Xmms and RH8

[Voltage Spike]

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On Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 02:25 PM, Scott wrote:

> Not so easy to do.  MP3s, for better or worse, are already entrenched 
> in
> the market.  Just look at the number of devices - car radios, portable 
> cd
> players, etc - that have the ability to play MP3s.  Ogg may be a 
> "better"
> format due to all the IP insanity, but at this time Ogg is to MP3 what
> Beta was to VHS.

Don't forget that Ogg Vorbis is also better from the viewpoint that 
equivalent bitrates will yield higher quality (or your music files will 
be smaller at the same quality).  They have the ability (although not 
yet implemented) be "stripped" as required for streaming or use on 
portable devices.  There are a few other reasons, but I think you get 
the idea.

However, I must agree about MP3 files being entrenched.  If not for the 
fact that neither my iPod nor my Rio SP250 will play Ogg files, then I 
would be 100% Ogg (as I was before I went portable).  I believe this 
might get better in the future, but only time will tell.

If you only use software, though, then Ogg should not be a problem.  It 
is supported (without any extra downloads) by Winamp and others on the 
Windows side.  On the Linux side, I sure hope it is supported by 
everybody (I know of at least xmms).  Furthermore, several popular 
file-sharing clients correctly recognize Ogg audio files and integrate 
with the same degree of functionality as MP3.

Ogg Vorbis is predictably becoming popular in arenas where sharing is 
not an issue.  More specifically,  I am referring to the fact that 
games (Serious Sam and Unreal Tournament 2003 from memory) can proclaim 
"Powered by Ogg".

I guess the point of the above "spaghetti speech" is that MP3 is not 
required in all situations.  It is most unfortunate if you desire to 
use hardware decoding or have a pre-existing library, but we should do 
our best to rectify both of these situations.

> Switching to/supporting one format over the other is not the answer.
> Addressing all of this IP BS and patent bs (and their supporting 
> tyrants)
> and coming up with a workable solution is where all efforts should be
> focused.

I hate to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you are asking 
Red Hat to get sued over patent infringement in a case that they will 
obviously lose.  In approximately eight years (I can not recall the 
actual filing year of the patent in question), everyone will be free to 
use the MP3 format.  Until then you may visit 
http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html and pay your respects 
(*).

As for the validity of the Fraunhofer patent, I am not able to comment. 
  I have neither the knowledge nor the expertise to make a statement.  
However, I will say that violating a patent is probably not the best 
way to bring about reform in the patent office.  You knowingly violated 
a good law and the DoJ has neither the power to recall an individual 
patent nor to judge the patent.

* I actually do encourage you to try and purchase a license for libmp3 
on Linux.  Although you are out $0.75 (plus the cost of a stamp), I 
have a feeling that it will cost Thomson Multimedia more than the 
license to process and account for that money.  Protesting through 
submission? ;-)

- -- 
                                                            Voltage Spike
       ,,,
      (. .)
- --ooO-(_)-Ooo--

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