EMSA/MAS standard format for spectral data exchange

One of the frustrating problems experimentalists often encounter with computer based spectroscopic instrumentation is the general incompatibility of the data files recorded on different analysis systems. The rapid growth of inexpensive personal computers has resulted in an information explosion which has increased the desirability and need for a simple method for exchange of experimental data between scientists who may be office neighbors or transoceanic collaborators. While it is not reasonable to expect a particular manufacturers software, which was designed and optimized for specific hardware, to function on an competitor's system, it would be of enormous value to the microanalysis community to have a simple method for data interchange. This would allow, for example, the routine distribution of experimental data between research laboratories with a minimum of difficulty or would enable test spectra to be transported between data acquisition systems to compare different data analysis routines. These points as well as all the other merits of a standardized data format have been detailed elsewhere [1-4].