Abstract: A method and device for transcoding a first audio or video signal represented in one compression format to a second audio or video signal represented in another compression format. The transcoding is performed by direct mapping symbols from the first signal format to symbols of the second signal format. The transcoding can be performed between different formats or between the same format but with different bitrates. Such formats may be MP3 or aac.

Abstract: A data stream contains segments with reproducible signal data that has been encoded with a variable length encoding scheme. Each segment also contains first and second information about the length of the signal data in the segment, stored at predetermined relative positions with respect to the start and end of the signal data in the particular segment. During replay access locations are computed for accessing a next succeeding or preceding segment adjacent to a particular segment when a forward and backward direction of replay are selected respectively. The access location is computed from the first information from the particular segment or the second information from the adjacent segment that precedes the particular segment, dependent on whether the forward or backward direction is selected respectively.

Abstract: Encoding an audio signal is provided wherein the audio signal includes a first audio channel and a second audio channel, the encoding comprising subband filtering each of the first audio channel and the second audio channel in a complex modulated filterbank to provide a first plurality of subband signals for the first audio channel and a second plurality of subband signals for the second audio channel, downsampling each of the subband signals to provide a first plurality of downsampled subband signals and a second plurality of downsampled subband signals, further subband filtering at least one of the downsampled subband signals in a further filterbank in order to provide a plurality of sub-subband signals, deriving spatial parameters from the sub-subband signals and from those downsampled subband signals that are not further subband filtered, and deriving a single channel audio signal comprising derived subband signals derived from the first plurality of downsampled subband signals and the second plurality of