Linked by David Adams on Tue 27th Jul 2010 07:35 UTC, submitted by sjvn
Some people hate the idea of adding proprietary software to their desktop Linux. For these people, there are Linux distributions such as gNewSense that use only free software. For the rest of us, who use distributions such as Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu, there are times we either want to, or feel forced to, add proprietary programs such as Adobe Flash or Skype or the ability to play proprietary audio and video formats such as MP3 or commercial DVDs to your Linux desktop. Here's how to do it.
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Member since:2005-07-06
That frames the debate as purely technical but it is not. Vorbis is undeniably superior to MP3 but MP3 is still very popular. Open formats were not always late to the party either. If a so called superior format is patent encumbered, it presents more than just a technical challenge. It is also a debate about who has control and the political implications of that. Google doesn't want MPEGLA in charge and has spend millions now buying up VP8 and opening it up as WebM.
Member since:2005-07-06
That frames the debate as purely technical but it is not. Vorbis is undeniably superior to MP3 but MP3 is still very popular. Open formats were not always late to the party either. If a so called superior format is patent encumbered, it presents more than just a technical challenge. It is also a debate about who has control and the political implications of that. Google doesn't want MPEGLA in charge and has spend millions now buying up VP8 and opening it up as WebM.
MP3 is popular because it was widely implemented first, and it thus became entrenched. It's now ubiquitous, and there's not enough wrong with MP3 on a technical/implementation level to go through the trouble of shifting entire ecosystems from one format to another. Consumers for the most part just don't care.
The only two companies I can think of that would have the clout to cause a shift to Vorbis are Apple and Amazon, and I don't think either of them care enough. Apple has their own codec, but Amazon probably doesn't want the user headache when users accidentally download the a codec that isn't supported on their player.
Member since:2010-07-07
Where did I say it was purely technical? Vorbis may be better, but that doesn't matter, you just can't ovetake the momentum of MP3, it's a "good enough" format for the masses using a sub $20 set of headphones since if they are going to spend money on a sound system it's all going to be poured into making their car BOOM louder, thus further lowering the sound quality of the drivel they listen to.
If you want to overtake MP3 you've gotta come up with a format that ends up on the next big device that sells like shrooms at a Greatful Dead concert that can easily and at least decently transcode from MP3.
Just look at M4A/AAC and WMA, Apple and MS both tried to take out MP3 and both failed miserably.
Is there a phone on the market that has storage that can't play MP3? How about car CD player? Is there any music player for a non OSS system released in the last 10 years that didn't have playback support?
So again, it's not about being better, its about being first and getting on to consumer devices first, being better is actually an afterthought for 99% of people unfortunately.
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Member since:
2010-07-07
Install the support for it anyways or you'll never get the marketshare to justify the content creators switching formats.
You have to have the better format BEFORE the proprietary one comes along to have a snowball's chance in hell at getting general acceptance of an open format. So far the "better open format" has always come up late to the party causing guys like you to endlessly bemoan that nobody is using the open format.
With what had been learned from Theora, VP8, Dirac, Flac and Vorbis the community should have thr groundwork to start on the next generation video codec that will be used for whatever they decide to use for 3D broadcast TV or the next BluRay. If you don't beat MPEG-LA out of the door you'll never get accepted.
So write the next codec and get it working on everything everywhere, don't stop till it runs on your breakfast cereal.