tyler_durden wrote:
> This affects .mp3 files.  Wouldn't it be strange if it turned out that
> .mp3 file use gets essentially sued out of existence for commercial
> use?  Of course, it would still be used by people like us, as long as
> there are free software players to play it, and old mp3 player hardware
> around to play them, but new, tiny portable players that play mp3 might
> disappear.  
>   

AFAIK only encoders are forced to pay a license fee, players (decoders) 
are apparently left alone. Apparently that's the reason binaries of LAME 
are somewhat hard to come by.

> What  does that leave us with?  Apple's proprietary DRM'd formats,
> Windows proprietary DRM'd formats, etc.
>   

Shudder.

> It will be the best thing that ever happened to M$ (and apple) if mp3
> gets killed in the courts.  
>   

It's not in the interest of the patent holder to kill the format. This 
type of thing has been going on for a long time and mp3 is still very 
much alive.

> If anyone wants to listen to recorded music, they'll have to buy a
> player from M$ or apple, and they'll have to buy all their music from
> M$ and apple, too.

Thank goodness we have ogg and flac and even wav ;)

Regards,
Peter

_______________________________________________
discuss mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss

Reply via email to