replay gain is known simply as "Replay Gain". People who are sensitive or allergic to certain metals may react to pigments in the skin by becoming swollen and/or itchy, oozing of clear fluid called sebum is also common. The idea is to normalize the volume (not the volume peaks) of audio files, so that the volume does not change between consecutive tracks.

Allergic reactions to tattoo pigments are uncommon except for certain brands of red and green. A few standards for encoding the gain of an MP3 file have been proposed. Most reputable tattoo shops use fresh disposable needles for each client and sterilize reusable instruments between clients using an autoclave as well as employing universal precautions, such as washing the hands, wearing latex, nitrile or vinyl gloves and the thorough cleaning of counters and other work surfaces, and elimination of cross contamination. As compact discs and other various sources are recorded and mastered at different volumes, it is useful to store volume information about a file in the tag so that at playback time, the volume can be dynamically adjusted. Since tattoo instruments come in contact with blood and bodily fluids, diseases may be transmitted if the instruments are used on more than one person without being sterilized. APEv2 can coexist with ID3 tags in the same file, but it can also be used by itself. In addition, it is important that cross contamination not occur, this is why many counties require that tattooists have bloodborne pathogen training as is provided through the Red Cross. APEv2 was originally developed for the MPC file format (see the APEv2 specification).

[2]. The most widespread standard tag formats are currently the ID3 ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags, and the more recent APEv2 tag. Inmates will be trained to staff and operate the tattoo parlors once six of them open successfully. A "tag" is data stored in an MP3 (as well as other formats) that contains metadata such as the title, artist, album, track number or other information about the MP3 file to be added to the file itself. However there is a program underway in Canada as of the summer of 2005 that opens legitimized tattoo parlors in prison, this is intended to reduce the risk of infections and may also provide the inmates with a marketable talent. Therefore, for the most part, comparison of decoders is almost exclusively based on how computationally efficient they are (i.e., how much memory or CPU time they use in the decoding process). In most prisons there is a significant risk of illness due to tattooing being done without following universal precautions, including such blood-borne diseases as HIV and hepatitis. The MP3 file has a standard format which is a frame consisting of 384, 576, or 1152 samples (depends on MPEG version and layer) and all the frames have associated header information(32 bits) and side information(9, 17, or 32 bytes, depending on MPEG version and stereo/mono).The header and side information help the decoder to decode the associated huffman encoded data correctly.

Risk reduction in the body arts requires single use items including gloves and needles. Most decoders are "bitstream compliant", meaning that the uncompressed output they produce from a given MP3 file will be the same (within a specified degree of rounding tolerance) as the output specified mathematically in the standard document. Permanent tattooing of any form carries small risks, including of infection, allergy, disease, and stress or phobic reactions. Decoding, on the other hand, is carefully defined in the standard. Glycolic acid is also used for facial peels; when used for tattoo removal, a lower percentage mix is used. It must be kept in mind that an encoder that is proficient at encoding at higher bitrates (such as LAME, which is in widespread use for encoding at higher bitrates) is not necessarily as good at other, lower bitrates. This method supposedly scars less than lasering. Comparisons are widely available, so it is easy for a prospective user of an encoder to research the best choice.

A newer method of removal is by tattooing glycolic acid in to the skin with a tattoo machine, the acid pushes the ink to the surface of the skin in the scab, the scab is later removed. As a result, there are many different MP3 encoders available, each producing files of differing quality. The tattoo is retraced with the chemical. This is the domain of psychoacoustics, which aims at understanding how human acoustical perception works (both in our ears and in our brain). An old method of tattoo removal includes hydrogen peroxide loaded into a tattoo machine. This is done to limit the temporal spread of quantization noise accompanying the transient. Black ink is most readily broken down by the laser, and unprofessional tattoos done at home are the easiest ones to remove, due to the low quality of ink used, as well as the inneffective manner in which they were applied. If there is a transient 192 samples are taken instead of 576.

Overall, green-based ink is the most difficult to remove. Implementers of the standard were supposed to devise their own algorithms suitable for removing parts of the information in the raw audio (or rather its MDCT representation in the frequency domain).During encoding 576 time domain samples are taken and is transformed to 576 frequency domain samples. It also may not be entirely effective in leaving unblemished skin, due to the fact that tattoos also scar the skin to varying degrees, depending on how the tattoo was applied, the way the skin healed, and the area that was tattooed. The decoding algorithm and file format, as a contrast, are well defined. The procedure can be expensive, and very painful (some say more so than the original tattoo) and often requires many repeated visits to remove a small tattoo. The MPEG-1 standard does not include a precise specification for an MP3 encoder. After this, the patients body then absorbs the broken-down ink and the skin heals once more. Nevertheless, a well-tuned MP3 encoder can perform competitively even with these restrictions.

The laser reacts with the ink in the tattoo, and breaks it down. In technical terms, MP3 is limited in the following ways:. Tattoos can be wholly or partially removed by cosmetic surgical techniques, most commonly through the use of lasers. Newer audio compression formats such as Vorbis and AAC no longer have these limitations. This ink is reportedly quite safe for use, and claims to be FDA approved for use on wildlife that may enter the food supply. There are several limitations inherent to the MP3 format that cannot be overcome by using a better encoder. The technical name is BIOMETRIX System-1000, and is marketed under the name "Chameleon Tattoo Ink". Non-standard bitrates up to 640 kbit/s can be achieved with the LAME encoder and the --freeformat option, however only few MP3 players can play those files.

Recently, a blacklight-reactive tattoo ink using PMMA microcapsules has surfaced. Some encoders utilize this technique to a great extent. In a survey[1], many pigments were found to be used among professional tattooists:. This method compares to a sound activated tape recorder that reduces tape consumption by not recording silence. Iron oxide pigments are used in greater extent in cosmetic tattooing. This technique makes it possible to use more bits for parts of the sound with higher dynamics (more sound movement) and fewer bits for parts with lower dynamics, further increasing quality and decreasing storage space. For the tattooing, a wide range of dyes and pigments can be used; from inorganic materials like titanium dioxide and iron oxides to carbon black, azo dyes, and acridine, quinoline, phthalocyanine and naphthol derivates. Audio in MP3 files are divided into frames (which have their own bit rate) so it is possible to change the bit rate dynamically as the file is encoded (although not originally implemented, VBR is in extensive use today).

Both methods, silver nitrate and henna, can take up to two weeks to fade from the skin. Variable bit rates (VBR) are also possible. Other forms of temporary "tattoos" are henna tattoos, also known as Mehndi, and the marks made by the stains of silver nitrate on the skin when exposed to ultraviolet light. MPEG-2 and [the non-official] MPEG-2.5 includes some additional bit rates: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160 kbit/s. Temporary tattoos are easily removed with soap and water or oil-based creams, and are intended to last a few days. 44.1 kHz is almost always used (coincides with the sampling rate of compact discs), and 128 kbit/s has become the de facto "good enough" standard, although 192 Kbit/s is becoming increasingly popular over peer-to-peer file sharing networks. They are generally applied to the skin using water to transfer the design to the surface of the skin. Bit rates available in MPEG-1 Layer 3 are 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 kbit/s, and the available sample frequencies are 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz.

Temporary tattoos are a type of body sticker, like a decal. In the early days of MP3 encoding, a fixed bit rate was used for the entire file. In addition, tattooing of the gingiva from implantation of amalgam particles during dental filling placement and removal is possible and not uncommon. The general rule is that more information is included from the original sound file when a higher bit rate is used, and thus the higher the quality during play back. These are particularly difficult to remove as they tend to be spread across several different layers of skin, and scarring or permanent discoloration is almost unavoidable depending on the location. The bit rate is variable for MP3 files. Similarly, a traumatic tattoo occurs when a substance such as asphalt is rubbed into a wound as the result of some kind of accident or trauma. For these operations, the concerns mentioned above are not necessarily relevant, as long as appropriate software (such as mp3DirectCut and MP3Gain) is used to prevent extra decoding-encoding steps.

This can also occur with substances like gunpowder. Some simple editing operations, such as cutting sections of audio, may be performed directly on the encoded MP3 data without necessitating reencoding. According to George Orwell, workers in coal mines would wind up with characteristic tattoos owing to coal dust getting into wounds. Lossless formats produce the best possible result, at the expense of a lower compression ratio. Permanent cosmetics are tattoos that enhance eyebrows, lips (liner or lipstick), eyes (shadow, mascara), and even moles, usually with natural colors as the designs are intended to resemble makeup. The losses produced by multiple stages of coding may also compound each other, becoming more evident when the signal is reencoded after processing. See main article at permanent makeup. Lossless formats are strongly preferred for material that will be edited, mixed, or otherwise processed because the perceptual assumptions made by lossy encoders may not hold true after processing.

The unit rapidly and repeatedly drives the needles in and out of the skin, usually 50 to 3,000 times a minute. If your aim is to archive sound files with no loss of quality (or work on the sound files in a studio for example), then you should use Lossless compression algorithms, currently capable of compressing 16-bit PCM audio to 38% while leaving the audio identical to the original, such as Lossless Audio LA, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless (wma) and Monkey's Audio (among others). Ink is inserted into the skin via a group of needles that are soldered onto a bar, which is attached to an oscillating unit. The numbers given above are rough guidelines that work for many people, but in the field of lossy audio compression the only true measure of the quality of a compression process is to listen to the results. The most common method of tattooing in modern times is the electric tattoo machine. Merely changing the conditions of listening, such as the audio playing system or environment, can expose unwanted distortions caused by lossy compression. Traditional Japanese tattoos (irezumi) are still "hand-poked," that is, the ink is inserted beneath the skin using non-electrical, hand-made and hand held tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. Individual acoustic perception may vary, so it is not evident that a certain psychoacoustic model can give satisfactory results for everyone.

Some cultures create tattooed marks by "tapping" the ink into the skin using sharpened sticks or animal bones. A given bit rate suffices for some listeners but not for others. This may be an adjunct to scarification. It is important to note that quality of an audio signal is subjective. Some tribal cultures still create tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing the resulting wound with ink, ashes or other agents. A 128 kbit/s MP3 produced by a good encoder might sound better than a 192 kbit/s MP3 file produced by a bad encoder. (Branding would not be considered a tattoo since no ink or dye is inserted). It is therefore misleading to speak of 128 kbit/s or 192 kbit/s quality, except in the context of a particular encoder or of the best available encoders.

Such tattoos are performed by veterinarians and the animals are anaesthetized to prevent pain. Good encoders produce acceptable quality at 128 to 160 Kibit/s and near-transparency at 160 to 192 kbit/s, while low quality encoders may never reach transparency, not even at 320 kbit/s. Pets, show animals, thoroughbred horses and livestock are sometimes tattooed with identification marks, and certain of their body parts (for example, noses) have also been tattooed to prevent sunburn. Many early encoders that are no longer widely used:. Tattoos are also placed on animals, though very rarely for decorative reasons. A few possible encoders:. European sailors were known to tattoo the crucifixion on their backs to prevent flogging as a punishment as at that time it was a crime to deface an image of Christ. Different encoders may achieve this with varying degrees of success.

The best known is the ka-tzetnik identification system for Jews in part of the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Due to the fact that their lossy encoding loses information, MP3 algorithms work hard to ensure that the parts lost cannot be detected by human listeners by modeling the general characteristics of human hearing (e.g., due to noise masking). People have also been forcibly tattooed for a variety of reasons. Tests may be biased against older formats in favour of new ones by using older encoders based on out-of-date technologies, or even buggy encoders for the old format. Some Māori still choose to wear intricate moko on their faces. When comparing compression schemes, it is important to use encoders that are of equivalent quality. Today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, religious and magical reasons, as well as a symbol of belonging to or identification with particular groups (see Criminal tattoos). They would contend that more realistic rates would be as follows:.

Human history shows that tattoos have served in many diverse cultures as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. Many people consider these quoted rates as being heavily skewed in favour of Layer 2 and Layer 3 recordings. This survey was conducted online between July 14 and 20, 2003 by Harris Interactive(R) among a nationwide sample of 2,215 adults. However, as different encoders use different models, it is difficult to draw absolute comparisons of this kind. Democrats are more likely to have tattoos (18%) than Republicans (14%) and Independents (12%) while approximately equal percentages of males (16%) and females (15%) have tattoos. The differences between the layers are caused by the different psychoacoustic models used by them; the Layer 1 algorithm is typically substantially simpler, therefore a higher bit rate is needed for transparent encoding. Regionally, people living in the West (20%) are more likely to have tattoos. Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FhG) publish on their official webpage the following compression ratios and data rates for MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2 and 3, intended for comparison:.

The highest incidence of tattoos was found among the gay, lesbian and bisexual population (31%) and among Americans ages 25 to 29 years (36%) and 30 to 39 years (28%). Obviously, imperfections in an MP3 encode will be much less apparent on low-end computer speakers than on a good stereo system connected to a computer or -- especially -- using high-quality headphones. A recent Harris Poll finds that 16% of all adults in the United States have at least one tattoo. Yet other listeners, and the same listeners in other environments (such as in a noisy moving vehicle or at a party) will consider the quality acceptable. Current estimates suggest one in seven or over 39 million people in North America have at least one tattoo. However, listening tests show that with a bit of practice many listeners can reliably distinguish 128 kbit/s MP3s from CD originals; in many cases reaching the point where they consider the MP3 audio to be of unacceptably low quality. Tattoos are more popular now than at any time. For average signals with good encoders, many listeners accept the MP3 bit rate of 128 kibit/s as near enough to compact disc quality for them, providing a compression ratio of approximately 11:1.

Tattoos can have additional negative associations for women; "tramp stamp" and other similarly derogatory slang phrases are sometimes used to describe a tattoo on a woman's lower back. As well as the bit rate of the encoded file, the quality of MP3 files depend on the quality of the encoder and the difficulty of the signal being encoded. At the same time, members of the US military have an equally established and longstanding history of tattooing to indicate military units, battles, etc., and this association is also widespread among older Americans. A good demonstration of compression artifacts is provided by the sound of applause: it is hard to compress because it is random, therefore the failings of the encoder are more obvious, and are audible as ringing. This cultural use of tattoos predates the widespread popularity of tattoos in the general population, so older people may still associate tattoos with criminality. With too low a bit rate, "compression artifacts" (i.e., sounds that were not present in the original recording) may appear in the reproduction. In the USA many prisoners and criminal gangs use distinctive tattoos to indicate facts about their criminal behavior, prison sentences, and organizational affiliation. MP3 files encoded with a lower bit rate will generally play back at a lower quality.

It is widely believed that one of the initiation rites in becoming a triad member is silently withstanding the pain of receiving a large tattoo in one sitting, usually performed in the traditional "hand-poked" style. By contrast, uncompressed audio as stored on a compact disc has a bit rate of about 1400 kbit/s. At least according to popular belief, most triad members in Hong Kong have a tattoo of a black dragon on the left bicep and one of a white tiger on the right; in fact, many people in Hong Kong use "left a black dragon, right a white tiger" as a euphemism for a triad member. Typically rates chosen are between 128 and 256 kilobit per second. Tattoos, particularly full traditional body suits, are still popularly associated with the yakuza (mafia) in Japan. Because MP3 is a lossy format, it is able to provide a number of different options for its "bit rate"—that is, the number of bits of encoded data that are used to represent each second of audio. For example, many businesses such as gyms, hot springs and recreational facilities in Japan still ban people with visible tattoos. The use of formats that supports DRM is in an attempt to prevent piracy of copyright protected materials, but any computer savvy person can easily rip the DRM from a song file turning it into a file that is not locked to any computer.

In some cultures, tattoos still have negative associations, despite their increasing popularity and are generally associated with criminality in the public's mind; therefore those who choose to be tattooed in such countries usually keep their tattoos covered for fear of reprisal. Commercial online music distribution services (like the iTunes Music Store) usually prefer other/proprietary music file formats that support Digital Rights Management (DRM) to control and restrict the use of digital music. Tattoos can therefore impair a wearer's career prospects, particularly when inked on places not typically covered by clothing, such as hands or neck. Due to the vastly increased spread of MP3s through the Internet some major record labels reacted by filing a lawsuit against Napster to protect their Copyrights (see also intellectual property). Some employers, especially in professional fields, still look down on tattoos or regard them as contributing to an unprofessional appearance. Controversies regarding peer-to-peer file sharing of MP3 files have flourished in recent years — largely because high compression enables sharing of files that would otherwise be too large and cumbersome to share. The first twin coil machine, the predecessor of the modern configuration, was invented by another Englishman, Alfred Charles South of London, in 1899. Those programs made it very easy for the average user to playback, create, share, and collect MP3s.

The first coil machine was patented by Thomas Riley in London, 1891 using a single coil. MP3 popularity was mostly due to, and interchangeable with, the successes of companies and software packages like Nullsoft's Winamp (released in 1997), mpg123, and Napster (released in 1999). Modern tattoo machines use electromagnetic coils. In the first half of 1995 through the late 1990s, MP3 files began flourishing on the Internet. O'Reilly's machine was based on the rotary technology of the electric engraving device invented by Thomas Edison. Other founding members include Jon Luini, Brandee Selck, and Ahin Savara. The modern electric tattoo machine is far removed from the machine invented by Samuel O'Reilly in 1891. IUMA was started by Rob Lord (who later headed pioneering Nullsoft) and Jeff Patterson, both from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1993.

Nevertheless, in most western countries tattooing is rather seen by the general public as a minority choice, hence usually on less visible parts of the body (even in the case of some adepts who transform a large part of their skin into a 'tattoo gallery'; the contrary can thus by a non-conformist statement), except for certain circles (such as sailors or oil rig drillers, certain military units and clubs), impulsive kick choices (unwisely done while intoxicated or as a dare) or fashionable rages. IUMA was the Internet's first high-fidelity music web site, hosting thousands of authorized MP2 recordings before MP3 or the web was popularized. Carrying on the family tradition, Winston Churchill was himself tattooed. The Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) is generally recognized as the start of the on-line music revolution. Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, not only had a tattoo of a snake around her wrist, which she covered when the need arose with a specially crafted diamond bracelet, but had her nipples pierced as well. Initially the only encoder available for MP2 production was the Xing Encoder, accompanied by the program CDDA2WAV, a CD ripper that transformed CD audio tracks to computer data files. Aside from her consort Prince Albert, there are persistent rumours that Queen Victoria had a small tattoo in an undisclosed 'intimate' location; Denmark's king Frederick was filmed showing his tattoos taken as a young sailor. In October 1993, MP2 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2) files appeared on the Internet and were often played back using the Xing MPEG Audio Player, and later in a program for Unix by Tobias Bading called MAPlay, which was initially released on February 22nd, 1994 (MAPlay was also ported to the Microsoft Windows).

There, it was not uncommon for members of the social elite to gather in the drawing rooms and libraries of the great country estate homes after dinner and partially disrobe in order to show off their tattoos. Because of the relatively small hard drives back in that time (~500 MB) the technology was essential to store music for listening pleasure on a computer. The tattooing craze spread to upper classes all over Europe in the nineteenth century, but particularly in England where it was estimated in Harmsworth Magazine in 1898 that as many as one in five members of the gentry were tattooed. With the first real-time software MP3 player Winplay3 (released September 9th, 1995) many people were able to encode and playback MP3 files on their PCs. King Alfonso of modern Spain also has a tattoo. The filename extension .mp3 was chosen by the Fraunhofer team on July 14, 1995 (previously, the files had been named .bit). Taking their sartorial lead from the British Court, where King Edward VII followed King George V's lead in getting tattooed; King Frederik IX of Denmark, the King of Romania, Kaiser Wilhelm II, King Alexandar of Yugoslavia and even Czar Nicholas of Russia, all sported tattoos, many of them elaborate and ornate renditions of the Royal Coat of Arms or the Royal Family Crest. Later on, on July 7, 1994 the Fraunhofer Society released the first software MP3 encoder called l3enc.

George's sons, The Duke of Clarence and The Duke of York were also tattooed in Japan while serving in the British Admiralty, solidifying what would become a family tradition. Some other real time implementation of MPEG Audio encoders were available for the purpose of digital broadcasting (radio DAB, television DVB) towards consumer receivers and set top boxes. On a trip to Japan he also received a dragon on the forearm, from the needles of an acclaimed Japanese tattoo master. Working in non real time on a number of operating systems it was able to demonstrate the first real time hardware decoding (DSP based) of compressed audio. The English Royal Court must have been fascinated with the Tahitian chief's tattoos because King George V himself got inked with the 'Cross of Jerusalem' when he traveled to the Middle East in 1862. A reference simulation software written in C language known as ISO 11172-5 was developed by the members of the ISO MPEG Audio committee in order to produce bit compliant MPEG Audio files (Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3). Cook went on to write, "This method of Tattowing I shall now describe...As this is a painful operation, especially the Tattowing of their Buttocks, it is performed but once in their Lifetimes.". Some more serious and critical audio excerpts (glockenspiel, triangle, accordion, ...) were taken from the EBU V3/SQAM reference compact disc and have been used by professional sound engineers to assess the subjective quality of the MPEG Audio formats.

This is done by inlaying the Colour of Black under their skins, in such a manner as to be indelible.". This song was chosen because of its softness and simplicity, making it easier to hear imperfections in the compression format during playbacks. In the Ship's Log Cook recorded this entry : "Both sexes paint their Bodys, Tattow, as it is called in their Language. Karlheinz Brandenburg used a CD recording of Suzanne Vega's song Tom's Diner to assess the MP3 compression algorithm. It was in Tahiti aboard the Endeavour, in July of 1769, that Cook first noted his observations about the indigenous body modification and is the first recorded use of the word tattoo. Compression ratios with this reference are higher, which demonstrates the problem of the term compression ratio for lossy encoders. In the process sailors and seamen re-introduced the practice of tattooing in Europe and it spread rapidly to seaports around the globe. Sometimes the Digital Audio Tape (DAT) SP parameters are used (48 kHz, 2x16 bit).

Many of Cook's men, ordinary seamen and sailors, came back with tattoos, a tradition that would soon become associated with men of the sea in the public's mind and the press of the day. Nevertheless, there are often published compression rates that use the CD parameters as references (44.1 kHz, 2 channels at 16 bits per channel or 2x16 bit). In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed Tahitian chief, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. Compression efficiency of encoders is typically defined by the bit rate because compression rate depends on the bit depth and sampling rate of the input signal. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy and had acquired his position with Cook by putting up what was at the time the princely sum of some ten thousand pounds in the expedition. Further work on MPEG audio was finalized in 1994 as part of the second suite of MPEG standards, MPEG-2, more formally known as international standard ISO/IEC 13818-3, originally published in 1995. Cook's Science Officer and Expedition Botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, returned to England with a tattoo. All algorithms were finalized in 1992 as part of MPEG-1, the first standard suite by MPEG, which resulted in the international standard ISO/IEC 11172-3, published in 1993.

Crew members of those voyages returned with more than just fabulous tales of what they had seen, many of the sailors returned with tattoos. Johnston (US), Gerhard Stoll (Germany), Yves-François Dehery (France), Karlheinz Brandenburg (Germany) took ideas from Musicam and ASPEC, added some of their own ideas and created MP3, which was designed to achieve the same quality at 128 kbit/s as MP2 at 192 kbit/s. When Cook and his men returned home to Europe from their voyages to Polynesia, the salons of Paris and London were soon abuzz with tales of the 'tattooed savages' that Cook and his men had seen on their travels and discovered in previously unknown lands. Further, on a working group consisting of J.D. Between 1766 and 1779, Captain James Cook made three voyages to the South Pacific, the last trip ending with Cook's death in Hawaii in February, 1779. Stoll (Layer II). See irezumi. van de Kerkhof (Layer I) and G.

The Water Margin had a major influence on tattooing in Japan. Under the chairmanship of Professor Mussmann (University of Hannover) the editing of the standard was made under the responsibilities of L. In addition, Chinese legend has it that the mother of Yue Fei, the most famous general of the Song Dynasty, tattooed the words 精忠報國 (pinyin: jin zhong bao guo) on his back with her sewing needle before he left to join the army, reminding him to "repay his country with pure loyalty". Its technologies and ideas were fully incorporated into the definition of ISO MPEG Audio Layer I and Layer II and further on of the Layer III (MP3) format. Tattooing has also been featured prominently in one of the Four Classic Novels in Chinese literature, Water Margin, in which at least two of the 108 characters, Shi Jun and Yan Qing, are described as having tattoos covering nearly the whole of their bodies. The Musicam format based on subband coding was key to settle the basis of the MPEG Audio compression format (sampling rates, structure of frames, headers, number of samples per frame). One reading of Leviticus is to apply it only narrowly to this specific practice contemporary with the book's writing. The Musicam technique, as proposed by Philips (The Netherlands), CCETT (France), IRT (Germany) was chosen due to its simplicity and error robustness, as well as its low computational power associated to the encoding of high quality compressed audio.

In essence, people were literally carrying with them a reminder of the recently deceased in the form of tattoos created by ash being rubbed into shallow wounds cut or slashed into the body, usually the forearms. In 1991, there were two proposals available: Musicam (known as Layer 2), and ASPEC (Adaptive Spectral Perceptual Entropy Coding). It was a sign of respect for the dead and a symbol of reverence and a sense of the profound loss for the newly departed; and it is surmised that the ash that was rubbed into the self-inflicted wounds came from the actual funeral pyres that were used to cremate bodies. EU-147 ran from 1987 to 1994. An ancient practice in the Middle East involved people cutting themselves and rubbing in ash during a period of mourning after an individual had died. This project was financed by the European Union as a part of the EUREKA research program where it was commonly known as EU-147. Some Christians, Jews and Muslims believe Leviticus 19:28 prohibits believers from getting tattoos: Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. A more literal translation of Leviticus is: Do not cut your bodies for the dead nor put marks upon you. The practice proscribed by Leviticus may or may not be tattooing directly (though it is certainly some form of bodily modification). MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 encoding began as the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) project managed by Egon Meier-Engelen of the DFVLR (later on called DLR = Deutsche Luft und Raumfahrt = German Aerospace Agency) in Germany.

According to Robert Graves in his book The Greek Myths, tattooing was common amongst certain religious groups in the ancient Mediterranean world, which probably contributed to the prohibition of tattooing in Leviticus 19:28 in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, any succession is not likely to happen for a significant amount of time due to MP3's overwhelming popularity (MP3 enjoys extremely wide popularity and support, not just by end-users and software but by hardware such as DVD and CD players). The Man of Pazyryk was also tattooed with dots that lined up along the spinal column (lumbar region) and around the right ankle. In terms of the MPEG specifications, AAC (Advanced audio coding) from MPEG-4 is to be the successor of the MP3 format, although there has been a significant movement to create and popularize other audio formats. Their tattooing involved animal designs carried out in a curvilinear style. MP3 Surround is backward compatible with standard stereo MP3, and file sizes are similar. 300 BC) were extracted from the permafrost of Altaï in the second half of the 20th century (the Man of Payzyrk, during the 1940s; one female mummy and one male in Ukok plateau, during the 1990s). MP3 Surround, a version of the format supporting 5.1 channels for surround sound, was introduced in December 2004.

Three tattooed mummies (c. The MP3 format uses, at its heart, a hybrid transformation to transform a time domain signal into a frequency domain signal:. Mair, The Tarim Mummies, London, 2000), some of them could date from the end of the 2nd millennium before our era. MP3 audio can be compressed with different bit rates, providing a range of tradeoffs between data size and sound quality. Mallory and V H. A number of techniques are employed in MP3 to determine which portions of the audio can be discarded, including psychoacoustics. Still relatively unknown (the only current publications in Western languages are those of J P. It provides a representation of pulse-code modulation-encoded (PCM) audio data in a much smaller size by discarding portions that are considered less important to human hearing (similar to JPEG, a lossy compression for images).

Tarim Basin (West China, Xinjiang) revealed several tattooed mummies of a European physical type. MP3 is a compression format. "Ötzi the Iceman", dated circa 3300 BC, exhibits therapeutic tattoos (small parallel dashes along lumbar and on the legs). . Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice since Neolithic times. In popular usage, MP3 also refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 format on computers. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples, and in the Philippines, Borneo, Africa, North America, South America, Mesoamerica, Japan, and China. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners.

The Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, wore facial tattoos. MPEG Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers working in the framework of the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee under the chairmanship of Professor Hans Musmann (University of Hannover - Germany). Tattooing has been a nearly ubiquitous human practice. the majority of home users not knowing or not caring about the software patent controversy, which is in general irrelevant to their choice of the MP3 format for personal use. Within traditional indigenous cultures, tattooing most often takes place within the context of a rite of passage between adolescence and adulthood. the lack of DRM-protection technology, which makes MP3 files easy to edit, copy and distribute over networks,. A decline in traditional tribal tattooing practices usually came after first contact with Europeans and the resultant efforts to convert aboriginal and indigenous people to Western religous and cultural practices, which usually held tattooing to be a "pagan" or "heathen" activity. the wide variety of existing software and hardware that takes advantage of the file format,.

In many traditional cultures tattooing has enjoyed a resurgence, as native people are once again proud of their cultural heritage. the large quantity of music now available in the MP3 format,. A majority of the respondents—54 percent—said tattoos were a form of art, while 40 percent said they were not. the fact that these alternatives do not universally provide a definite advantage over MP3,. residents to give their opinions of tattoos as an art form. familiarity with the format, not knowing alternatives exist,. An August, 2005 telephone poll conducted by Zogby International asked 1,042 U.S. Apple Lossless.

Movie stars, models, popular musicians and sports figures are just some of the people in the public eye who are commonly tattooed, which in turn has fueled the acceptance of tattoos within mainstream popular culture. Wavpack. The growth in tattoo culture has seen the influx of new artists into the industry, many of whom have technical and fine art training, and that coupled with advancements in tattoo pigments and the ongoing refinement of the equipment used for tattooing has led to a marked improvement in the quality of tattoos being produced. TTA. Tattoos have become increasingly popular in recent decades in many parts of the world, particularly in North America, Japan, and Europe. SHN, also known as Shorten. Tattoo designs that are mass produced and sold to tattoo artists and studios and displayed in shop are known as flash. Monkey's Audio.

This usage is gaining support, with mainstream art galleries holding exhibitions of tattoo designs and photographs of tattoos. FLAC stands for 'Free Lossless Audio Codec'. Most tattoo enthusiasts refer to tattoos as tats, ink, art or work, and to tattooists as artists. Speex, free software and patent free codec based on CELP specifically designed for speech and VoIP. . RealAudio from RealNetworks, frequently in use for streaming on websites;. In Japanese the word used for traditional designs or those that are applied using traditional methods is irezumi ("insertion of ink"), while "tattoo" is used for non-Japanese designs. AMR-WB+ Enhanced Adaptive Multi Rate WideBand codec, optimized for cellular and other limited bandwidth use;.

The word is traced to the Tahitian tatu or tatau, meaning to mark or strike (the latter referring to traditional methods of applying the designs). QDesign, used in QuickTime at low bitrates;. Tattoos are a type of body modification. Windows Media Audio (WMA) from Microsoft. In technical terms, tattooing is micro-pigment implantation. MPEG-4 AAC, used by Apple's iTunes Music Store and iPod. A tattoo is a design or marking made by the insertion of a pigment into punctures or cuts in the skin. ATRAC, used in Sony's Minidisc;.

American Journal of Roentgenology: Article. AC-3, used in Dolby Digital and DVD;. and Smith, M. mp3PRO from Thomson Multimedia combining MP3 with SBR;. Tattoo-Induced Skin Burn During MR Imaging Wagle, W.A. MPC, also known as Musepack (formerly MP+), a derivative of MP2;. American Journal of Roentgenology White Paper. Ogg Vorbis from the Xiph.org Foundation, a free software and patent free codec.

and Crues, J.V. MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 2 (MP2), MP3's predecessor;. MR Safety and the American College of Radiology Shellock, F.G. Encoder/decoder overall delay is not defined, which means lack of official provision for gapless playback; gaps may be introduced between tracks, although this can be avoided to a degree by using LAME to encode. Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Danzig Baldaev, ISBN 3882439203. Joint stereo is done on a frame-to-frame basis. Tattoo Art Magazine. No scale factor band for frequencies above 15.5/15.8 kHz.

Total Tattoo Book Amy Krakow, ISBN 0446670014. Time resolution can be too low for highly transient signals. The Tattoo Encyclopedia: A Guide to Choosing Your Tattoo Terisa Green, ISBN 0743223292. Bitrate is limited to a maximum of 320 kbit/s. Ink: The Not-Just-Skin-Deep Guide to Getting a Tattoo Terisa Green, ISBN 0451215141. ACM Producer Pro. Renaut, 2004, French and English abstract). BladeEnc.

PhD Thesis on body-marking in Antiquity (L. Xing. Renaut, 2004, French and English abstract). ISO dist10 reference code. Comparative study about Ötzi's therapeutic tattoos (L. Fraunhofer Gesellschaft: Some encoders are good, some have bugs. provide clear aftercare instructions and products. It is (in contrast to others) a fully LGPL'd MP3 encoder, with excellent speed and quality, rivaling even MP3's technological successors.

always use fresh ink for each session, placing small amounts in disposable containers which are used for one client only. LAME first created by Mike Cheng in early 1998. always use properly sterilized non-disposable and disposable supplies. Layer 3: excellent at 224...320 Kbit/s, very good at 192...224 Kbit/s, good at 128...192 Kbit/s. always open new, sterile needle packages in front of the client, and always use new, sterile or sterile disposable instruments. Layer 2: excellent at 256...384 kbit/s, very good at 224...256 Kbit/s, good at 192...224 Kbit/s. Artists will change gloves one or more times during sessions. Layer 1: excellent at 384 kbit/s.

wash his or her hands with water and soap or an approved sanitizing agent, and wear latex gloves. Layer 3: 112...128 kbit/s, compression 12:1...10:1. be willing and able to answer questions. Layer 2: 192...256 kbit/s, compression 8:1...6:1. ensure that the customer is satisfied with and sure about the design before applying it. Layer 1: 384 kbit/s, compression 4:1. refuse to tattoo minors, intoxicated people, people with contraindicated skin conditions, or those incapable of consent due to mental incapacity. Aliasing reduction postprocessing.

be knowledgeable, courteous and helpful. 36 or 12 tap MDCT; size can be selected independent for sub-band 0...1 and 2...31. accessible facilities for washing the hands with hot water and soap. 32-band polyphase quadrature filter. It is also a good idea to ask for recent spore test results. an autoclave - usually required by law, and necessary for sterilizing tools.

sharps containers for old needles. biohazard containers for blood-stained objects. Allowed in all cosmetics: Pigment White 6 (titanium dioxide), Pigment Blue 15, Pigment Black 7 (carbon black), Pigment Brown 6 (iron oxide), Pigment Red 101 (iron(III) oxide), Jernoxid (iron(II) oxide), Pigment Yellow 42 (iron oxide-hydroxide), Sudan Red, Food Yellow 13 (Quinoline Yellow WS), Mangan Violet (manganese ammonium pyrophosphate), Food Red 17 (Allura Red AC), Food Blue 2 (Brilliant Blue FCF), Acid Red 87 (Eosin Y). Allowed in all cosmetics except those used around the eyes: Pigment Green 7.

Allowed in all cosmetics that do not come in contact with mucous membranes: Pigment Yellow 1, Pigment Orange 43. Allowed for cosmetics with only temporary contact with skin: Pigment Violet 23, Pigment Red 122. Substances not approved for cosmetic use: Pigment Orange 36, Pigment Yellow 74, Pigment Red 170, Pigment Yellow 97, Pigment Red 146, Pigment Brown 25, Pigment Red 266.