[clug] Ominous DRM rumblings

[david]

Alex Satrapa wrote:
> On 27 May 2005, at 21:43, Sam Couter wrote:
> 
>> What else would they use? MP3 is patented, nobody except us geeks  
>> [cares] about Ogg Vorbis, WMA Just Works for the 90%+ of computer  
>> users who have Windows.
> 
> 
> What can we do to raise people's awareness of the problems that will  
> result from following this path? Noone will believe you when you tell  
> them that the world of the future has one supreme governing body - I  
> just can't figure out whether it's going to be Micromart or Walsoft.
> 
> What alternative audio and video codecs are out there? What software  is 
> available to manage the complete chain from production through  hosting 
> to viewing? It's not enough to say, "Ogg Vorbis!"  There  needs to be a 
> complete toolkit, that will allow live streaming all  the way from the 
> microphone (or line in jack) at the studio to the  headphones at the 
> client site.
> 
> Alex
.mp3 is viable but limited in a few ways. Real offer a reasonable 
solution. Apple are sitting on quicktime (sorensen) and then there are 
the mpeg4 solutions (like AAC).

There is quite a lot at stake here (in terms of big business) - mp3 and 
mp4 might be opening doors for consumers and users, but big business 
isn't interested in giving away its products. It follows that (in one 
way or another) a proprietary solution (to the problem of "free" media) 
will be found and "provided" to the end user. Lock in the end user and 
the tools for production and distribution become a relatively trivial 
exercise. Ultimately (and I am open to a contrary view :) markets are 
driven, despite the common usage of the term "market forces".

Alex is right about adopting Ogg Vorbis for linux, but ogg is unlikely 
to be incorporated in the mainstream. Tools like audacity that allow you 
to output the final product in a variety of formats are more useful. 
Think of Open Office with its plethora of export formats.

just my 2c

-- 
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David Howe
http://www.qednet.biz
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