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I wanted to be Pippin up in this thread but my humor seems to have headed Outbound...

earth2willi.com

Developer time and support time, mainly.

The more important question: What do they have to gain?

this pretty much sums it up from Apple's perspective, but let me expound upon this -- Vorbis is dead for noncommercial use.

Don't get me wrong, I think Vorbis is an admirable project for a variety of technical and nontechnical reasons. I released music* exclusively in Ogg Vorbis for a while. But most people who are using digital music services are encountering it at the level of iTunes or another similar media player, often bundled with hardware or software. iTunes and others have paid Fraunhofer for the rights to use mp3, so people aren't ever confronted with the copyright issues surrounding mp3 when using iTunes or a similar player. As I recall there are freeware mp3 implementations not related to Fraunhofer as well. Further, when explaining Vorbis to an end user it is often compared to MP3.. (it's like mp3 but better) Vorbis is simply not as compatible as MP3 or WAV, though, so content providers are simply not as likely to provide content in this format natively. I really don't have time to encode, tag, test, upload, link 3 seperate copies of every song I want to release (MP3, OggVorbis, OggFLAC), so I choose MP3 and OggFLAC -- the most compatible 'fast' download and most capable 'broadband' formats, respectively (IMO). If you want Vorbis, you can encode them yourselves from the FLAC. But because of these compatibility and content issues, combined with the 'playing catch-up' position Vorbis has in the compressed codec field and the end-user transparency of the mp3 copyright issue, I just really think Vorbis is dead for noncommercial use. I could be wrong, but it might be a better use of resources for people to just accept this and move on to other projects or unadopted standards... ;-)

I do think Vorbis will continue to live on in commercial uses where the licensing really becomes an advantage, like using it to compress videogame soundtracks, or as a backend library in various types of computer software, or whatever. I do think it's possible that Apple could open up the iPod to accept 3rd party codecs, and that such a move could be beneficial if the implementation managed to keep end user support issues from becoming overwhelming. I don't know how long it will take Apple and the rest of the digital media industry to realize they can't forcibly and totally control the media fileformat playing field, and that some of the industry moves are hurting consumers (and thus the adoption and sales of these technologies!), but time will tell..

Somewhat off topic, but anyone wanna bet Apple's 'lossless' codec is just their DRM wrapped around FLAC? And yet it was a 30MB+ download!...

* Music server will be back online soon! New album in development! Visit my forums, music games video technology politics science recipes, etc.! Blah blah blah blah blah!

My new forum RSS feed!

Developer time and support time, mainly.

The more important question: What do they have to gain?

this pretty much sums it up from Apple's perspective, but let me expound upon this -- Vorbis is dead for noncommercial use.

Don't get me wrong, I think Vorbis is an admirable project for a variety of technical and nontechnical reasons. I released music* exclusively in Ogg Vorbis for a while. But most people who are using digital music services are encountering it at the level of iTunes or another similar media player, often bundled with hardware or software. iTunes and others have paid Fraunhofer for the rights to use mp3, so people aren't ever confronted with the copyright issues surrounding mp3 when using iTunes or a similar player. As I recall there are freeware mp3 implementations not related to Fraunhofer as well. Further, when explaining Vorbis to an end user it is often compared to MP3.. (it's like mp3 but better) Vorbis is simply not as compatible as MP3 or WAV, though, so content providers are simply not as likely to provide content in this format natively. I really don't have time to encode, tag, test, upload, link 3 seperate copies of every song I want to release (MP3, OggVorbis, OggFLAC), so I choose MP3 and OggFLAC -- the most compatible 'fast' download and most capable 'broadband' formats, respectively (IMO). If you want Vorbis, you can encode them yourselves from the FLAC. But because of these compatibility and content issues, combined with the 'playing catch-up' position Vorbis has in the compressed codec field and the end-user transparency of the mp3 copyright issue, I just really think Vorbis is dead for noncommercial use. I could be wrong, but it might be a better use of resources for people to just accept this and move on to other projects or unadopted standards... ;-)

I do think Vorbis will continue to live on in commercial uses where the licensing really becomes an advantage, like using it to compress videogame soundtracks, or as a backend library in various types of computer software, or whatever. I do think it's possible that Apple could open up the iPod to accept 3rd party codecs, and that such a move could be beneficial if the implementation managed to keep end user support issues from becoming overwhelming. I don't know how long it will take Apple and the rest of the digital media industry to realize they can't forcibly and totally control the media fileformat playing field, and that some of the industry moves are hurting consumers (and thus the adoption and sales of these technologies!), but time will tell..

Somewhat off topic, but anyone wanna bet Apple's 'lossless' codec is just their DRM wrapped around FLAC? And yet it was a 30MB+ download!...

* Music server will be back online soon! New album in development! Visit my forums, music games video technology politics science recipes, etc.! Blah blah blah blah blah!

My new forum RSS feed!

I've started a project to create a game framework using semacodes as location markers in an online, real-world RPG called SemaRPG. This framework could be customized and extended and used with standard technologies outside of the concern of cel carriers. As net-enabled camera phones become more pervasive I think these various URL-marker technologies like spotcode and semacode will continue to try and compete for market acceptance (Sony has it's own proprietary standard they would love to see adopted, etc.). It will be content that drives the adoption of these standards, so anyone interested in contributing to some open content is encouraged to check it out. SemaRPG could be a relatively simple project to put together that ends up being a lot of fun!

I submitted this to /. in October 2002

music, video, games, recipes, forums -- earth2willi.com!

Not only is Apple alive, they should have some interesting new stuff coming out the beginning of the New Year. The MacWorld keynote is January 6. Rumors are circulating of new, smaller iPods with 2gb and 4gb capacities and a lower price. There are some mockups and pictures here.

music, video, games, recipes, forums -- earth2willi.com!

By the way, cdparanoia can rip to AIFF just fine (use the -f flag).

there are also lots of free downloads at my site, earth2willi.com, including losslessly compressed FLAC. Download the FLAC, unzip them to WAV or AIF and load on your iPod! MP3 and Ogg are available too, all totally free of login requirements or service charges, untouched by the RIAA, and complete with print resolution artwork. Stop by the forums while you are there! :)

What are some other options for obtaining FLAC WAV or AIF online?

By the way, cdparanoia can rip to AIFF just fine (use the -f flag).

there are also lots of free downloads at my site, earth2willi.com, including losslessly compressed FLAC. Download the FLAC, unzip them to WAV or AIF and load on your iPod! MP3 and Ogg are available too, all totally free of login requirements or service charges, untouched by the RIAA, and complete with print resolution artwork. Stop by the forums while you are there! :)

What are some other options for obtaining FLAC WAV or AIF online?

visit earth2willi.com!

check out these pictures

and download some music or something while you are there! ;)

earth2willi.com

heh, that picture of a bowel of water on top of an open pc tower case is not something I would necessarily run, but I would imagine that you could make the system safer by enclosing the bowel and lines and perhaps passing the lines in through an empty PCI slot bay..

Still I would imagine you might need more space to accomplish this sort of solution. Has anyone looked into stirling engines as a method of heat transferal? They have no moving parts and are reportedly fairly effecient. I have been looking into using them to harness solar power.

be sure to visit this page to read my extensive summary of the current Macworld rumors, and updates/forecasts following the show

be sure to visit this page to read my extensive summary of the current Macworld rumors

visit this page to read my extensive rumor analysis

visit this page to read my extensive rumor analysis

now that an integer-based Ogg Vorbis decoder (called Tremor) has been developed, one of the main hurdles for hardware Ogg support has been removed. Tremor source code here. That pretty much leaves two other areas as far as I can tell, artist support and customer demand. Hopefully everyone aware of the benefits of Ogg is making an effort towards one or more of these areas. And thanks to the codec developers and everyone generally involved in Ogg!

the DMCA has implications that reach far beyond music and the RIAA, such as the well known DVD/DeCSS issues with the MPAA and newer issues such as the related proposed SSSCA.

now seems as good a time as ever to propose changes to the DMCA, before its implications become accepted by most of society. similarly, while it is generally viewed that the SSSCA will not pass in its current form, it is also believed by many (and probably rightly so) that a future variation of it will surface again. this is unacceptable. something needs to be done to protect the right to develop software, to write and release music and books, and to distribute artwork, or there will be little free speech left in the US save what is officially sanctioned, and essentially censored.

nearly 3 full albums of free music, downloadable without registration, advertisement free, and RIAA untouched... complete with print resolution artwork -- homepage at www.earth2willi.com