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Apple's Present: iTunes Supports Ogg Files

curious.corn writes "I may be a fool (and a happy Christmas Mac OS X newbie ;-) but it seems that this morning's software update brought a really cool cadeau to Mac OS X. How 'bout Ogg file integration in iTunes? Yesterday evening I could only play them in QuickTime (after downloading a component somewhere) this morning I updated iTunes and am enjoying my old Linux playlists. Buon Natale a tutti voi Edo."

58 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Ehhhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, like, um, i clicked, and the computer was like, beep, and then it was like, playing my .oggs!

    --Ellen Feiss

    1. Re:Ehhhhh... by Dirtside · · Score: 4, Funny

      And then my .ogg was gone. It was a really good .ogg.

      --
      "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  2. Nope, no iTunes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    it's that codec you downloaded. It also hooked itself into iTunes. Apple has made it clear they won't support Ogg, at least in the forseeable future.

    1. Re:Nope, no iTunes by rufo · · Score: 2

      Link, please? The only thing I've heard from Apple regarding Ogg is silent indifference.

      --
      My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
  3. Nothing New Really by techathead · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think I could already do this with the same component. It just plays them as quicktime files. The downer is that they still have to be ripped to mp3 to goto the iPod. Now the real Christmas present would be if Apple would release an OGG iPod update. That would be really cool.
    Tommy

  4. Sounds good... by bdesham · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...but only if it supports Ogg- oh, wait, never mind...

    --
    Alcohol and Calculus don't mix. Don't drink and derive.
  5. Re:iPod by Fuzzle · · Score: 5, Informative

    No it doesn't. And I can't find this update that the person is talking about. I think he may be mistaken, because the component that he was talking about has always allowed you to play .OGG files in iTunes. Maybe he's just never tried it. Can we get a URL for the update?

  6. The link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    See freshmeat. This isn't from Apple, though ...

  7. /. editors do a cursory check before your publish by ellem · · Score: 3, Informative

    this guy is on crack. iTunes already did Ogg. There is no update.

    (And my new damn iPod won't charge!)

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
  8. more details, please by Quazi · · Score: 2
    How did you update iTunes when there is no update available? Please post a direct link to the update file.

    What happens when you remove the .ogg codec for Quicktime? Does the iTunes .ogg suport disappear?

    Do your iTunes visualizations respond to the .ogg files?

    Please, we need more info.

  9. Re:/. editors do a cursory check before your publi by Kevinv · · Score: 2

    try resetting the ipod by holding down the menu and play/pause button simultaneously for about 10 seconds. that fixed my charging problem.

    what i really want is an ogg encoder in itunes, not just a player.

  10. Sorry folks... by Squidgee · · Score: 4, Informative
    But it seems he's wrong. I just ran Software Update on my iBook, and there is no iTunes update. There is an iPod update, but it doesn't add anything to iTunes; just allows the 'pod to keep track of its battery better, plus some other minor tweaks.

    But don't fret! You can run .ogg files in iTunes; in fact, I'm doing so right now! While it may not have been posted on Christmas, and it may not be from Apple, consider it a christmas present anyways. Here it is. Merry Christmas! =)

  11. Cadeau? Gift. Buon Natale...? Good NATO to you? by jerryasher · · Score: 4, Funny

    So I couldn't this one out. And googling didn't help much either.

    The babelfish tells me that cadeau means gift in french. But it couldn't translate "Buon Natale a tutti voi Edo" into English. Translating from Italian, and the fish tells me it means: "Good NATO them to all you Edo", which evidently is a suggestion that we bring the Japanese into NATO. Which is interesting, as just yesterday I heard a report that with the North Korean situation and everything, the Japanese are once again considering their needs for their own defense.

    But what does that have to do with Ogg?

    1. Re:Cadeau? Gift. Buon Natale...? Good NATO to you? by jerryasher · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I have to say, that crossed my mind too. Silly me, if Natale was spelled natal and/or had not been capitalized, I may have clued in.

  12. Re:Microsoft will never support it. by Oliver+Defacszio · · Score: 5, Funny
    But not that I'm complaining, I'm a Linux user.

    And, worldwide, irony calculation machines simultaneously burst into flames.

    --

    -
    Inventor of the term 'pardon my French'.
  13. slow news day by Rubbersoul · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do you think it is a slow news day when a story about some guy installing a codec in os x to get ogg working makes it to the front page of slashdot?

    and o yeah in Soviet Russia .ogg plays you

    --
    man .sig
    No manual entry for .sig.
  14. What I need by TerryAtWork · · Score: 2

    Is a nice simple mp3 to ogg converter for windows.

    Anyone got any ideas?

    --
    It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
    1. Re:What I need by cioxx · · Score: 2

      Please don't do that!

      But if you must, here's a tool

    2. Re:What I need by $carab · · Score: 2

      Just to elaborate, .mp3 and .ogg are both lossy formats, so you'd lose quite a bit of sound quality. To see a graphical illustration, save an image as .jpg, then convert to .gif, then back to .jpg and note the differences between the two .jpgs.

    3. Re:What I need by Mwongozi · · Score: 3
      That's a bad example. GIF is limited to 256-colours, and will make any photographic image look crap, JPEG or no.

      As it happens, JPEG is actually very good at handling re-compressions, and you can re-compress a JPEG many times before significant degredation occurs.

      However, your point still stands, you can't do this with MP3 and Ogg. So don't! Re-rip those CDs instead.

    4. Re:What I need by rufo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Re-rip those CDs instead.

      What CDs?

      --
      My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
  15. Halleluja! by Shuh · · Score: 2

    Time to download "Rock and Roll Volume 2" to celebrate!

  16. What Really Happened by nichrome · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no iTunes update that adds OGG support. This is why the original reporter things there is: 1. He installed an open source OGG component for QuickTime. iTunes uses QuickTime for playback. 2. He installed the iTunes 3.0.1 update, which keeps reappearing in the Software Update panel on non-U.S. localizations. 3. He thought the new (=old) iTunes update added OGG support when it was actually the QT component that did it; and the iTunes update didn't actually do anything, since it is an old update that the update server is pushing as a new one.

    --
    --You think you've found my weakness, but I have more.--
  17. Re:What? by cioxx · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ogg Vorbis is a new audio compression format. It is roughly comparable to other formats used to store and play digital music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats. It is different from these other formats because it is completely free, open, and unpatented.

    Ogg Vorbis has been designed to completely replace all proprietary, patented audio formats. That means that you can encode all your music or audio content in Vorbis and never look back.

    click for more...

  18. Re:Apple Knows Marketing by $carab · · Score: 2

    That's right, because as we all know, not only do most Linux users freely fork over 100+ dollars for a commercial OS they can easily pirate, but the support of a file format in one application is clearly what the entire OS and platform decision hinges on, never mind that Winamp3 supports .ogg flawlessly.

  19. glad to see you like your mac by SHEENmaster · · Score: 2

    Though it was a week before I installed Linux on my iBook.

    Unlike winshit however, OS X and 9 still have places on my hard disk. For Warcraft 3 and Quake 3 respectively.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  20. Merry Christmas by iomud · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lets all thank timothy for posting something he thought was cool but had no earthly idea if it was true or not. Come on, not even a url? At least correct the headline or something. Weaksauce.

  21. one potential upside of this non-story by mattbland · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is that someone at apple might just read this and see that there is a demand for ogg support and release an update.

    if you want ogg support for the ipod say so here, why you want it, if you'd be prepared to pay for it and what advantages it could give to apple (such as royalty free codecs, etc.)

    apple are currently touting an mpeg based quicktime to the world and dog, for which they need to pay a royalty per copy. so stand up and be counted. if you really want it, should it from the rooftops (or alternatively, type it on your keyboard and click on submit).

    --
    /usr/bin/awake/too/long
    1. Re:one potential upside of this non-story by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 2

      someone at apple might just read this and see that there is a demand for ogg support and release an update

      Dude, if Apple were making their decisions based on Slashdot articles, we'd all be running OS X for free on PC's bought from Wal-Mart. With Natalie Portman. In Soviet Russia. Profit!

      Seriously, from Apple's perspective, demand for Ogg is so close to zero as to be irrelevant. Apple is pushing MP3 today, with iTunes and iPod, and AAC tomorrow. And if the rumors are to be believed, Apple has some really interesting things in store for on-line music delivery in the AAC format.

      --

      I write in my journal
    2. Re:one potential upside of this non-story by Tumbleweed · · Score: 2

      Also, if Apple based their decisions on what people really wanted, we'd have had OS X on x86 a long time ago. *sigh*

      I'd _love_ OS X for AMD's Hammer platform, but I'm not gonna hold my breath, even though I look devastating in blue. :)

      The timing is unfortunate for Apple - no way in hell could they get their developer base to switch to a new hardware platform when most still haven't switched to OS X! :( Maybe someday...

    3. Re:one potential upside of this non-story by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 2

      Also, if Apple based their decisions on what people really wanted, we'd have had OS X on x86 a long time ago.

      Do you want Apple to continuing to innovate and improve OS X, or do you want them to do out of business?

      I'll go out on a limb here and say that unless a NeXT- or Be-like catastrophe overcomes them, Apple will never release an operating system for generic PC-style computers. If they do, it's all over but the shouting, and there won't even be much shouting.

      --

      I write in my journal
    4. Re:one potential upside of this non-story by Tumbleweed · · Score: 2

      I didn't say "for generic PC-style computers", I said "OS X on x86", which is different. They can go the Apple-hardware-only route with x86 if they wanted to. They'd have to, since they're a hardware company.

    5. Re:one potential upside of this non-story by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 2

      You also said "what people really want." I don't think anybody wants Apple to build Macs with Intel processors in 'em. They either want Apple to build Macs with binary-compatible Power4 processors in 'em (kind of happening soon), or they want Apple to release OS X for generic hardware (will never happen, probably).

      Moving the Mac to an Intel CPU would be a bad thing for everybody. Bad for ISV's because they'd have to port, or at least rebuild and re-optimize, their apps, and bad for users because they'd be waiting on the ISV's.

      --

      I write in my journal
  22. quick way for slashdot fame.. by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. open up submit story.

    2. mention macs, mentioning that you're a new convert is a good way of doing this.

    3. mention ogg.

    4. mention 'new update', don't bother to mention WHERE you did get this 'update' or what you were smoking.

    5. PRO.. err. dunno, slash fame. put some pron on your journal, maybe somebody reads it.

    slashdot xmas math: ogg + mac + update - sense = INTRESTING.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    1. Re:quick way for slashdot fame.. by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      ah, well, but it was mentioned on other replys that the ogg support didn't actually come from apple, hinting at a 3rd party plugin. i don't think itunes finds 3rd party plugins from shady corners of the cyber world any more than media player automatically finds the newest 3rd party codecs.

      btw. create an account, it's not that hard, and you would know if i replied.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  23. Silly Penguin... by Migelikor1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This article is a bit mistaken. The most recent software update offered by Apple is the the OS X 10.2.3 Update on 2002-12-19. This is information directly from the Apple website.

    What the poster discovered is that iTunes uses quicktime to decode MP3s. That's no secret. iTunes can actually play back anything that quicktime can read, so .mpg, .mov, .wav, even .avi and .ogg files with the proper codec will play back in iTunes if they are added to a playlist. I have a couple movie trailers thrown into my playlist...they play back just like audio only tracks. This post is the case of someone feeling clever for discovering a feature in his software.

    What would be news is if the iPod's more hardware based decoding gained support for more formats. That is the one that Apple has announced no development for.

    --
    My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
    1. Re:Silly Penguin... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 2

      but there are rumors of iTunes encoding and iPod playback switching to AAC as a default. Rumors with no apparent base: I heard it first in some AC /. post.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  24. Science through analogy by coolgeek · · Score: 2
    Is it just me? I seem to have observed several instances of "science via analogy" lately on various apple-friendly weblogs. Although a relative newcomer (owning current Mac hardware for the past three years) to the apple community, I consider myself a member nonetheless. I am amazed at the number of times I have seen circular logic employed by other Mac people to make a point, which is so obviously contradicted by the facts.

    It's kinda like the witch scene in The Holy Grail...she weighs more than a duck...so therefore...............A WITCH! A WITCH! A WITCH! A WITCH!

    --

    cat /dev/null >sig
  25. Re:Sweet! by ceejayoz · · Score: 2

    Is there a p2p prog that is made for sharing OGG

    Most programs can find .ogg files, but WinMX now has a specific search for .ogg files.

    There aren't nearly as many as there are .mp3 files, but they're starting to catch on.

    Doesnt something like this mess up plans of Pallidum

    Nope, not at all.

  26. Re:Apple Knows Marketing by fault0 · · Score: 2

    And this is why the most commonly used music player in Windows, winamp, has supported ogg vorbis for a while?

  27. Re:+2 interesting by fault0 · · Score: 2

    It really depends on the bitrate. I am an audiophile, and I think I have quite sensitive ears, I beleive. However, at mid-level and beyond bitrates (i.e, 192-256 for mp3), I can't hear a difference between ogg's and LAME or new Fraunhofer-ripped mp3s.

    Also, most times, I get comparable filesizes between OGG and mp3-vbr encoding. mp3-cbr is pretty much a waste of time (read some of r3mix's articles).

    However, the main advantage to ogg's is that they have no patents attached.

  28. Visualizations by Burgr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This works, it's true. If the file isn't an mp3 or an AIFF or some other format that it recognizes itself, it falls through and relies on Quicktime to play the file. It's a bit of a hack.. There are of course a couple caveats. First, understand that you can't encode into OGG format from iTunes. Secondly, the sound data isn't analyzed and passed onto the visual plugins, so your visuals won't work in Quicktime mode. You probably don't care about that though...

  29. Re:It's always nice with better file format suppor by mcg1969 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    and it is supposedly patent free
    WTF is that supposed to mean? Supposedly? Is there some doubt that ogg-vorbis is patent free?
    Did you even bother to read the next sentence? Here, I'll do it for you:
    Until somebody actually discovers that they have a patent for something that it is using, that is. :)
    regebro's statement here reflects the common understanding that confirming a technology is "patent-free" is a difficult, tedious task that is next to impossible to perform 100% exhaustively and perfectly. So it should not surprise any of us if someone unearths a patent that Ogg/Vorbis is alleged to infringe upon some time in the future. We can hope that won't happen---or that if it does, the patent holder proves sympathetic---but it might.

  30. Re:Apple Knows Marketing by rmohr02 · · Score: 2

    Well, the most common music player in Windows is probably Windows Media Player, since most users don't bother to switch to the superior WinAmp.

  31. It's me, the culprit... by curious.corn · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry folks as someone cleverly put it... I'm on crack (or should I say christmas food overdose ;-)
    I'm quite ashamed of myself, apparently Macs induce an automatic mental regression in whoever uses them. So, here's how it goes: this morning the updater boasts a new download for iTunes (3.0.1) and having done the 10.2.3 just yesterday I expected it to be a new one (it isn't, after two shots it's still there the darn thing... a bug) Then I proceeded to my heap of *.ogg files taken from my linux box hoping for some way to batch process them back to mp3 and the thing worked! Ha, bitten by the old temporal sequentialityvs. caulaity brain hack, I've made a glorious fool of myself before the /. hordes!
    Actually I did post an email begging to trash the post but nobody did anything about it (after all it's cristmas... peaople do have a family ;-)...

    Bye, bye... karma

    --
    Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
  32. not much Ogg support by g4dget · · Score: 2
    Finding the Quicktime plug-in and using it for playback doesn't seem like much support for Ogg.

    Ogg support would mean out-of-the-box import and export support in Ogg format. And that is still missing from iTunes as far as I can tell.

  33. Re:/. editors do a cursory check before your publi by rufo · · Score: 2

    Yeah, 'cause Steve Jobs thinks it's too confusing to have a three-fingered salute. (Read: People are too stupid.)

    (For the record, every Mac I own has at least a three button + wheel mouse. I wouldn't have it any other way.)

    --
    My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
  34. Re:I know... by craenor · · Score: 2

    Yeah, I tried...they aren't smart. I've tried every version I can find, including old versions they no longer support...can't get em working.

  35. How about no? by Emmettfish · · Score: 5, Informative
    This story is incorrect as much as a first-person interpretation of events can be construed as 'incorrect.'

    Apple does not support the Ogg Vorbis format in iTunes. There is a QuickTime component available that will enable you to play Vorbis files in iTunes, but due to it being a QuickTime hack (as opposed to format support within the application itself), certain things do not work as expected, and OS X will not properly associate Ogg Vorbis files as 'iTunes-compatible.'

    So, there's the straight dope. I'm sorry if people are confused and irritated about this; We didn't submit this story.

    If you do need help playing Vorbis files, please drop in on #vorbis on irc.xiph.org; Our crack team of off-topic ranters and audio illuminati are standing by 24/7, even during this busy holiday season. :)

    As a side note, we're hacking like crazy this week! Want to help out? Stop by the IRC server and join #xiphtech for a quick run-down. Thanks!

    Emmett Plant
    CEO, Xiph.org Foundation

  36. Obligatory... by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 2
    6. ???

    7. Profit!

  37. About the same time... by Snaller · · Score: 2

    ...we get quicktime codecs for Windows Media player!

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  38. Re:iPod by calc · · Score: 2

    What crack have you been smoking lately? XMMS is GPL'd and ogg vorbis is BSD'd, they are compatible and ogg vorbis support is directly included in XMMS (I have version 1.2.7 here). Old versions of xmms needed a plugin (iirc) but that was long ago while ogg vorbis was still in alpha or beta.

  39. If you want Apple to support Ogg Vorbis, ask 'em! by dwheeler · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If you want Apple to support Ogg Vorbis, complaining about it on Slashdot seems mostly pointless. Instead, send a message to Apple!

    A quick look at their contact page at http://www.apple.com/contact suggests a few possibilities, such as their Apple.com feedback page or sending email to their Quicktime Feedback address, quicktime@apple.com. Or both. Perhaps there's a better way, hopefully someone here will post it.

    Whining would be worthless. Polite letters asking Apple to please support Ogg Vorbis across their product line (especially product A, B, and C) would probably be read. If you currently use their product (and would pay for an upgrade that supported Ogg Vorbis), or have decided to NOT buy one of their products because it doesn't support Ogg Vorbis, say so - that will be more likely to get their attention.

    I've already let Apple know. If you want Apple to support Ogg Vorbis, you should too.

    --
    - David A. Wheeler (see my Secure Programming HOWTO)
  40. Why? by neurojab · · Score: 2

    I've seen this question raised a number of times. Why do you want to do this? As stated in other posts, you can't increase the quality by doing this (It's the "you can't get blood from a rock" principle). Is it because you prefer a certain player that doesn't support MP3?

    Personally I had the opposite problem. I enjoy using MPG321 as a jukebox, and had 90% mp3s in my collection, 10% ogg. Naturally I wanted a single interface to the whole collection, so I hacked mpg321 to play (and randomize) ogg as well as MP3. Finding (or hacking) a player that treats both formats equally gives you the advantages the conversion you propose without the quality loss.

  41. Re:I know... by craenor · · Score: 2

    How is watching it on my harddrive for personal use, different from recording it on VHS for personal use?

    I refuse to acknowledge the archiving of film or media for personal playback at a later date as an illegal activity. Distribution of that media to others is an illegal activity.

  42. ogg quicktime link... by skia · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't know if it's what the poster was originally talking about, but this went past the pages of freshmeat's new OS X section mentioned on /. a few days ago.

    --

    --

  43. Re:I know... by DavidRavenMoon · · Score: 2
    Not only does God play dice, but...he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen. - Stephen Hawking

    Just wanted to correct that quote, since it's such a good one.

    In answer to Einstein's quote of 'God does not play dice', Hawking said:

    "Einstein was very unhappy about this apparent randomness in nature. His views were summed up in his famous phrase, 'God does not play dice'.

    Thus it seems Einstein was doubly wrong when he said, God does not play dice. Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen."

    Public Lectures - Does God Play Dice?

    --
    -- if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic - Lewis Carrol
  44. Re:I know... by DavidRavenMoon · · Score: 2
    How is watching it on my harddrive for personal use, different from recording it on VHS for personal use?

    Exactly, and this is covered under "fair use" in the copyright laws. :)

    --
    -- if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic - Lewis Carrol