Josh Coalson;143065 Wrote: > --- mkozlows <mkozlows.2f6eib1160003101 (AT) no-mx (DOT) > forums.slimdevices.com> > wrote: > > > > Josh Coalson;143003 Wrote: > > > > > > you know, once you went with WMAL you pretty much tethered > yourself > > > to microsoft. all microsoft has to say is 'no' to slimdevices or > > > price the license too high, or ... and that's it. > > > > > > > For very light values of "tether", considering that it's a lossless > > format and there are freely downloadable SDKs and API documentation. > > > WMA Lossless definitely isn't as open as FLAC, but it's no Apple > > Lossless, either. > > yeah, I see what you're saying, but as far as I know the libraries > are binary-only and only work on windows, they're not going to help > anyone except those already tethered to microsoft. maybe you mean > it at least allows you to transcode on a windows machine? but that > wasn't sufficient for Martin. > > > Anyway, open source arguments notwithstanding, the current situation > > kinda sucks for lossless people. There's no lossless format that > > will > > natively work on the best software (Windows Media Player 11, which > > only > > supports WMA Lossless), the best portable device (the iPod, which > > only > > supports Apple Lossless) > > .... or FLAC via rockbox. yes there is effort to get it to work > but less than getting WMAL to work on anything else. best is also > debateable as there are several very good portables that natively > support FLAC. > http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html#hardware > > all that said, the basic problem is choosing closed, proprietary > codecs designed to lock you in, then asking for support for them > from the competitors of the codecs' creators. slim responded to > user demand for FLAC because they could; it was open, free, well > documented, had C reference decoder with source, and widely > supported. it is not so easy for ALAC or WMAL for many reasons. > > I think your solution of using FLAC + MP3 is the most reasonable > right now. > > Josh
Better yet is FLAC + OGG. iRiver has appeared to stop supporting OGG but there is iCowon. -- earthbased ------------------------------------------------------------------------ earthbased's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=334 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28267 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
