Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Real Pays For Legal MP3 Playback On Linux

Posted by timothy on from the stepping-up-to-the-plate dept.

kforeman (aka Kevin Foreman, GM of Helix RealNetworks, Inc.) writes "As part of the free RealPlayer 10 for Linux, Real has paid Thomson for a legal MP3 playback license and then includes it at no cost as part of the newly released RealPlayer 10. As I speak to people, many are under the false impression that MP3 playback patent and royalty rights are free, since there are open source implementations of MP3 playback available. Not true. Nonetheless, we are glad to do our part of making the Linux desktop a first class citizen by legally providing MP3 playback to users via our new RealPlayer."

3 of 618 comments (clear)

  1. Re:MP3 Playback IS Free... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's a sizeable difference between being able to do it and being able to do it legally.

  2. Re:Distributions? by Nichotin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We" should be careful with bundling proprietary applications that are free to use. You end up using all the proprietary applications, and freedom will vanish. It will also slow down Linux adoption on other platforms if the applications people use are proprietary.

    --
    Dvorak on Doomtech
  3. oh well by indianropeburn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This still doesn't make Real Player a good choice for media playback.