The Cellar - View Single Post

glatt · 08-25-2009, 01:51 PM

So I was surfing around today (Facebook) and learned that not only do we know this place from Seinfeld, but it's also the inspiration for the Suzanne Vega song "Tom's Diner." And the Suzanne Vega song was the inspiration behind the MP3 format. Every time the engineers thought they had figured out the right compression format to use for shrinking song files, they would use it on "Tom's Diner" to see if Vega's voice kept its warmth and clarity. It wasn't until the compression format passed the "Tom's Diner" test that they settled on using it for the MP3 format we all know and use.

So Tom's Restaurant, pictured here, is really the ultimate power in the universe.

08-25-2009, 01:51 PM	#1428
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	So I was surfing around today (Facebook) and learned that not only do we know this place from Seinfeld, but it's also the inspiration for the Suzanne Vega song "Tom's Diner." And the Suzanne Vega song was the inspiration behind the MP3 format. Every time the engineers thought they had figured out the right compression format to use for shrinking song files, they would use it on "Tom's Diner" to see if Vega's voice kept its warmth and clarity. It wasn't until the compression format passed the "Tom's Diner" test that they settled on using it for the MP3 format we all know and use. So Tom's Restaurant, pictured here, is really the ultimate power in the universe.