bit rate
     
         (Or "bitrate") A
        data rate expressed in bits per second.  This is a similar
        to baud but the latter is more applicable to channels with
        more than two states.
     
        The common units of bit rate are kilobits per second (Kbps)
        and megabits per second (Mbps).  In data rates, the
        multipliers "k", "M", etc. stand for powers of 1000 not powers
        of 1024.
     
        The term is also commonly used when discussing digital
        sampling and sample rates.  For example, the MP3 audio
        compaction algorithm is often set to ouput files with a
        bitrate of 120 kbps.  This means that the file contains an
        average of 120 kilobits for each second of audio (900 KB per
        minute).  This compares with CD audio which is encoded at
        44100 16-bit stereo samples per second or 1408 kbps.
     
        (2003-05-19)