[grc] News about mp3 becoming obsolete format

[Frieda Werden]

Thanks, Al!  I was always sorry that Ogg Vorbis did not get much traction.
 (Perhaps having such a long name didn't help.)  I guess the patent
expiring means at last it won't be such a silly circumlocution to get LAME
when we download Audacity!

On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 5:39 AM, al davis via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org>
wrote:

> On Thu, 20 Jul 2017 04:51:40 -0700
> Frieda Werden via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
> > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4507098/
> MP3-format-killed-founders-terminate-licensing.html
>
> Yet another half-truth.
>
> The licensing is terminated because the patents are expiring, and so
> the licensing is no longer needed.
>
> In a technical sense, compared to the alternatives, mp3 has really been
> obsolete for a long time.
>
> Ogg-vorbis was created as a free alternative to the non-free mp3.  It
> works better and can be used without licensing.  While free and with no
> patents could be considered to be a benefit to most, to the corporate
> world it is a drawback.  The corporate world wants technology they can
> restrict, so in public they almost deny the existence of ogg-vorbis.
>
> So AAC was invented to take it back. .. A supposedly better format
> that is once again proprietary.
>
> Regardless of what anyone wants, MP3 isn't going away for a long time.
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-- 
Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org