MP3s are ageing and a new format may bring a richer aural experience to music lovers everywhere, say the makers of a new audio format described as “a new eco-system for musicians and music lovers”.

The inventors of the MP3 format that took the file-sharing audio-world by storm in 1993 have come back with a new way to blow our minds and ears. It’s called MusicDNA and the aim of this format is to offer users a lot more content within their files, similar to the way the iTunes LP format gives you more bang for your byte.

The Norwegian developer, Dagfinn Bach, was one of the people to work on the first MP3 player in the early ‘90s. Bach spoke to BBC News about the benefits MusicDNA will have in store for users. It holds up to 32GB of content within each file, so lyrics, artwork, blog posts, photos, etc are all part of the package. A bonus is that all that content is continually updated so you get fresh info even after purchasing that file.

“We can deliver a file that is extremely searchable and can carry up to 32GB of extra information in the file itself,” Bach said. “And it will be dynamically updatable so that every time the user is connected, his file will be updated.”

The person credited with inventing the MP3, German researcher Karlheinz Brandenburg, is one of the investors of the new MusicDNA format. Brandenburg mentioned that the idea of a richer user experience is not new and has been thought about since the beginning of the noughties era.

“I think it brings together a number of ideas that have been around for a long time. I remember 10 years ago, a lot of people were saying that we need to enrich the user experience, that legal access to music has to give the customers more than just music, and this is certainly one very nice way to do it,” said Brandenburg.

Beggars Group record company, the mother of M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend, has signed up to MusicDNA along with Tommy Boy Entertainment.

A test version of the new venture will be released mid-year and the inventors are hoping for it to be accessible to most by the end of the year. According to news.com.au the response to MusicDNA’s announcement lead to 30,000 people trying to access the website in one day.