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Ogg Vorbis Share Reaches 12.3% on P2P Traffic

prostoalex writes "According to CacheLogic survey, 61.44% of the peer-to-peer traffic nowadays is video, with audio taking distant second place, representing 11.34% of global traffic. Moreover, 12.3% of all the music files traded on P2P networks are in Ogg format. Almost all of the OGG files are traded via BitTorrent protocol with most of the growth coming from Asia, CacheLogic says."

450 comments

  1. Downloading Garbage by bigwavejas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Percentage figures like these are going to spell doom for torrents. They're going to do nothing but light a big fire under the MPAA and RIAA's asses (Not like they needed it). Expect more fake/ spoofed files masquerading as legitimate movies/ music. People should start thinking about using some bolt-on software for their EDonkey (or ??), much like http://donkeyfakes.gambri.net/ ,or they're going to be downloading a lot of Garbage (and not the Shirley Manson type either).

    --
    "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
    1. Re:Downloading Garbage by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why do you automatically assume it's copyright-infringed music? Moreover, why do you assume it belongs to the RIAA or MPAA? Considering that it's "mostly in Asia" it could very well be legally-copied (or infringed from organizations other than the RIAA) Asian music.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    2. Re:Downloading Garbage by bigwavejas · · Score: 2, Funny
      Why do you automatically assume it's copyright-infringed music?

      Probably because I can't think of any artist that likes to give away his/her music for free. Course you could probably pick-up some freebie folk-tunes or a nice head-bangin country tune recorded by a freckled head kid from the county fair.

      --
      "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
    3. Re:Downloading Garbage by imsabbel · · Score: 1

      Why bother?
      You got a perfectly fine md5 hashtree from the honest distributer/uploader of the file, which guarantees you get what you want.

      Wait, you are downloading warez and stuff from unknown sources without any reference what it could be besides the filename? Well, thats your bad...

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    4. Re:Downloading Garbage by mrchaotica · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      I don't think Asians usually have freckles, actually. And although I admit I'm not well-versed in their culture, I've never heard of them having county fairs, either.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    5. Re:Downloading Garbage by kahanamoku · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah.... and I cant think of any software developer who gives their software away for free....

      err, hang on... linux! thats right!

      --
      ----- Concentrate on promoting more than demoting.
    6. Re:Downloading Garbage by LetterRip · · Score: 1

      [QUOTE]Percentage figures like these are going to spell doom for torrents.[/QUOTE]

      Legitimate distributors of trailers, demo reels, and animated shorts use bittorrent. I've likely uploaded and downloaded many gigabytes of completely legal bittorrents, for instance the new Blender Siggraph 2005 demo DVD.

      http://blender.org/cms/fileadmin/movies/Siggraph_2 005_DVD.iso.torrent

      LetterRip

    7. Re:Downloading Garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What percentage of the music being circulated in Asia is actually Asian? Give your head a shake, you're living in a dreamworld pal.

    8. Re:Downloading Garbage by ZephyrXero · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually many smaller/independent artists release all, or a large portion of their music for free on their websites...usually at a lower quality of compression, but free none the less... It's a great way to let people hear your music if you don't have the thousand$ to pay for play on the radio ;)

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    9. Re:Downloading Garbage by nkh · · Score: 1

      You should try Google for example. I just found this site, too bad it's in french but I guess there are a few sites like this one on the internet. Another good one is Magnatune but you have to pay on this one.

    10. Re:Downloading Garbage by The+OPTiCIAN · · Score: 1

      > Probably because I can't think of any artist
      > that likes to give away his/her music for free.

      What?! I can think of any number of artists who love giving their music away. Some of us even have the audacity to believe that you should do art for the sake of art and the experience, that finance need not come into it, and that there should be no notion of ownership over ideas or anything else which can be reduced to a digital format.

      There are commercial artists who I respect for their music, but I don't respect the attitude of them or anyone else who one the one hand claims to be an artist and then on the other demands that people pay money for their works in order to support their lifestyle. They should go and get a real job like the rest of us!

      --


      Believe with me, my saplings.
    11. Re:Downloading Garbage by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Informative
      --

      --
      make install -not war

    12. Re:Downloading Garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I found a freebie folk-tune that's better than a lot of other non freebie tunes Sufjan Stevens - The Lord God Bird -- Have A Good Day!

    13. Re:Downloading Garbage by The+Bubble · · Score: 1

      Even worse, percentages like this will only hurt the public view of the OGG format, much like the popularity of mp3 files on Napster labeled them as "facilitators of piracy."

    14. Re:Downloading Garbage by Pranadevil2k · · Score: 1

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you download a file that's bad, you'll most likely delete it, right? And BitTorrent really doesn't work very until several users have the files... And since everybody who gets a bad file deletes it sooner or later (usually sooner) it would be kind of pointless to put up spoofed files over a torrent... Right?

    15. Re:Downloading Garbage by aevan · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Off hand, i'd say a lot? Ayu, Hikki, all the idol singers, etc have a large circulation. Not to mention cpop and kpop like BoA with followings all over.

      For example, a survey in thailand gave thai teens to prefer local as opposed to foreign (i.e. western) at 90%+. Just check the content on the MTV Thailand for a large quantity of their local music.

      Most of my friends are asian in asia, and prefer their own music as opposed to north american derived.

      I'd recommend giving your own head a shake and stop living in a north american/euro-centric dreamland. The entire world doesn't automatically desire NA goods by virtue of their being from NA, and forsake their own. For example, check out oricon for listings of what is popular in Japan-you will see some western but a lot of local music as well (predominantly usually).

      I'll grant western music is heavily pirated, but so too is their local; you pirate what you want to hear, and if local music is preferenced...

    16. Re:Downloading Garbage by Mozk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I can't think of anything on which I disagree with you there.

      My belief is that art is not something that money should be made off of. Art is a form of expression or talent. Artists claim that in order to make their art, they need money. You don't need money to express yourself. You don't need to get money for expressing yourself. While making art can be your profession, it should not be your source of income. Artists should have real jobs that contribute something. While entertaining people is somewhat contributing something, it is definately not worth the millions of dollars that they receive.

      Some of what I said might not reflect exactly what I feel because I have trouble putting ideas like that into words. Take it with a grain of salt or whatever.

      --
      No existe.
    17. Re:Downloading Garbage by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      Well there's quite a few here

    18. Re:Downloading Garbage by Hawke666 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If by "pay" you mean "download for free". http://magnatune.com/info/openmusic

    19. Re:Downloading Garbage by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      "it is definately not worth the millions of dollars that they receive." ...apparently it is, or people would not be willing to pay that much for it.

    20. Re:Downloading Garbage by Kris_J · · Score: 3, Funny
      Probably because I can't think of any artist that likes to give away his/her music for free.
      I take it that in your world, MP3.com never happened.
    21. Re:Downloading Garbage by slashdotnickname · · Score: 1

      It's a great way to let people hear your music if you don't have the thousand$ to pay for play on the radio ...or enough talent to please a larger radio audience.

    22. Re:Downloading Garbage by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      I guess that depends on your definition of "talent." The industry execs would call talent the ability to perform as they're told to, while others would call it the ability to create your own music. To bad it's the former that's in charge of things...

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    23. Re:Downloading Garbage by strider44 · · Score: 1

      Probably because I can't think of any artist that likes to give away his/her music for free Perhaps you should correctly change that to "Probably because I can't think of any artist employed by the RIAA that likes to give away his/her music for free".

    24. Re:Downloading Garbage by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      Santa Cruz Hemp AllStars

      a-HA! I knew there had to be a reason they act like they don't know what they're doing in court.

    25. Re:Downloading Garbage by Suppafly · · Score: 1

      Most of the Asian music that I've heard was full of samples of RIAA music. Not that I like the RIAA, but most Asian nations care little about IP.

    26. Re:Downloading Garbage by bronney · · Score: 0

      I don't mind downloading garbage.

      It's free garbage, with my unlimited dsl and the price of hdd's, my computer is constantly downloading when I am not in BF2. So what if it's garbage? Delete! I don't even have enough time to sort out and delete my garbage but I don't have a problem with that.

      So let the MPAA games begin I love garbage!

    27. Re:Downloading Garbage by rooster9 · · Score: 1

      BF2? Not all of us are super geeks like you. Please define.

    28. Re:Downloading Garbage by bronney · · Score: 0

      Sorry BF2 is Battlefield 2. Just an example whenever I don't need my bandwidth I am downloading garbage. If you think about your mp3 collection (I am not sure how much you got) but for me, there're some songs that I know the damn shuffle won't get to in my life time. We got too much stuff man :P

    29. Re:Downloading Garbage by dal20402 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You don't need money to express yourself. You don't need to get money for expressing yourself.

      Maybe not... but if you spend 40 hours a week doing something totally unrelated to your art so you can survive, the quality of your art will suffer, unless you are a frenetically energetic genius.

      The world needs more full-time artists, not less. And it certainly has the wealth -- and is willing to spend it -- to support them. Now if we just had a reasonable model for music distribution, that didn't create a few millionaire artists and a lot of millionare executives at everyone else's expense...

    30. Re:Downloading Garbage by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Why do you automatically assume it's copyright-infringed music?"

      Does it matter? The *AA will automatically assume that, and that's what'll get P2P into trouble.

      It pisses me off, really. Before I settled on a music subscription service, nearly all the music downloads I did were MP3 copies of songs I had legitimately on CD. Why? Because I had a broadband connection and felt it was quicker/more convenient than hunting down all my CDs and ripping them. Heck, the only real reason I wanted Mp3 copies was so I could listen from work without a bunch of CDs around. Worse, I sometimes found bands that I hadn't heard before and bought some albums as a result.

      Sorry for the rant, but for obvious reasons I agree with you that the assumptions that are made based off these figures are rotten. Sadly, we can expect that from the organization that counts CD-Rs (you know, the ones used for DATA backups) in their piracy figures. Those dipshits will twist the numbers in whatever way suits their fancy. I think that was the original point of his post.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    31. Re:Downloading Garbage by skiflyer · · Score: 1

      Wrong... music files are on the 10s of megabytes at the most, so it can work quite well with just a single user who has the full file.

      Or you could put up say a dozen servers and then you're definitely fine.

      Plus, in my experience, alot of the college kids who using the P2P stuff are downloading pretty much every song they can get their hands on, so it could take days or weeks before they get around to discovering it's a bad song and deleting it.

    32. Re:Downloading Garbage by mrchaotica · · Score: 1
      Sadly, we can expect that from the organization that counts CD-Rs (you know, the ones used for DATA backups) in their piracy figures.
      Let alone that they're also responsible for the artificial distinction between "Music" CD-Rs and "Data" CD-Rs...
      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    33. Re:Downloading Garbage by nath_de · · Score: 1
      Probably because I can't think of any artist that likes to give away his/her music for free.

      The nice thing about Napster was that you could chat with someone offering a title for download. I was once talked to by a musician whos music I offered. He had nothing against me sharing his music, just wanted to know which country I lived and how I liked his muisc.

    34. Re:Downloading Garbage by The+OPTiCIAN · · Score: 1

      > Some of what I said might not reflect exactly
      > what I feel because I have trouble putting ideas
      > like that into words.

      OK. Now I think about it that happens to me quite a bit as well.

      --


      Believe with me, my saplings.
    35. Re:Downloading Garbage by minus9 · · Score: 1

      "It's a great way to let people hear your music if you don't have the thousand$ to pay for play on the radio"

      "...or enough talent to please a larger radio audience. "


      Of course all the music played on the radio is the absolute zenith of human musical achievement.

    36. Re:Downloading Garbage by minus9 · · Score: 4, Funny


      Home taping is killing music!!!

    37. Re:Downloading Garbage by say · · Score: 1

      Probably because I can't think of any artist that likes to give away his/her music for free.

      Norwegian top-of-the-charts hip-hop band Gatas Parlament allows downloads from their homepage. Yet, they've sold all copies they made of their album "Bootlegs, B-sider & Bestiser".

      Some of the other albums aren't made available for downloading until a few months (five or six) after the album release.

      So, there you have it. A band, popular, selling records, and allowing people to download their music for free.

      --
      Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you
    38. Re:Downloading Garbage by maxpublic · · Score: 1

      There are commercial artists who I respect for their music, but I don't respect the attitude of them or anyone else who one the one hand claims to be an artist and then on the other demands that people pay money for their works in order to support their lifestyle.

      Then you can show your lack of respect by refusing to purchase or listen to their music. Now you AND the artist are happy. Unless you think that you're somehow morally righteous enough to make that decision FOR the artist?

      Max

      --
      My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
    39. Re:Downloading Garbage by taxevader · · Score: 2, Informative

      " Off hand, i'd say a lot? Ayu, Hikki, all the idol singers, etc have a large circulation. Not to mention cpop and kpop like BoA with followings all over. "

      What you fail to mention is that all these acts copy exactly what the NA crap machine spewed out 6 months ago. Whatever Britney does, expect the local manufactured singer/band to do, albeit a few month later.

      --
      -Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
    40. Re:Downloading Garbage by taxevader · · Score: 1, Insightful

      " Off hand, i'd say a lot? Ayu, Hikki, all the idol singers, etc have a large circulation. Not to mention cpop and kpop like BoA with followings all over. "

      What you fail to mention is that all these acts copy exactly what the NA crap machine spewed out 6 months ago. Whatever Britney does, expect the local manufactured singer/band to do, albeit a few months later. Same shit, different smell.

      That said, BT p2p downloads in these countries (ie not corporate-driven ones like iTunes) pretty much have an equal number of local and foreign content. If its in the top 20 of either the US or the country in question, the sheep will be downloading the garbage that passes for popular music in equal amounts. I know this because I have done surveys in this area.

      Modern popular music is at its lowest point in history.

      --
      -Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
    41. Re:Downloading Garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you a lot!

      Now we don't need to spread fake files, we'll just report legitimate as fake. Cool!

    42. Re:Downloading Garbage by Guardian+of+Terra · · Score: 1

      One example - if he is 15 years dead. Of course, we can't ask him, but...

    43. Re:Downloading Garbage by macthulhu · · Score: 1

      As someone who makes a living making art, and helps others do the same, allow me to say... go fuck yourself. As for contributing something, I'm pretty sure that the dozens of small businesses that trust me to create their corporate identities and market presence feel like I'm "contributing something". Making a product out of next to nothing that helps somebody else get their products to market, as well as provide income for their employeees, isn't exactly curing cancer, but it's absolutely contributing. It's my profession and my source of income... and it is most definitely a "real" job. If you're speaking about overpaid popstars in particular, you need to be more specific before saying that "Artists should have real jobs...".

      --

      Someday a real rain is gonna come...

    44. Re:Downloading Garbage by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 1

      They're not. Hence the spread of piracy.

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
    45. Re:Downloading Garbage by Sique · · Score: 1

      Modern popular music was at its lowest point in history from the beginning. That has to do with the fact that it is popular.
      Normally 90% of everything is second rate material. But only if it's popular the whole 100% gets full coverage. If a hype has faded, 50% gets wiped out immediately, and you are left with the 10% that was good and 40% that was secondrate. Without any stuff added the relative amount of good stuff has doubled :)

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    46. Re:Downloading Garbage by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Or just use dc or ftps, DC seems to be pretty clean here in Sweden.

    47. Re:Downloading Garbage by EternityInterface · · Score: 0

      I'm sad more people don't know about truly free music - that is, you get the "source code" too.

      --
      the sun is god
    48. Re:Downloading Garbage by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      But they are. If they weren't willing to pay as much as they pay, they wouldn't be doing it. Do you think the money that recording artists are paid appears from nowhere? No, somebody is willing to pay them that much!

    49. Re:Downloading Garbage by EternityInterface · · Score: 0

      "Artists should have real jobs that contribute something"

      "I have trouble putting ideas like that into words"

      Indeed.

      "Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep"
      [Le Corbusier]

      "Art is a form of therapy. Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in the human situation"
      [Graham Greene]

      "When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses"
      [JFK]

      --
      the sun is god
    50. Re:Downloading Garbage by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 1

      It's like spam. You market your crap to enough people and someone's going to be stupid enough to buy it. Doesn't mean that people in general like it.

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
    51. Re:Downloading Garbage by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      Unlike with spam, where something like .01% of people is enough to make huge profits, a significant percentage of people buy and enjoy the music industry's crap. The problem is that people in general *do* like it.

    52. Re:Downloading Garbage by Mozk · · Score: 1

      That's what I mean. Making logos or designs and such isn't expressing yourself. That's not art. In fact, that's what I do.

      --
      No existe.
    53. Re:Downloading Garbage by ThJ · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting for the next musical revolution. Sure we had the birth of Hip-hop, a wave of electronica and some Grunge, but these are mere variations upon Rock'n'roll. I'm hoping the underground scene will spawn something soon that will throw the rest of the music industry off. I want to hear something mind blowing yet beautiful. Something that would make all musicians envious that they didn't think of it themselves. I'm starving musically but I can't find food. It's like a musical Dark Age for me.

    54. Re:Downloading Garbage by soupdevil · · Score: 1

      sorry to be contrary, but country and folk are some of the hardest music to record -- they are largely played on acoustic instruments, which requires nice mics, a good acoustic room to record in, and talented players. Pop, hip hop and electronica, on the other hand, can be recorded with pirated samples and loops on your Dell in your spare bedroom.

    55. Re:Downloading Garbage by hesiod · · Score: 1

      Electronica and/or techno are based on Rock & Roll just as Rock & Roll was based off of music before it. I don't think it was as revolutionary as some people make it out to be. Basically, I believe that music is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It's all based off of something before it, the biggest change being the use of different instruments.

      What about rap? Is that too similar to rock & roll? Even if there are no guitars? It may not be your "thing," but I think it is sufficiently different to be seen as a considerable leap in music. Especially with beatboxing (yeah, I realize it's similar to jazz scat) and other techniques like that.

    56. Re:Downloading Garbage by hesiod · · Score: 1

      > I guess that depends on your definition of "talent." [...] others would call it the ability to create your own music

      Having the ability to do something does not mean they can do it well. For instance, I have the ability to make music. (Not trying to whore for clicks, ignore my sig link) It's as simple as purchasing a piece of software (for me, ACID Pro) and reading the manual. That doesn't mean any of my music is any good. I'd like to think it is, but I'm realistic.

      Really, I don't think distribution method is an accurate measure of talent in any way whatsoever. There are extremely talented individuals who make loads of money with the RIAA, there are others who hold "normal" jobs and haven't made a cent from music.

    57. Re:Downloading Garbage by ThJ · · Score: 1

      Well, I was going to point out that maybe rock'n'roll music didn't seem as revolutionary at the time as one would think, but I forgot to. I mentioned rap already. Seems to be called hip-hop in writing these days. Hip-hop is similar to rock'n'roll in that they both have a lot of sex and drugs in them. ;-) They're also both the result of afro-american underground movements. My issue with hip-hop is that it has never been able to produce goosebumps on my back. I grew up in the mid-80s and early-90s and I want to see things with melody and chords to become popular again. I'm almost tempted to say that the parent generation had it right, with their easy-to-like music. I'm hoping people will sicken of hip-hop soon...

    58. Re:Downloading Garbage by hesiod · · Score: 1

      Hip-Hop and rap, IMO, aren't exactly the same. Hip-Hop has more melody to it, whereas plain 'ole Rap is simply words on a beat. No music has ever given me goosebumps, but lets pretend it has. Just because YOU don't get excited by a particular thing it does not automatically follow that NO ONE does. Just because YOU don't like rap, it doesn't mean there is nothing innovative, or revolutionary, to it.

      Sex and Drugs? Ever been to a "fest?" They pretty much play only folk music there, and there's more wasted people than at ANY rave. And a wider variety of better drugs. And a heck of a lot of sex too. It is not very much like (regular) rock & roll, and NOTHING like rap/hip-hop.

      You seem to give the impression that you think everyone liked Rock & Roll when it first came out, or even that everyone likes it now ( at least the older stuff). That simply is not true. Lots of people absolutely hated rock, and not just the fracking idiots who thought Elvis was corrupting the youth with his dancing.

      Basically, your parents may have liked rock & passed that on to you, but don't pretend that everyone has had that same experience.

    59. Re:Downloading Garbage by ThJ · · Score: 1

      I've heard the words-on-a-beat variant described as being in a subgenre of Hip-Hip called Abstract Hip-Hop. I'm very aware of what people think about Hip-Hop and that far from everyone shares my opinion. I included Hip-Hop in the list of things that have changed music in recent times in my first post, if you forgot. Sure it's revolutionary and innovative; I've never said anything to contest that.

      I don't see your point about fests, and I'm talking about themes, not nessecarily the reality of things, here.

      I'm just saying that I'm pretty sure Rock'n'Roll was a cultural wave. I've had this discussion with my parents. They say that none of today's artists come close to being as legendary as Elvis. I can't think of any myself. I'd love to be proven wrong.

      In summary, you're attacking the wrong thing. I'm perfectly aware of how opinionated my comments are. I know that my opinions aren't shared by too many people. I was not speaking on the behalf of anybody and I feel I'm allowed to wish for a musical revolution of my liking.

  2. Go Ogg! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Better compression, better sound, better freedom. 'Nuf said.

    1. Re:Go Ogg! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good thing I have my Ogg-to-something-I-can-pronounce converter program!

    2. Re:Go Ogg! by Talez · · Score: 1

      For all its advanced technology the Vorbis crew still can't give us an easy download to a standard, official Directshow decoder.

      Brilliant! A codec I can't use without trapsing around the intarweb for a third party Directshow codec or getting program specific support! 'Nuf said.

    3. Re:Go Ogg! by ksaville00 · · Score: 1

      I totally agree....I really wish ogg was the new mp3 (...like totally replace the technology)

    4. Re:Go Ogg! by ne0n · · Score: 1

      yes, it feels somehow better to contribute something in OGG. I'm proud to be a part of TFA's headline.

      --
      $ :(){ :|:& };:
  3. Wow by okayplayer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Open source music on open source protocols... Who would have thunk?

    --
    What a horrible thing the ESRB just did to the game industry.
    1. Re:Wow by aristotle-dude · · Score: 1, Troll
      Yeah, too bad all that music being traded is pirated eh?

      This does not make open source look good.

      --
      Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's not pirated, it's liberated!

    3. Re:Wow by tcbent · · Score: 1

      Pirated?

      Depends which countries laws you're following, and whose to say the content of the oggs aren't in the public domain?

    4. Re:Wow by aristotle-dude · · Score: 1
      Some of it may indeed be public domain but who said anything about laws?

      I'm talking about morality here. Do those songs belong to you? Do you have a right to distribute them to people you don't even know?

      --
      Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
    5. Re:Wow by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      Yes

    6. Re:Wow by mibus · · Score: 1

      Some of it may indeed be public domain but who said anything about laws?

      I'm talking about morality here. Do those songs belong to you? Do you have a right to distribute them to people you don't even know?


      If it's Public Domain, then it's owned by the community at large. Some artists choose to release work under the various Creative Commons licenses. Others don't, but still say "here, share these!".

      Morality isn't an issue if it's been "given" to the community, because then people do have the right to share them.

      If it's the latest chart-buster though, that's a different story. In some countries, they don't believe that information is protectable - so it doesn't violate their morality, just yours.

    7. Re:Wow by xaque · · Score: 1

      You rock dude... that site is awesome. I'm hooked now :)

    8. Re:Wow by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      Me too, though their music is definitely not for all tastes. I've purchased a couple of albums from them.

    9. Re:Wow by briancurtin · · Score: 1

      yep, because closed source programs simply wouldnt allow things such as pirating music to occur either. no one cares that the medium in which you obtain the illegal music is OSS

      --
      My UID is a palindrome, that must be good for some type of prize.
    10. Re:Wow by MvD_Moscow · · Score: 1

      Those songs might not belong to me, but they don't belong to anyone else as well? Is right that corporations change laws to suit themselves, when in reality these laws should work for the public?

  4. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Now give me some FLAC.

    1. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay.

    2. Re:Great by stuuf · · Score: 3, Informative

      You know, the article only mentioned the "Ogg [contianer] file format," and the submitter had no reason to insert "vorbis," so some of it might be Ogg/FLAC. Could even be theora video, which would make the assertion that 12% of the "audio" traffic is ogg... we've long ago collectively learned that AVI is a container not a compression scheme, so can we start using the right terminology for Ogg now?

      --

      Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it

    3. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excuse me, but the articles name is "Ogg Vorbis Share Reaches 12.3% on P2P Traffic"
      So, the statement "some of it might be Ogg/FLAC" is not quite true.

    4. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can anyone possibly this stupid. The /. story says "vorbis." The article does not. The article writer has probably seen the survey results. The story writer has only read the article and misrepresented it.

    5. Re:Great by RoLi · · Score: 1
      It's pretty stupid to call video and audio the same.

      (and I don't care what xiph.org sais)

      Usually ogg is audio and ogm is video. If the remaining stubborn technocrats would also accept that, we all would be much happier.

  5. Traffic statistics by Paska · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > According to CacheLogic survey, 61.44% of the peer-to-peer traffic nowadays is video, with audio taking distant second place, representing 11.34% of global traffic.

    Is this really a huge shock? After all your average movie is (let's just say) 500 megabyte, with your average song at around 2 megabyte - of course video traffic is going to outweigh audio downloads by a great amount.

    1. Re:Traffic statistics by Carthag · · Score: 1, Funny

      OMG u r so downloading shitty ripz lol mb omfg rofl mien r all 1.4 gigz and 6 megz mb d00d kthxbie lol k cya

    2. Re:Traffic statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he's using VxiD and Vorbis; you're using MPEG-2 and MP3 ;)

    3. Re:Traffic statistics by oh_bugger · · Score: 1

      Is this really a huge shock? Not all news is shocking, sometimes it's informative

      --
      Go home and shave your giant head of smell with your bad self
    4. Re:Traffic statistics by SEGT · · Score: 1

      I didn't read the article like a good /.'er, but I believe you are misreading it. Think of it like regular traffic. Movies being semitrucks and cars as music. Despite the semi weighing 5x as much as a car, both are only going to be seen once by a traffic counter (one of those rubber tubes you drive over.) So I would then assume that whoever gathered these statistics was looking at the percentage of files that are movies, and not the percentage of MB/GB being transferred. This definitely indicates a shift in P2P user habits which is going to be noticed by the MPAA.

      --
      10: SIN 20: GOTO HELL
    5. Re:Traffic statistics by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      Even in xvid, the good rips will be 2-3 cds long. I don't really understand why these release groups are cutting the movies up into 3 cd images instead of one DVD. DVD burners cost like $30 now, and DVD-Rs are pennies each.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    6. Re:Traffic statistics by Hawke666 · · Score: 1

      Except that as far as I know those things measure axles, of which cars have two, and tractor-trailers usually have 5. In addition, tractor-trailers cause more wear and tear on the roads due to their disproportionately higher weight.

      Of course, I agree with you that the statistics are more likely to be measuring percentage of files that are movies since that's more useful. If it were an ISP or such, it might be expected that they would measure amount of data transferred instead.

      But I don't think this indicates much of a shift in P2P user habits ... I'd guess that it's more about a shift from mp3 to ogg/vorbis, which is more interesting to me, and probably the rest of the slashdot crowd.

    7. Re:Traffic statistics by croddy · · Score: 1
      we're talking about the people who create a zip file, containing a rar file, containing a multi-part rar, which in turn contains the video.

      nothing they do makes much sense.

    8. Re:Traffic statistics by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      Back in like 1998 I could understand multi-part rars (when I had dialup, anything over 10 megs was usually also found in multiple downloads and it took me 2 days to download a 127meg game), but everyone who is going to download your release has at LEAST DSL.

      I have 6Mbit cable. Downloading a 4gig DVD takes a few hours. I downloaded a recent movie (TS quality 1.4 gigs) in just over an hour.

      What asshole is using dialup to download multi-gig files?

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    9. Re:Traffic statistics by croddy · · Score: 1

      (nevermind, of course, that bittorrent handles all of the file-splitting, integrity checking, and reassembly... and that mpeg4/3/2 and friends handle all of the compression)

    10. Re:Traffic statistics by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

      The parent post is valuable and accurate information, however it may be worded.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    11. Re:Traffic statistics by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      A lot of the people using Bittorrent to distribute media are coming from Usenet, where it does make sense to split very large files into managable chunks. The fact that they still do it when using P2P software just demonstrates that they don't actually have any understanding of why it can be useful in some circumstances.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    12. Re:Traffic statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because you're using old, inefficient codecs.

      I now encode all my DVDs using h.264. 500Mib is a good, typical figure for a 90 minute film encoded in h.264.

    13. Re:Traffic statistics by leinhos · · Score: 1

      From the Article:

      "CacheLogic conducted direct packet monitoring of Internet backbones and ISPs data streams via Layer 7 packet analysis. 61.44% of current peer-to-peer traffic is video, 11.34% is audio, 27.22% belongs to other category. On a global scale, 46% of P2P traffic is video in Microsoft formats. 65% of all audio files by volume of traffic are still traded in the MP3 format, but a surprising 12.3% are in the open-source OGG file format (almost all of which are exclusively traded on the BitTorrent network, particularly in Asia)."

      It seems that the stats are by packet volume, not by file count.

    14. Re:Traffic statistics by Tribbin · · Score: 1

      Don't most people download complete audio-cd's now? That would make a video/audio size of about 1000mb/70mb.

      --
      If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
  6. OGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    What's wrong with Mp3 and WMA?

    1. Re:OGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What's wrong with Mp3 and WMA?

      Nothing is wrong with Mp3 and WMA. This is Slashdot, what do you expect?

    2. Re:OGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Closed formats. If I wish to make an mp3 or wma encoder, I have to pay someone. As a consumer, there's little difference except that wma is closed and only plays really well if you have microsoft's codecs. However it places a lot of restrictions on the content producers, and nobody wants that (except the patent holders, of course).

    3. Re:OGG by hungrygrue · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Both are closed formats. To the best of my knowledge, the only way to play wma files under Linux/BSD is to use Microsoft's DLL files which is illegal (Though if you have a legal copy of Windows I suppose that is a grey area. I and many other Linux users, however, do not own or use Windows). MP3 support requires a license fee http://mp3licensing.com/ OGG is an open standard with no strings or restrictions.

    4. Re:OGG by rm999 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, I think the LAME programmers proved you wrong, because as I understand it they haven't paid a penny to the creators of MP3 :)

      But I get your point

    5. Re:OGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MP3 only needs a licence for commercial use, home use is free. Bundling an MP3 codec with an OS you sell counts as commercial use, which is one reason why it's not usually on Linux. The free-use is dependent on the good will of the patent holders, so it's not Free, another reason Linux support is rare.

    6. Re:OGG by stuuf · · Score: 1

      AFAIK, the MP3 patent licensors don't require you to pay royalties if you don't sell your software; this covers GPL and [proprietary] freeware. Royalties fees are required, however, if the resulting product ir being sold; I assume this includes hardware players.

      --

      Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it

    7. Re:OGG by o517375 · · Score: 1

      Nothing according to the M$ zoolots

    8. Re:OGG by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

      as I understand it [the LAME programmers] haven't paid a penny to the creators of MP3

      ...yet.

    9. Re:OGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thats because the fee is paid when you support the format in your PLAYER not your encoder

    10. Re:OGG by pharwell · · Score: 1

      No, no. The question that you should be asking yourself is, "What's right with MP3 and WMA?"

      --
      I quote others only in order the better to express myself. -- Michel de Montaigne
    11. Re:OGG by squiggleslash · · Score: 1
      It doesn't cover the GPL. Anyone selling GPL'd MP3 decoding software has to pay patent royalties, just like anyone selling any other form of decoder. As a result, GPL'd MP3 implementations are in legal limbo, and many Linux distributions actually do not include MP3 players for this very reason. Remember: the GPL is not anti-commercial, it's anti-proprietary. People can, and do, sell GPL'd software, and the GPL gives them the right to. If resellers of GPL'd software have to pay royalties, the GPL is being breached, because an additional restriction is being imposed.

      The GPL forbids redistribution if the author is aware of patents that apply to the code that require the payment of royalties:

      7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
      If you're in a country where software patents are valid, then you're on thin ice redistributing a GPL'd MP3 player. You are violating the GPL if you do not own the player's copyrights yourself, and if you sell copies or otherwise make money from the operation, you owe royalties to the Thompson/Fraunhoffer et al.
      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    12. Re:OGG by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Actually, FFmpeg supports WMA.

    13. Re:OGG by micpp · · Score: 1

      Seeing as how LAME is such a good quality encoder, and is pretty much the standard as far as quality goes, if anything the creators of MP3 should be paying the LAME programmers, for making such a good encoder and increasing the popularity of the format.

    14. Re:OGG by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      If you read your bolded sentence carefully, you'll see it doesn't forbid me from redistributing the program. Really. Read it again. There is no "patent license" involved! I am under no other license, agreement or obligation. Someone else's patent is not an obligation of mine.

      Fraunhoffer might sue me, and that's a risk I will have to contend with. But that has nothing to do with the GPL.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    15. Re:OGG by Jugalator · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      What's wrong with Mp3 and WMA?

      They can be played on too many devices. ;-)

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    16. Re:OGG by squiggleslash · · Score: 1
      No, you're wrong. The bolded part does not say you have to be the one with the patent license. It merely says such a thing exists. Moreover, the bolded part is an example. I bolded it because it was clearly showing this issue.

      The fact is that, in the US, a patent exists that covers MP3s. Moreover, the patent's owners have indicated that any commercial distribution of MP3 players requires the payment of royalties. Therefore, an additional condition is being imposed over and above those made by the GPL, which means the GPL cannot apply to MP3 players.

      Sorry, but it's not just me who sees this, it's also the major commercial Linux distributors. They're the ones with the lawyers. Go take it up with them if you think they're all misunderstanding this!

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    17. Re:OGG by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      A "patent" is a different thing from a "patent license". I do not have a "patent license" to use MP3, and even if I did, I am not obligated by the GPL to apply that license to the software distribution. A "patent license" is a license to use the patent. Just like software licenses, they take the form of EULAs, contracts, agreements, and the like. I do not have any with regards to MP3 or Fraunhoffer. As near as I can tell, neither does LAME.

      What the GPL is telling me not to do, is to not mix the two licenses. I cannot tell the user that he must meet the conflicting terms of both the GPL and the PL. If I have a PL that says "not for use in commercial products" then I cannot pass that restriction on to my GPL licensees.

      The key point is that it is not I nor the GPL which imposes additional restrictions on the user, but a third party not privy to the distribution. Legally, they're not involved.

      Why do the major Linux distributors refuse to distribute software encumbered by patents? Because they can get sued by the patent holders for patent violation! Duh! But they will not be sued by software developers for copyright violation. Please understand that last sentence. GPL authors aren't going to be suing you for distributing GPL software in violation of THIRD PARTY patents.

      The GPL does not demand you follow all the applicable laws of your jurisdiction, or obey all the contracts and agreements you might have made with third parties, or even to be nice to children and small furry animals. It only demands that you follow the GPL. In fact, RMS and the FSF have explicitly REJECTED licenses as being unfree when they've tried to do this!

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    18. Re:OGG by CrazyTalk · · Score: 1

      How about "files in those formats are available?" Outside of slashdot, I've never run across ogg in everyday life. mp3s, wavs, wma, the iTunes DRM format stuff - I don't even know where to GET ogg. (Yes, I could look if I was really motivated too...)

    19. Re:OGG by pharwell · · Score: 1

      vorbis.com has links to places that sell/give away ogg files.

      --
      I quote others only in order the better to express myself. -- Michel de Montaigne
    20. Re:OGG by squiggleslash · · Score: 1
      A "patent" is a different thing from a "patent lice...
      Oh, for goodness sake. I've already addressed this. The bolded comment was an example, it was apposite in this case.

      If you don't have a license to use a patent, then you're in deeper water than if you do. You know that. So stop playing word games. The important part of the GPL is the entire paragraph I quoted, not the example which I bolded simply because it makes things, to readers of ordinary English, pretty clear. Now, I made that point in my last message. I said Moreover, the bolded part is an example. I bolded it because it was clearly showing this issue.. I wasn't blowing smoke when I wrote those words.

      If you don't have the right to use a patented technology and others do not either, you do not have the right to distribute GPL'd software that uses it. That's what that entire paragraph of the GPL is about.

      Read it. Not just the bolded part, but the whole thing. Don't try using idiot word games to weasel out of an example, the example is only an example. The point is made abundantly clear: if you give someone GPL'd software that they're unable to exercise their GPL-given rights with, then you are breaching the license.

      In fact, RMS and the FSF have explicitly REJECTED licenses as being unfree when they've tried to do this!
      That's not true. RMS and FSF have explicitly rejected licenses as unfree when they've tied people to a particular juristiction. They have never, ever, rejected a license that outlaws the disobeying of laws within the licencees' juristiction.
      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  7. Slightly OT by jtwJGuevara · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The linux community at large seems to have a strong sentiment in favor of using ogg over mp3. I personally tried ogg but in my media player of choice (xmms) the equalizer had absolutely no effect on ogg files whereas with mp3 files the equalizer worked, thus making the mp3 sound much, much better than the non-equalized (don't know the technical name for it) sound of the ogg file. Does anyone know why this is? Am I missing a good thing by not using ogg or is ogg just hyped up a bit much?

    1. Re:Slightly OT by rm999 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the OGG decoder bypasses the equalizer or the equalizer is built into the MP3 decoder. I don't see why they would do this though.

    2. Re:Slightly OT by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      I am curious why the "equalized" audio would sound a lot better than not, maybe there is a defficiency in your speakers, or audio outputs?

    3. Re:Slightly OT by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      Ogg is indeed better, especially at low bitrates. Try encoding a song into a 64 kb/s MP3, and a 64 kb/s Ogg, and comparing the two. The difference is clear.

    4. Re:Slightly OT by vonstauf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not being at my desktop because I'm fair away in cube land, I can atleast attest that my XMMS player that came stock with Slackware seems to do just fine with the equalizer and ogg files. I'll test it out when I get back to the bat cave. This bug seems to be what you're dealing with. Here are some comments about it.

      --
      " Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish that man would go away."
    5. Re:Slightly OT by Josh+Booth · · Score: 1

      The ogg codec ignores the equalizer levels while the mp3 one doesn't. There is an add-on equalizer module that equalizes anything, however, but is slightly buggy. All this is in typical linux fashion.

    6. Re:Slightly OT by gmf · · Score: 1

      The problem is that in xmms the equalizer is implemented on the decoder level (and that makes sense, I guess). Last time I tried, only the mp3 input plugin used the equalizer settings. Even wavs and audio CDs didn't...

      You might want to take a look at this project though...

    7. Re:Slightly OT by jtwJGuevara · · Score: 1

      It's personal preference. I prefer what is normally referred to as the "Rock" setting that has high bass, high treble, and a low mid. There is a big difference in the sound between this setting and the default midlevel setting for everything... at least to my ears.

    8. Re:Slightly OT by jtwJGuevara · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I was using 192kb/s. Might explain why I wasn't dazzled by ogg when compared to mp3 :)

    9. Re:Slightly OT by vonstauf · · Score: 2, Informative

      Reading through the buglist comments, I must be on crack...or I might have some mp3 files. ;)

      --
      " Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish that man would go away."
    10. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I am happy to answer your question. The technical name for "non-equalized" is "different", because if things have not been equalized, obviously they are not equal, or equivalently different. Thus, you are saying you don't like the sound of the ogg file because it is "different". That's like saying you don't like Linux because it is "different" from Windows. Open up your mind and I think you'll like ogg just fine.

    11. Re:Slightly OT by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      But nobody uses those bitrates. Most people use 256 KB/S MP3 now. What's the difference between 256 bit mp3 and ogg, and what bitrate of ogg do you have to use to match 256 kb/s mp3. unless it's something significantly less like 100 kb/s, then I think that all the hassle of putting up with music players that won't play it, far outweighs the space benefits.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    12. Re:Slightly OT by cbr2702 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Most speakers, especially computer speakers, have a non-ideal frequency response. So ""equalized" audio" by compensating for this deficient frequency response can make imperfect speakers sound much better.

      --


      This post written under Gentoo-linux with an SCO IP license.
    13. Re:Slightly OT by oddfox · · Score: 1

      Lots of people use those bitrates still when there's disk space to save, and OGG Vorbis works great for streaming because you can get a better sound out of less bandwidth.

      --
      "We invented personal computing." - Bill Gates
    14. Re:Slightly OT by k8to · · Score: 2, Informative

      To most listeners, mp3 files become transparent somewhere around 192kb/s, wheras for most listeners ogg/vorbis becomes transparent at around 160kb/s. So assuming a good encoder, you won't "hear" mp3 at that bitrate, and also won't "hear" ogg.

      However, if you drop to around 160kb/s, you will 'hear' mp3, but will still not 'hear' ogg.

      That's the bitrate story.

      For what it's worth, the design of vorbis provides room for further improvment, so the situation may be different in the future, but there isn't a lot of significant work going on at the moment.

      --
      -josh
    15. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "All this is in typical linux fashion."

      Heh. Zing! Good one.

    16. Re:Slightly OT by flithm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Get yourself a real equalizer for xmms.

      I was in the same boat as you (except with FLAC instead of OGG). EQU freakin' OWNS all over the place. You have no idea how good music can sound until you've tried this thing out. 31 bands!?. Of course you can do fewer bands if you want.

    17. Re:Slightly OT by k8to · · Score: 3, Informative

      Despite your claims to the contrary, bitrates below 256kb/s are still regularly used. Perhaps not by you, or your friends, but they are used for a variety of applications, including portable replay, network streaming, and so on.

      For most listeners, the quality achieved by 256kb/s mp3 can be achieved at around 192kb/s with quality encoders such as LAME. That is, at this bitrate, the decoded material is indistinguishable from the original source by most (the majority of) listeners. This has been confirmed by a number of independent blind tests. Note that this is not universal for all listeners nor all source material, but it is generally found to be true. For these reasons, some people place their trust in psychoacoustic models to automatically choose a rate, or they add a "headroom" and pick a value like 256, as you state.

      Comparably, ogg vorbis tends to achieve general transparency at around 160kb/s as compared to mp3. Again this is of course not for all listeners and all source material, but for the significant majority. I personally encode my music at -q 6 which tends to result in files of around 150 to 180 kbps, the encoder decides what is necessary from moment to moment.

      Of course, modern AAC (and I say modern because the AAC format has been extended over time) seems to be able to achieve transparency at even lower bitrates, but less extensive tests have been done, so a precise number is hard to quote. However, Ogg/Vorbis has another significant benefit, in that it does not contain, or claims not to contain, any patented algorithms or technology, which is of real benefit to a variety of players including companies who wish to provide content in lossy formats, and companies who wish to provide players of lossy formats. Generally, individual do not see direct benefits of these issues, but avoiding of patent licenses should ultimate lower fees and increase competition among providers of both devices and content, and thus will result in greater choice and lower costs to end users, which should be of benefit to them.

      Thus, in essence, ogg sits in a middling position in absolute quality, but holds a promise of improving the overall marketplace for all players, and using and supporting the format may bring about long range benefits to yourself.

      --
      -josh
    18. Re:Slightly OT by shobadobs · · Score: 1

      Maybe you shouldn't have burned out those frequencies from your ear by listening to loud rock music ;-)

    19. Re:Slightly OT by testerus · · Score: 1

      XMMS is deprecated, try XMMS2 or Beep Media Player instead.

    20. Re:Slightly OT by modecx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, and that's also the reason Clear Channel pumps up the bass on their broadcasts, as far as I can figure... To make people with sad-ass stereos happy.

      Seriosuly, even the female on one of my long time favorite morning shows spikes down in the 100Hz area after they fuck with it, and she's a 4 foot nothin asian lady, but she soulds like she's an 8' tall amazon. The guys on the show sound like barry white, and I've met them personally--they sound normal! Normal talking voice should not come through the subwoofer with an 80Hz filter! It's not natrual. Practically nobody sounds that way, and if they do they're probably deformed!

      It pisses me off to no end because I have to adjust my EQ if I want to listen to them (and not have my brains turned to liquid, mind you)--and I don't like to do that, I really like to keep my stereo's levels balanced!

      Oh well, since they've turned libertarian and started shouting at kids to "get off my damn lawn!" they're not so fun to listen to anymore.

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    21. Re:Slightly OT by Phat_Tony · · Score: 4, Interesting
      "The linux community at large seems to have a strong sentiment in favor of using ogg over mp3"

      I can give you one reason it's not as big on the Mac as it is on Linux- support. The Macintosh OS-plugin for Ogg never made it out of Beta, hasn't been updated in 15 months, and doesn't work with Quicktime 7- which includes pretty much everyone who's updated to Tiger or run software update under Panther. I mean no offense, I'm glad that people volunteer their time to make things like Ogg for free, but to be practical- I don't pay anything to rip to MP3, AAC, or Apple Lossless, and right now all my Ogg files won't play for who knows how long. It makes the format a pretty risky choice for Mac users.

      Yes, I know that there are other applications that play Ogg files on the Mac, but they're not competitive with iTunes, and I'm not going to change players depending on what music file I want to listen to.

      --
      Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
    22. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like people who prefer Velveeta over cheddar. :(

    23. Re:Slightly OT by dal20402 · · Score: 1
      but avoiding of patent licenses should ultimate lower fees and increase competition among providers of both devices and content, and thus will result in greater choice and lower costs to end users, which should be of benefit

      ...should...

      So where are all those ogg-based music stores? The ones that are underselling iTunes? Uhm...

      (Yes, I know there are players, but none of them would sell to anyone but Slashdotters if they didn't also play mp3.)

      Compared with the other "expenses" involved in bringing us music the use of mp3 or AAC is trivial.

    24. Re:Slightly OT by skiflyer · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I've more or less given up on OGG, MP3 isn't going away, and players will continue to support it, and the licensing fees of MP3 haven't been restrictive anywhere in my life as of yet.

      I got a portable player which can handle both, and I ripped a few into OGG and can't hear any significant difference... what I do notice is that the harder to decode OGG files eat up the battery faster.

    25. Re:Slightly OT by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the fact that Vorbis files won't play on an iPod, so even if I did rip to Vorbis I would only be able to listen to the tracks on my computer. I've been using AAC for a couple of years longer than Apple, because when I did listening tests it did better than Vorbis (although only just, and not on everything). The real killer for me was that the version of Vorbis I tested consistently screwed up harpsichords.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    26. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Compared with the other "expenses" involved in bringing us music the use of mp3 or AAC is trivial."

      The "free as in beer" argument is pretty weak, but the freedom aspect is compelling, at least to me. I do not want access to my music collection to be under the control of a patent holder, even if this control is only theoretical and not enforced at present. If the mp3 patent holder so desired, they could eliminate legal free distribution of mp3 software. Granted, a lot of people using the mp3 format aren't greatly concerned by legal niceties such as patents, copyright, and license terms, but I prefer to be completely legally in the clear.

      Also, the expenses involved in adding ogg vorbis support to music players would be trivial.

    27. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am actually a windows user, an avid music fan, and sometimes I dj at a local nightclub. I used to use MP3's like anyone else until I actually started ripping cd's with Ogg just to see what it sounded like...

      WOW...just WOW

      Aside from all these other perks people are talking about, the sound of an Ogg file is AMAZING compared to an MP3 of the same SIZE.

      Don't get thrown off by the concept of a bitrate (a fuzzy concept in ogg format), rip the files yourself, check the filesize and listen to the difference. If you don't have good ears for it, just rip it at a very low quality level, and compare to a low quality MP3 of the same size. You'll be blown away by the difference.

    28. Re:Slightly OT by oblivionboy · · Score: 1

      But who even cares about ogg-vorbis. I'm sure Apple just left it out because of the way the name sounds. "Ogg"? "Vorbis"?. It sounds like some kind of Swedish slime alge. I find alot of this ogg stuff to be alot like geeks going for NetBSD. Its probably quite true it has advantages, but who cares. MP3s will do just fine, and there are a ton of them. I mean even WMA's aren't that popular. Just go looking on the P2P's and see even how many WMA's there are compared to MP3. Years after release of the WMA format, its still 10-20 MP3s to one WMA. And as for sound quality, alot of people are encoding MP3s at higher than 128Kbps. So the file size is larger? Who cares, most people that do P2P have broadband.

      Face it. The time that is required for ogg-vorbis to get anywhere, is about the time its replacement will arrive. Its not popular, and people that like it are alot like those people in the 80s that were really into Skoda's.

      One final thing: I'll bet if you rebranded ogg-vorbis as MP4, or as MP3+, it would suddenly recieve alot more popularity.

    29. Re:Slightly OT by xENoLocO · · Score: 1

      "It makes the format a pretty risky choice for Mac users."

      Oh, the irony... Mac itself is a pretty risky choice as far as support goes! :)

      --
      "The need to build the internet comes from something inside us, something programmed... something we can't resist."
    30. Re:Slightly OT by FictionPimp · · Score: 1

      The xmms eq only effects MP3's. You can however do a google for eq-xmms and install that plugin to get full eq on all media types.

      Yes its dumb, but it works.

      Now if only rhythmbox would get a eq, life would be great.

    31. Re:Slightly OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The linux community at large seems to have a strong sentiment in favor of using ogg over mp3.

      It's actually free software community. We don't revolve around a single kernel.

    32. Re:Slightly OT by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Well, if you use the equalizer to begin with you can't care much about sound quality anyway.
      64kbps oggs sounds better than mp3s, that's the use for it I suppose.

    33. Re:Slightly OT by x_codingmonkey_x · · Score: 0

      Yeah I just wish that more portable music players would support Ogg. I have a Creative Muvo TX-FM player which does not support Ogg. Furthermore, I went searching for a player that does support Ogg but was disappointed with what I found. Does anyone know of any good music players that support Ogg?

    34. Re:Slightly OT by AussieVamp2 · · Score: 1

      iRiver

    35. Re:Slightly OT by k8to · · Score: 1

      I said it should ultimately lower fees and increase competition. You counter with a comment about sellers of the moment and their current practices. This is kind of a nonsequitor. The question was raised: "what is the point?" One of the points of it, is that the technology has the promise of openness, which has secondary order benefts. That it is not generally deployed in the marketplace is one reason that it is not yet fulfilling all of its promise.

      To respond to the child of your post as well, "Free as in Beer" is one reflection of the openness. Technologies that come with fees which can be raised arbitrarily at any point have real limitations in terms of how they end up being used. One issue, for example, is that commercially trafficing in AAC or mp3 as a content generator is reasonably priced at very large volumes, but very expensive at small volumes. This has a chilling effect upon the ability of smaller content providers to coexist with larger ones, a situation I personally find undesirable.

      --
      -josh
    36. Re:Slightly OT by k8to · · Score: 1

      There is a wiki page on exactly this topic. I encourage you to track it and comment if you make such a purchase.

      http://wiki.xiph.org/VorbisHardware

      Incidentally, Vorbis seems well suited to mobile replay, especially with bitrate peeling, you can have files stored on your harddrive at very high bitrates, and reduce them to lower bitrates very radpidly while downloading them to your device.

      I have personally commented on this page. I own a Samsung Yepp YP-t7z. The vorbis playback is not perfect. I seem to be able to exhaust the processortime on the box with high bandwidth vorbis files (around 180kbps or higher). However, this hasn't bothered me, I just encode around 150kbps average. I would recommend the device cautiously. The user interface is not sleek or elegant, but usable and satisfactory. It is a 1 gig flash-based player.

      Apparently the IOPS line of players have the best OGG Vorbis support, and generally seem to be good devices.

      The iRiver vorbis support historically has been inferior, with various issues plaguing the devices.

      --
      -josh
  8. iTunes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this figure is lower or higher to iTunes store traffic

  9. Nice misleading title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    12.3% of MUSIC transfers, which is 11.34% of all traffic -- so Ogg makes up 1.4% of all P2P traffic. Which ain't bad at all, but is nowhere near 12.3

    1. Re:Nice misleading title by leoxx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, not many people download movies in OGG format, and the ones that do probably spend a lot of time trying to figure out why the sound works perfectly but the picture is so garbled.

    2. Re:Nice misleading title by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 1
      Which ain't bad at all, but is nowhere near 12.3

      Don't let reality get in the way of statistical manipulation! I think it's great that BitTorrent (and ogg) are becomming "respectable", but really, these numbers don't mean a lot.

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    3. Re:Nice misleading title by rm999 · · Score: 1

      As someone pointed out earlier, movies are much larger than music so of course p2p traffic will be dominated by video if you only care about bytes. Comparing music and video by bytes is like comparing apples and oranges. A much better figure, which I am sure it hard to figure out, is number of movies vs number of songs or albums.

    4. Re:Nice misleading title by joebutton · · Score: 5, Informative

      > Yeah, not many people download movies in OGG
      > format, and the ones that do probably spend a lot
      > of time trying to figure out why the sound works
      > perfectly but the picture is so garbled.

      Actually ogg is a container format which can contain both sound and video. Vorbis is the audio format.

    5. Re:Nice misleading title by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      Nitpick: Vorbis is the high-quality lossy audio format.

      Speex is the speech-quality lossy format, and FLAC is the lossless format.

    6. Re:Nice misleading title by DWIM · · Score: 1
      12.3% of MUSIC transfers, which is 11.34% of all traffic -- so Ogg makes up 1.4% of all P2P traffic. Which ain't bad at all, but is nowhere near 12.3

      Actually it is exactly 12.3% of music transfers, which is what was stated in the parent posting. You didn't think they were saying ogg represented 12.3% of all P2P traffic did you?

    7. Re:Nice misleading title by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Nitpick2: FLAC is not limited to the Ogg container, there are also .flac files. Besides, I don't think there are any hard limits as to what formats you can use inside Ogg, so it's misleading to talk about THE low-q/high-q/lossless audio format.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    8. Re:Nice misleading title by RedWizzard · · Score: 1
      12.3% of MUSIC transfers, which is 11.34% of all traffic -- so Ogg makes up 1.4% of all P2P traffic. Which ain't bad at all, but is nowhere near 12.3
      It's worse than that. The article (and summary) say that Ogg is 12.3% of music, but they don't mention Vorbis. Either the submittor or the editor has decided that Ogg = Vorbis and put that in the title. But at least some of that Ogg traffic will be FLAC.
    9. Re:Nice misleading title by rooster9 · · Score: 1

      Wow. Very nice. You would make a great special ed teacher.

    10. Re:Nice misleading title by stuuf · · Score: 1

      Comparing music and video by bytes is like comparing apples and oranges.

      I think it's more like comparing grapes to watermelons.

      --

      Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it

    11. Re:Nice misleading title by starwed · · Score: 1

      Actually, a lot of the anime you can download is in an ogg container, often using ogg vorbis for sound. From what I understand it's easier to deal with subtitles and multiple audio tracks in an ogg or mkv container. ^_^

    12. Re:Nice misleading title by millette · · Score: 1

      So let's forget the Ogg container and think in terms of the Xiph family.

    13. Re:Nice misleading title by Trixter · · Score: 1

      Yes, but worse it sounds very much like Ogg advocacy by reporting positive over negative. For example, would this have been a slashdot story if it was reported that MP3s account for 87.7% of all music bittorrent traffic? :-)

      I've been reading Slashdot since its inception, and only in the last two years have I been noticing an upsurge in hearing myself say, "THIS is a headline?" :-/

    14. Re:Nice misleading title by Ours · · Score: 1

      I do. I have many quality animes in OGG container. The picture works well too.

      --
      "You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
    15. Re:Nice misleading title by Silkejr · · Score: 1

      Yep. Ogg Theora. That's a sweet little format right there, too. I wish more folks used it, cause it works real nice.

    16. Re:Nice misleading title by DeadSea · · Score: 1
      So if I have a .ogg file, I don't know whether it should be opened with my music player or my video player?

      I hate container formats. I wish that each codec had its own extension.

    17. Re:Nice misleading title by elgaard · · Score: 1

      Not if you only go by file suffix. But there are ways to handle it

      mycomputer:~$ file /usr/share/sounds/KDE_Logout_3.ogg /usr/share/sounds/KDE_Logout_3.ogg: Ogg data, Vorbis audio, stereo, 44100 Hz, ~128000 bps, created by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I (1.0)

    18. Re:Nice misleading title by DeadSea · · Score: 1
      File extensions determine the application that handles the file and the icon it gets though. So although it can be figured out, double clicking on the file may do the wrong thing, and it may get an media file icon despite the fact that you don't have the codec installed and you can't actually play the file.

      Would it really be so hard to have a .vorbis and .theora extension? They can both have the same Ogg file structure. I don't care about file structure. I care about whether I can play it on the given machine, what the icon looks like, and if I see a foo.vorbis file on the internet I know it is that song that I'm looking for.

    19. Re:Nice misleading title by brokenarmsgordon · · Score: 1

      Now you're just splitting hairs.

    20. Re:Nice misleading title by burner · · Score: 1
      File extensions determine the application that handles the file and the icon it gets though.


      Oh which platform? On mine, the icon for audio oggs is a generic music icon, whereas the icon for video oggs are a thumbnail of the contained video.
      --
      MRSH-Recording device, corned beef sandwich with kraut, seafaring bird, and the foamy top of a beverage.
    21. Re:Nice misleading title by NotoriousQ · · Score: 1

      Well...you could go by the multi extension route. Something like file.vorbis.ogg might do.

      Alternatively you can use a mime-type...although most file systems have no built in support for mime-type in metadata.

      Also most video using Ogg based container is actually using an Ogm container (.ogm extension), but it is actually a fork that is slowly being merged back in to Ogg.

      IMO the Matroska (I hate the spelling...is it a doll or a navy t-shirt?) is a better container format. Furthermore, it uses two extensions...mka and mkv to signify audio only or video/audio. Once stuff gets a little more stable, I will be using it with H.264/Vorbis, and once Dirac is available, dirac/vorbis. That is going to be teh cool.

      --
      badness 10000
    22. Re:Nice misleading title by crabpeople · · Score: 1

      well maybe they should re download their codecs then

      http://tobias.everwicked.com/

      from link:
      These filters let you embed the following media types into Ogg streams:

              * Most video streams but MPEG2 (Streams with format type VideoInfo or VideoInfo2)
              * Most Audio streams but MPEG2 (Streams with format type WaveFormatEx)
                  Anyway Vorbis is the recommended audio format
              * Text streams

      another way to prove your misinformed follows
      or perhaps you were trying to be funny?

      --
      I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
    23. Re:Nice misleading title by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

      Maybe, but I have a feeling that FLAC may be a pretty high proportion of that Ogg share. They mentioned that almost all the Ogg sharing was via BitTorrent which implies large file sizes - full albums encoded via FLAC fit the bill. And I know FLAC enjoys a reasonable following among audiophiles. What I don't know is what proportion of FLAC users use Ogg as the container.

    24. Re:Nice misleading title by brokenarmsgordon · · Score: 1

      FLAC does enjoy a reasonable following among audiophiles, but so does SH and APE. I would doubt that lossless music gets much trade on P2P networks, especially since (and you can verify this from anyone who supports mp3 over ogg vorbis) most downloaders are not audiophiles, and would sooner download the 40MB music video over the 40MB lossless track.

  10. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting
    So 12.3% of 11.3% of files on P2P are in ogg.

    That's about a percent of all traffic.

    Holy Hyperbole Batman!

  11. Downloading Love by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But? But? They help legitamize our beloved BT. Let's keep them, shall we?

      --

    The "are you a script" word for today is infects

  12. Ogg Vorbis Popularity by ryg0r · · Score: 2, Interesting
    IMO, I think we need oggs in cars.

    I used to ripp all my CDs straight to ogg, but seeing as I cant play ogg in my car, I've abandoned the idea.

    Why no play the original CD's? I hear you say, because my car got broken into and they were all stolen.

    Ogg's for cars would definiately be a great idea.

    --
    Karma whoring .sigs don't work
    1. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by rm999 · · Score: 1

      There are ogg players for cars, as I understand it. You could also get a portable ogg player (if all your music is in ogg format, this isn't such a bad idea) and hook it up to your car directly. I do this with a tape adapter and my iPod.

    2. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they can release Ogg for trucks and SUVs some time later.

    3. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by mrchaotica · · Score: 2, Informative

      Rip your CDs to FLAC instead for archiving, then transcode them to whatever lossy format you prefer when you need to put them on a portable device.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    4. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by GianlucaM · · Score: 1

      That's what I do, only I use Monkey's Audio instead of Flac.

    5. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by Mantus · · Score: 1

      Given the price of large hard drives, it seems reasonable to me to rip all your music into FLAC (or any other lossless format), that way you can transcode the audio into whatever format you need it to be in and can make an exact copy to replace lost or damaged discs.

    6. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1, Troll

      If your CDs were stolen but you're still playing the Ogg files you ripped then you too are a thief.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    7. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by mrchaotica · · Score: 0, Troll

      Congratulations; that comment earned you a spot on my foe list.

      Asshole.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    8. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by countach · · Score: 1

      I don't know whether to laugh at the stupidity of that comment, or cry at the probable legal truth of it.

    9. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by iminplaya · · Score: 0, Troll

      Maybe your funny meter is broke. Just sayin' That's all.

      --
      What?
    10. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just got a Cowon iAUDIO X5L 30GB player. This thing is sweet. I take it everywhere, hook it into my car stereo, etc. Same size as an ipod, except it sounds great, and isn't tied to proprietary crap. It's just a USB2 HD, works with linux, plays back OGG and FLAC... So for me, my car plays OGG just fine. Anyways, so far I'm super happy with it, if you're looking to blow some money it's a great DAP. In windows there's also a util to convert video. Now it's got a small screen and people have bitched that the quality is nothing to write home about, but I love that too. Sorry to sound so much like a paid advert, but I've been waiting years for a decent player. I was hoping prices would drop on the Iriver H320, but that was stupid, and it's not available for sale any more from what I can tell. But thankfully there is still a player available that isn't stupidly DRM encumbered, etc. I dunno why Iriver went from H320 to the H10. Lame. Oh well, all the fuss over new formats? Fuck it all, I'm set, though I sure hope there'll be spare parts if my player breaks :|

    11. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by frog51 · · Score: 1

      Oggs, Flacs, MP3s - they all work in my car. Seriously - get an empeg...hundreds of gigs of music...sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

    12. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe your funny meter is broke.

      Apparently so is the moderator's. And when are you going to fix the damn poll???

    13. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by cens0r · · Score: 1

      That's what I do now, and I love it. I have over 200GB of lossless goodness.

      --
      Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
    14. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      It wasn't even subtle. You must be American or something.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    15. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      I suggest crying because you know one day it will come up in court.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    16. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by xMilkmanDanx · · Score: 1

      That brings up an interesting question, is the license with the CD or the jewel case? Or does it take a transfer of both to make the license transfer?

      IANAL but I would say the jewel case/liner notes etc, since you are allowed to make a backup of the media, implying the media could be damaged/destroyed/lost at some point in the future without the loss of the license.

    17. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1
      Is there a license associated with a CD? As I don't sign any kind of agreement when I buy a CD I presume there is no license and instead there is simply copyright law preventing me from copying the CD except for 'fair use'. I would have thought that making a backup, damaging the original, and then playing the backup was fair use. This is different from the situation of software with a EULA. (But IANAL.)

      But then there's the slippery slope. If I lend it to a friend and continue to play my backup is that fair use? If I lend the disk to a friend but keep the liner is that fair use? If I lend a backup to a friend is that fair use? Is it fair use if I don't play the original while the copy is lent out? And if the friend decides not to return the disk, so they have become a thief, at what point does my backup cease to be fair use? And my original point: if a thief steals my CD is playing the backup 'fair use'? I don't know for sure what the answer to any of these questions is although I have my suspicions. We've had copyright law for centuries now so I'd be interested to hear from lawyers if any precedents have already been set for any of these cases.

      Oh...and one last case...is it fair use to buy a CD, rip it, and then throw it the original because I think that filling my house with with 12cm disks that hold only 700MB is a waste of space? And if that is fair use, it is reasonable for a court to presume I'm guilty of copyright infringement when they find I have all this music without the original CDs? Life is complicated these days!

      And please someone fix that 'troll' mod on my post. It's called 'shooting the messenger'.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    18. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Even as a joke, it's still in poor taste. It's like going up to some old guy that can barely walk and breaking his legs with his own cane.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    19. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1
      It's like going up to some old guy that can barely walk and breaking his legs with his own cane.
      No it's not.
      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    20. Re:Ogg Vorbis Popularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > it's still in poor taste

      You really need to lighten up if you are saying THAT was "in poor taste." I don't think you know what that phrase means... You are taking offense to something completely unoffensive.

      > It's like going up to some old guy that can barely walk and breaking his legs with his own cane.

      No, it's like saying a joke about someone who did that. Do you even try to make sense?

  13. not only that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Way more CPU cycles!

    Way less compatibility!

    Way doesn't work on my iPod!

    1. Re:not only that... by EvanED · · Score: 1

      Get a better player

      I'll give you my address if you want to send a check. (I'm tempted to just post my current address as I move out in 4 days, but that still probably is a bad idea.)

      Until then, the benefits of OGG don't give me enough reason to change. Especially when I can encode at 256 kbps; I can't tell the difference between that and the original. Sure, it takes up more space than the OGG, but that's not a big concern for me. I have enough hard drive space, and my MP3 player is an MP3 CD player so I can carry around arbitrarily large amounts of music.

    2. Re:not only that... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      From your current standpoint it probably doesn't matter much. For people who buy those mp3 players that only come with 1GB of space, it probably would. For streaming audio on the internet it makes a huge difference. Ogg Vorbis can go down to extremely low bitrates and sound more than twice the quality of an mp3 at the same rate. Software developers who don't feel like paying for the license fees on Mp3, or Mp3-Pro would probably like it... Oh and when more bands start releasing 5.1 surround editions of their music, Ogg's already built in multi-channel capabilities will be pretty nice...but for sheeple like you, no... who cares right?

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    3. Re:not only that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that'll teach you for buying a piece of shit iPod when you could have got something better for cheaper.

    4. Re:not only that... by MoneyT · · Score: 1

      Because that's exactly what we need. 5.1 music. Fuck, most artists can't even get 2 chanels of sound right, why the fuck do I want it to be in 5.1? Especialy since of all the audio devices that play music exactly 1 of them is 5.1 and that's my home stereo system, where I'm least likely to put on audio and listen to it in a way suited to enjoying 5.1 sound.

      --
      T Money
      World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
    5. Re:not only that... by ABaumann · · Score: 1

      I understand where you're coming from, and 5.1 music does have it's place, but where it doesn't have it's place is in my car or in my headphones when I'm working out. There's so much other noise around you when you're driving, working out at the gym, or going on a bike ride that 5.1 just isn't worth it.

      Besides, I still don't buy all of this sound quality crap. Sure, SOME people can tell the difference between a 128 kbps Ogg and a 128 kbps mp3. Even fewer can tell the difference at 192 kbps. Assuming that you're one of these people blessed with such a golden ear, I'd like to give you the same listening test, this time while driving your car on the highway, working out at the gym (yeah, I understand you're a /.er so that concept is prolly foreign to you) or doing outdoor activities. Point being, a good 90% of the time music is background. If you want to go with whatever gives you the best quality all of the time, you're going to end up re-encoding your library on a weekly basis as these things improve.

    6. Re:not only that... by EvanED · · Score: 1

      I'm not trying to put down Ogg or Vorbis specificially. I'll freely admit that it's technologically superior. However, practically, there are dozens of reasons why people could, quite reasonably, continue to use MP3 anyway. Technology isn't the only selling point.

      In my particular case, and in the OP's, that reason is that it's not as widely supported.

      Saying that we should go out and buy new equipment so we can use Ogg is, IMO, just stupid. Ogg isn't ENOUGH better to justify it. Even if you're looking for a new player, the (supposedly, I haven't used it or really anything else myself) user interface of he iPod might win out over Ogg support. And quite reasonably.

      And because we refuse to buy new or different products to get Ogg support doesn't necessarily mean that we are blindly following the masses.

    7. Re:not only that... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      Actually I don't have that "golden" of an ear either...but I sure as hell can hear when a cymbal crash is over compressed....if you just listen to pop and hip hop this might not be a problem for you though...then again, it sounds like music's not a very important part of your life anyway...just some noise in the background.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    8. Re:not only that... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      I care much more about Ogg being an open and free format mainly...if those of us who care about things like that don't stand up for it and just keep using the stuff that doesn't support it, it never will be supported...

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  14. That still means a lot more music files by Alphanos · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "According to CacheLogic survey, 61.44% of the peer-to-peer traffic nowadays is video, with audio taking distant second place, representing 11.34% of global traffic."

    If we assume that the average audio file is 5MB, which is probably too large, then there would only be a file-to-file equivalence if the average video file was less than 30MB, which is very small. You can't fit a single half-hour episode of some anime show into 30MB unless you have ridiculously poor quality. So it's reasonable to conclude that a much greater number of audio files are being traded, and video files use more bandwidth because video files are bigger, rather than because video files are more popular than audio files. An actual ratio would require data on the size of the average traded video file.

    --
    Alphanos
  15. Great news by darthgnu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I only hope this percentage has an actual meaning... On the plus side, it will be a pleasure to download those CD's that have "rip" ""protection" in ogg. I proudly buy my music, but I cannot stand _any_ DRM, I rip all my CD's in ogg, and get them on my neuros music player. Great quality, smaller file size, I love it.

    --
    Freedom is strength, Ignorance is peace, War is slavery.
    1. Re:Great news by taquitosgmail.com · · Score: 1

      I love my neuros too, but when broadcasting and changing the gain at the same time with an Ogg of q 6.5, I get the STOP error. If only the decoder/dsp were a little bit more powerful!

    2. Re:Great news by darthgnu · · Score: 1

      I encode with VBR 128-256 Kbits, this gives great quality, and my Neuros only skips on a very few rare occasions. You should also try different firmwares..it may help.

      --
      Freedom is strength, Ignorance is peace, War is slavery.
  16. Asia by rm999 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    12.3% are in the open-source OGG file format (almost all of which are exclusively traded on the BitTorrent network, particularly in Asia).

    I think part of the reason ogg is bigger in asia is the iPod. The iPod is much bigger in the USA than asia, and it does not play ogg. Asia has players that can handle ogg, so people go with the superior format. I would like to see the day when my iPod can play ogg (i'm not holding my breath, apple isn't exactly known for adding more features to the old iPods) or americans move to other players and oggs become more popular.

    1. Re:Asia by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      A 4G iPod (including the Mini and Photo) can run an Ogg Vorbis codec on iPod Linux...

    2. Re:Asia by xenobyte · · Score: 1

      I think part of the reason ogg is bigger in asia is the iPod. The iPod is much bigger in the USA than asia, and it does not play ogg. Asia has players that can handle ogg, so people go with the superior format.

      I'm pretty happy with my iRiver H340 (40 GB) which plays Ogg natively. That was a major part in my decision to go with that particular brand/model. It's been performing flawlessly this past year, has great sound even in the included mini-headphones (but I've replaced mine anyway - prefer bigger headphones) and a long battery life. It's got a built-in FM radio and a very flexible equalizer. It's also black (with red symbols and dark grey markings) and not white... ;)

      --
      "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
  17. Hey! by 2lt_gravity · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I gotta get my free porn somehow... And I love watching Lindsay Lohan... but would never lower myself to actually buying a movie of hers. I'd never be able to show my face in public again if I were caught!

  18. Hmm, that's interesting... by DarkYoshi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    61.44% of the peer-to-peer traffic nowadays is video

    I wonder what percentage of that is video minors are allowed to see?

    1. Re:Hmm, that's interesting... by narduk · · Score: 1

      1.4%, just as much as OGG music is traded. Coincidence?

    2. Re:Hmm, that's interesting... by justforaday · · Score: 1

      I wonder what percentage of that is video minors are allowed to see?

      Not all of it is blackened coal chutes...

      --
      I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  19. Downloading Excuses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Why do you automatically assume it's copyright-infringed music?"

    *starts up Azureus*

    *Types in Britnay Spears.ogg*

    Oh I don't know. Call it a hunch.

  20. So basically this confirms... by csoto · · Score: 1, Troll

    that Ogg is the format of thieves and vagabonds, as I have always suspected...

    --
    There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
    1. Re:So basically this confirms... by vwjeff · · Score: 1

      that Ogg is the format of thieves and vagabonds, as I have always suspected...

      My reply is not meant to be a troll in any fashion. Ogg is my format of choice. With that said...

      The general public does not keep track of file formats or P2P apps. I buy music online through iTunes and Napster. My father asked if I would get into trouble by using Napster. There is still an underlying taboo that many people can't get over. A few years ago, Napster got all of the negative attention. The media in general used Napster to represent online piracy (rightly or wrongly)

      Recently I was watching CNN and I heard Bit Torrent mentioned. This is the first time I had heard it mentioned in the news other than on tech sites like /. This got me thinking and I became worried.

      If the general public associates Bit Torrent with piracy, a useful technology could be outlawed and replaced with a closed alternative.

      I understand that the majority of Bit Torrent traffic is illegal under copyright law. I'm glad the technology is available but am afraid it will be misunderstood. I believe everyone has free will to a certain extent and can make decisions based on their own personal values.

      I fear that OSS and open file formats will be labled "for hackers only." The general public thinks evil when they hear hacker. I believe that the more negative attention Bit Torrent gets, OSS will get less acceptance. I fear that this will happen soon. Take a look at the top downloads on sourceforge. The top four are P2P apps. The news outlets will take this figure and run with it. The most active project means little to those not involved with OSS. Worthy OSS projects are getting attention and usage but at what cost?

    2. Re:So basically this confirms... by boron+boy · · Score: 1
      I believe that the more negative attention Bit Torrent gets, OSS will get less acceptance.

      Relax, don't worry. Mass media will not even mention the words "open source". That would just confuse everyone. Their buzz words will be "file sharing", "bittorrent" and "piracy". Of course "terrorist" will probably be thrown in for good measure.

    3. Re:So basically this confirms... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this modded troll? It's the only reply that made me laugh. If it's not a joke it's unintentionally funny.

  21. PhatNoise by GianlucaM · · Score: 2, Informative

    According to PhatNoise (PhatNoise.com) the latest firmware revision for their PhatBox supports OGG Vorbis up to 192kbps. You have to email them to get that information, because it's nowhere onthe site. I'm tempted to buy one.

  22. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by Petrushka · · Score: 1

    ... but only if you don't mind the audio quality being degraded even further.

  23. Too Bad by ethzer0 · · Score: 1

    Too bad Ogg being used on P2P networks won't be enough to convince portable audio device vendors of supporting the protocol.

    1. Re:Too Bad by w98 · · Score: 1

      I beg to differ. I researched a handful of manufacturers that support ogg, and ultimately settled on iRiver and got an H320 player, 20GB model. And being that ogg files are smaller than mp3 at a comparable bitrate, it's pretty slick.

    2. Re:Too Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It worked for MP3.

    3. Re:Too Bad by rpdillon · · Score: 1

      Huh?

      IRiver (Most models, though they're phaing them out)
      Neuros (all models)
      Rio (Karma)
      JetAudio (new, makes great players, all support Ogg)

      And a bunch of others. I've been happily listening to my 100% ogg vorbis collection on the go (cars, walking, whatever) for 3 years.

      If you don't think slick Ogg players exist, check out my newest one: JetAudio iAudio X5. It is pretty amazing, and it plays FLAC too.

    4. Re:Too Bad by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 1

      "Too bad Ogg being used on P2P networks won't be enough to convince portable audio device vendors of supporting the protocol."

      Using that logic, the vendors shouldn't support MP3 on their portable digital music players either...

      --
      "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  24. Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because compressing an already compressed file is such a fucking good idea.
    I'll stick with my pirated MP3s, at least I'll know they'll work on others' PCs and iPods.

  25. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by mslinux · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can't tell a difference. Go figure.

  26. Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by chrysrobyn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I tried out several encoders in 2001 when considering compressing my music library. I tried double blind tests on the best realistic equipment I'd be using (then a 10 year old amp and pretty new Bose 501 speakers -- both are now clearly 4 years older) using my PC sound card's RCA outputs. Not an audiophile setup by any means, but certainly a bit better than the PC's internal speaker.

    In my tests, Ogg Vorbis at 192KBps, MP3 (LAME) at 256KBps and something else.. WMA? at 256KBps were not decipherable from the original CD to my ears. Interestingly enough, I favored Ogg Vorbis even more because when I backed it down to 128KBps the artifacs I could hear sounded better than MP3's at 168. My choice was made -- Ogg Vorbis at 192KBps would be my preferred codec.

    So I went around looking for what could play it. Only a few pieces of software (winamp and xmms were the two I cared about) and zero hardware. I had aspirations of taking music with me, so that left all but MP3 out of the game at the time.

    I currently use iTunes to store and organize my library of 400+ CDs and synchronize a subset to my 1st generation 5GB iPod. Now that I've put that much effort into a single program, either another organizer will need to beat iTunes by being more comprehensive, useful, intuitive and stable, or iTunes will have to support Ogg Vorbis for me to encode future CDs in a codec other than MP3. Once iTunes encodes and plays Ogg Vorbis files, then I'll see about an iPod or similar that will play them (these days I'm in the iPod Shuffle price range). Since iTunes is a free (as in beer.. but where's all this free beer people talk about?) encoder, I'm not willing to pay for the inconvenience of switching to a new program.

    1. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by ratpack91 · · Score: 1

      I'm not locked into iTunes (I use foobar2000) but all my ogg aspirations went sour when I found out oggs reduce the battery life on my iRiver h320 at twice the rate of MP3s which is deal breaker. So at the moment I'm back to ripping Lame MP3 -aps again.

    2. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by andy+jenkins · · Score: 1
      That's no accident. iTunes is a big incentive for your next upgrade to be a new iPod.

      I use open source software with an ogg player and I have no such incentive because my software does the job but is no pleasure to use. However, I'm completely free with the movement of my music files and my player and laptop are backups of each other.

    3. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by RiffRafff · · Score: 2, Informative

      So I went around looking for what could play it. Only a few pieces of software (winamp and xmms were the two I cared about) and zero hardware.

      Zero hardware? Not so. Cowen/JetAudio's iAudio, iRiver, MPIO, Rio, IOPS, Samsung, Neuros, ISM; all offer Ogg Vorbis-capable players.

      In addition, many Symbian phones can use OggPlay to playback Ogg files.

      Also, current versions of WinAmp handle Ogg, and there's plug-ins for the older versions. Xmms has always handled Ogg, IIRC.

      --
      "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
    4. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by mibus · · Score: 1

      He did say it was in 2001... and he mentioned WinAmp and XMMS as supporting Vorbis :)

      I just wish I had the cash to buy a new MP3 player - the iRivers look quite appealing, but I already have a 30GB iPod which makes it hard to justify ATM.

    5. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For Ogg/Vorbis support in iTunes, check out the Quicktime Components Project. Whether these plugins work in Windows iTunes I don't know 'cause I haven't tried. But there might be other solutions for that.

      //MMN-o

    6. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by oncebitten · · Score: 1

      What about AAC? Linux can deal with it via faad/faac, and it's an improvement on MP3.

      And for the record, Ogg is not a superior format. Ask the ffmpeg developers (who know a thing or 2 about codecs/file formats), why not. Unfortunately, the old mailing list archives are gone, but there has been many a good thrashing given to Ogg on those lists.

      Basically, seek support is a nightmare, and stream chaining and multiplexing is even more horrible.

    7. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by Knackered · · Score: 2, Informative

      Neither the QT components, nor Jordy Mendelson's updated version work properly in QT 6.5, and they crash QT 7 (on MacOS X).

      Here's the reason why:

      http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=deta il&aid=1144430&group_id=41359&atid=430388

      Nobody has yet fixed them, so Ogg Vorbis is not an option under iTunes currently.

      --
      a.
    8. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just get it over with and redo them all in FLAC format. Then you will be able to convert to any other format that exists now or in the future, whenever you want. With a simple script you could make mp3's or ogg's of your entire collection in one shot, and still retain a perfect copy of the original in FLAC.

    9. Re:Ogg Vorbis faces a challenge of intertia by justforaday · · Score: 1

      You do realize that many portable players out there work fine with iTunes, right?

      --
      I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  27. Amazing where your media goes by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My brother took a copy of his Black Adder DVDs back with him to China in Xvid+Vorbis format (to save damaging the originals).

    6 months later I buy a pirate copy in Mexico to show to a friend because I don't have *my* originals with me, and it was the same files (or at least, the same checksum when I checked with him). Also on the disk was a vorbis codec and instructions about how to install it... and how to rip new media with it to best effect.

    Something to think about.

    --
    Beep beep.
    1. Re:Amazing where your media goes by agent+dero · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh dude, no way, that reminds me.

      My friend's little brother went to Amsterdam last year and while he was out drinking with some buddies, he met this really hot Dutch girl who asked him back to her place.

      Long story short, he gets drunk, passes out, and, swear to god, wakes up in a tub full of ice with a kidney gone!

      Seriously... :P

      --
      Error 407 - No creative sig found
    2. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can buy pirated Black Adder videos in a compressed file format in Mexico??? Where the fuck were you shopping?

    3. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be glad the Department of Homeland Security didn't stop you on the border.

    4. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ddi you know that every time you buy a pirated DVD, someone in the MPAA kills a kitten? It's true.

    5. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Captain_Chaos · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My brother took a copy of his Black Adder DVDs back with him to China in Xvid+Vorbis format (to save damaging the originals).

      6 months later I buy a pirate copy in Mexico to show to a friend because I don't have *my* originals with me, and it was the same files (or at least, the same checksum when I checked with him). Also on the disk was a vorbis codec and instructions about how to install it... and how to rip new media with it to best effect.

      If you encode the exact same files (ripping a DVD is much more precise than ripping a CD; the video is just files on the DVD) with the exact same codec and the exact same settings (which could easiliy happen if you use some kind of well-known tool to do it), the results will also be exactly the same and hence have the same checksum. Doesn't mean that they were actually your brother's files.

    6. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      OMG!! Your brother set up his own video piracy company in China. You should ask him for a cut of the profits to keep quiet.

    7. Re:Amazing where your media goes by Sun+Rider · · Score: 1

      Right on the main streets of Mexico City's downtown.

      The city is invaded by street vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Once in a while there are police operatives to try to clear a few streets, but the vendors fight the police back. It's a political issue, with high unemployment in Mexico, it would not be a good idea for any politician to face the informal economy. Now, since every new law they come up with it's only used by corrupt officers to complicate and extort people engaged in the formal economy, it's like it's not possible to do business legally.

      As a funny or pathetic aside, in northern Mexico, close to the border with the US, many professionals find it easier to register their business in the US, and pay taxes to the US, despite the fact that they live and work in Mexico for Mexican customers!

  28. Misleading Subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ogg Vorbis files *do not* constitute 12.3% of all P2P traffic, as suggested by the title - the summary clearly says 12.3% of *Audio* files. So actually the headline should read "Ogg Vorbis Share Reaches 1.39% on P2P Traffic." Wow, not so interesting.

    1. Re:Misleading Subject by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      Yeah, yeah. But that analysis misses something -- music transfers are much more significant than indicated by their bulk alone. If you counted by file, music would be tops. And anyway you cut it, 12% of P2P music is a major milestone (and extremely suprising).

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  29. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    http://freshmeat.net/projects/mp32ogg/

    That's so utterly stupid. MP3 and Vorbis are both lossy encoding methods - converting one to the other degrades the quality even more.

  30. 1.4%? by Dumass · · Score: 1

    11.34% * 12.3% = 1.39% of total traffic.

    1. Re:1.4%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      11.34% * 12.3% = 1.39% of total traffic.

      1.39% mathematically rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent == 1.4%

    2. Re:1.4%? by Dumass · · Score: 1

      Thank you, captain obvious... I was pointing out that it's a minimal percentage of total filesharing traffic. (Although it looks like I didn't read the comments thoroughly enough, as a couple of other people came up with the same number I did a few minutes before)

  31. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just because a player plays the 'standard' formats does not make it superior. Look at iPodLinux... it has an ogg player. The only reason most standalone mp3 players don't have ogg support is because the developers wrongly think that it's a completely marginal format, which is becoming increasingly untrue.

    If ONE developer would include ogg support, then it would become even more popular and accepted.

    And the only reason most people still use mp3 is because, unlike mp3 (which is proprietary), ogg is open-source. Microsoft seems to go out of their way to exclude open-source.

  32. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by oddfox · · Score: 1

    PS: There's really no need to be such a butthole when you're defending your format. It doesn't exactly make people want to go out and try it when it appears to be the choice of bitchy little fucksticks.

    That's funny coming from an apparent Apple-freak, since lots of Mac fans come off as just that, including yourself. All bark, no bite, "superior" player my ass.

    --
    "We invented personal computing." - Bill Gates
  33. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the most stupid idea ever. If you already have just an mp3 without the original you gain absolutely nothing by converting it to ogg.

    That your shitty ears don't notice doesn't prove anything.

  34. Portable music players by The+OPTiCIAN · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are there any portable music players that support .ogg vorbis yet? (and are they any good?)

    --


    Believe with me, my saplings.
    1. Re:Portable music players by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iRivers have been playing .oggs for quite a long time now. They're mostly problem free, provided you take care to record at a "friendly" bitrate (which is admittedly more care than one should have to take, but it's not a *huge* deal).

    2. Re:Portable music players by isolationism · · Score: 4, Informative
      Plenty of the iRiver and Samsung offerings support it. My 1GB samsung YP-T6 is (slightly) smaller than a Shuffle, has a screen and more than 2 play modes, an FM tuner, a mic and line in with direct encoding capability (128kbps, but good enough for dictating notes etc.) and plays MP3, WMA, and OGG just fine. It also connects to Windows and Linux as a regular mass-storage device and so doesn't require iTunes or any of its open-source alternatives.

      It's a pity OGG support isn't more wide-spread, and worse still that lots of people bitch about wanting mp3s, completely oblivious to the closed-source brick wall the "next generation" of mp3 formats is going to present. I naturally will be smug with my OGG-playing YP-T6 and EPIA running Linux/Freevo as a set-top multimedia player.

    3. Re:Portable music players by Petrushka · · Score: 1

      Are there any portable music players that support .ogg vorbis yet? (and are they any good?)

      Many; probably most (in terms of brands, obviously not in terms of number of units). All will also play mp3, most will play wma, many will play flac, almost all will play a range of other formats too. For starters try the iAudio and Rio ranges. Both offer both flash and HDD players. Also lots of mobile phones, even digital watches, support ogg playing (though in a few cases, only via a soft/firmware update). Just google. There's lots out there.

      My personal favourite: iAudio. They've got some fantastic products, also including stuff like hand-held XviD/DivX players, etc. Sound quality: as good as or better than the iPod. Battery life: definitely better than the iPod. Price: not as cheap as older iPods, but still very well-priced IMHO.

    4. Re:Portable music players by andy+jenkins · · Score: 1
      Lots: http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/PortablePlayers

      The iAudio's have great sound quality but don't have gapless playback even in ogg format. And that really gets on my tits.

    5. Re:Portable music players by RiffRafff · · Score: 1

      Are there any portable music players that support .ogg vorbis yet? (and are they any good?)

      Cowen/JetAudio's iAudio, iRiver, MPIO, Rio, IOPS, Samsung, Neuros, ISM; all offer Ogg Vorbis-capable players.

      --
      "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
    6. Re:Portable music players by ldpercy · · Score: 2, Informative

      I bought the same player a few days ago and while i'm enjoying it, some of my ogg files can cause the player to freeze.
      There's a bit of a discussion of the problem over at the Xiph wiki: http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/Talk:PortablePlayer s#Samsung.27s_Yepp_Ogg_Vorbis_support Have you had any of same problems?

    7. Re:Portable music players by hiryuu · · Score: 1

      Portable players with OGG support have been around for a while, though admittedly they were pretty thin on the ground for a bit. The Rio Karma is both a pleasure and a disappointment - good player with good features in a small package, but with one pretty drastic flaw, in that the heads on the drive tend to get stuck, and the "unofficial" suggestion for fixing it is to smack the unit with your hand (with quite a bit of force). Potentially a firmware bug in the HDD itself, but even so, very frustrating.

      --
      Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
    8. Re:Portable music players by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry but I'm gonna have to call BS on you...

      iPod Shuffle - 3.3(H) x .98(W) x .33in(D) = 1,06722 cubic inches
      Samsung YP-T6 - 2.17(H) x .87(W) x .91in(D) = 1,717989 cubic inches.

      Also, the shuffle weighs 22 grams while the YP-T6 weighs 30.
      Granted, it has a bunch of crap that the shuffle doesn't, but a lot of people like me, value space more than gimmicky fetures (A built-in mic? I bet that sounds as good as web streaming circa 1995... and an FM Tuner? WTF?? You have your favourite music in it already, why would you want to listen to the radio?? And again, It's not gonna sound very good - even by radio standards - with such a small receptor crammed in)

      Screen/No screen is arguable, as for myself I don't see the need for one, taking into account that the 1GB can only really fit my all-time favourite music, so no matter which track it plays, I'm gonna like it. Besides I don't have to worry about getting it scratched.

      If there's one thing that Apple does well, is that they value quality over quantity of features. I'll give you something tough, an equalizer would be nice. But it's no biggy either because you can set per-song equalizer presets in iTunes already :)

    9. Re:Portable music players by whig · · Score: 1

      The Neuros II plays OGG Vorbis just fine, and is open source.

      --
      Peace and love, y'all
    10. Re:Portable music players by ernunnos · · Score: 1

      The Rio Karma, Neuros, and iRiver players did, but they're out of production now, and the newer models don't seem to. Fortunately Samsung and Cowon (aka iAudio) are picking up the slack. I've got a 30g iAudio X5, and it plays all my Oggs without any problems. It's a nice player, very well designed.

    11. Re:Portable music players by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1

      Several. iRiver make some. But the Cowon Iaudio x5 is the latest and greatest.

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    12. Re:Portable music players by caluml · · Score: 2, Informative
    13. Re:Portable music players by isolationism · · Score: 1

      Yes, I have -- one or two of my Star Control II (Precursors Mixes) oggs cause a lockup where I have to actually pop the battery out to reset the device. A little disheartening. I tried to download the latest Samsung firmware from their site just yesterday ... and when I ran it, the downloaded firmware appeared to be considerably older than what was already on the device. :(

    14. Re:Portable music players by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      MP3's popularity is due to its huge legacy base, both in players and encoded files. AFAICT, no one cares about any "next generation MP3 formats"; the preferred newer formats are WMA, AAC, or (yes) Ogg Vorbis, while existing MP3 files and players aren't going anywhere. So, where exactly is the problem?

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    15. Re:Portable music players by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Rio Karma supported ogg vorbis (and FLAC too), but stupid Rio killed it off. Grr...

    16. Re:Portable music players by Castar · · Score: 1

      The one that's currently giving Apple a run for its money is the iAudio series - they beat iPods hands down on features, but might suffer somewhat from usability and looks (of course that's subjective).

      There's also the iRiver players, and Samsung makes several. Of course, the best player is still the Rio Karma, since they're the only company who has managed to figure out gapless playback...

      I've actually been surprised lately at all the Ogg-supporting players coming out of South Korea (which seems to be the center for portable MP3 players). In light of this article, it makes sense though.

      --
      I yearn for you tragically. A. T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
    17. Re:Portable music players by isolationism · · Score: 1
      I can think of a few.

      First, mp3s generally require higher bitrates and therefore larger files to avoid somewhat ugly sound artifacts (such as flanging) whereas OGG files degrade more gracefully toward FM-like sound. In both portable media devices and large music collections this wasted space adds up pretty quickly.

      Second, OGG encoders produce considerably more reliable-quality encodes than MP3 encoders. Yes, diversity is good, but those "legacy" format mp3s you've got might sound good or terrible at 128kbps depending on what was used to encode them (all other factors, of course, being equal).

      Third, the licencing issues around mp3. While the patent is now probably effectively unenforceable because of the format's (chiefly illegal) proliferation in software, it is patented, which is why OGG exists at all. The Slashdot crowd may not like patents (I'm not particularly fond of them either) but A) the Fraunhofer Institute did come up with it first, and B) the format has proven to be immensely valuable, as you have pointed out. At least OGG isn't part of that problem.

    18. Re:Portable music players by ldpercy · · Score: 1

      Yeah it does suck.
      I took some cues from the part of the discussion about the tag header framing bit (not that I really know what that is), and used Foobar2000's masstagger to strip out a whole lot of non-essential tags from the files on my player - had far fewer lockups since.
      The firmware on my bought player is version 1.521 and the updater program reports that the latest one available to me is 1.321 - seems Samsung/Yepp are a little out of synch with themselves ;)
      All up though, I really am enjoying the player - just hope they get the tag bug sorted soon.
      Proper playlists would nice too :-)

    19. Re:Portable music players by isolationism · · Score: 1
      iPod Shuffle - 3.3(H) x .98(W) x .33in(D) = 1,06722 cubic inches Samsung YP-T6 - 2.17(H) x .87(W) x .91in(D) = 1,717989 cubic inches.

      No doubt about it, the Shuffle displaces less volume. I can't close my fist around my wife's Shuffle, however; The YP-T6 has a shorter and chubbier profile which, in some circumstances, is a better fit. The weight, incidentally, is higher chiefly because the chassis is made of aluminium, not plastic, like the Shuffle.

      ... but a lot of people like me, value space more than gimmicky fetures

      I admittedly laughed pretty hard when I read this. Tell me about all those extra things you managed to roll up into your life with that extra 0.7 square inches at your disposal? As much as an extra (somewhat used) pink eraser?

      The built in mic isn't going to record the next award-winning DDD album or anything, no -- as I stated already, it's good enough to record dictation notes and the line in can handle a quick dub from tape or a record or something if you don't want to haul your gear around to plug it into your computer to tease a song or two out of your older media for listening later.

      As for FM tuners -- maybe it's been a while since you've been to the gym? Most broadcast whatever's playing (television, workout tapes, whatever) on FM channels so people can tune in privately without disturbing everyone else, much like a drive-in movie.

      FM tuners are useful to have with you on days when you are exposed to inclement weather as well (such as when on the water, for example), as they can detect lightning strikes reliably in time for you to seek shelter (and, of course, provide up to date weather forecasts as well).

      And then, of course, some people also like to listen to the news from time to time, especially the local colour if one finds onesself travelling abroad. FM reception is just dandy, actually, including indoors in my basement -- thanks for asking.

      Another one of those "gimmicky" features you neglected to mention is a removable, standard AAA battery. Have fun paying to have yours replaced in a year.

      If you can live without a screen or a user-replaceable battery, then great -- stick with your Shuffle. I couldn't, or I would have bought two instead of just one for my wife and something else for myself. I don't keep an "i-Tunes" postage stamp collection of my favourite songs, nor are they all MP3s as plenty of bands release their songs online using the open OGG format; I sort my music by album and prefer to listen to it that way, and change the songs frequently based on whatever is new or "new again" to me, or to what suits my mood at the time.

      Having a graphic equaliser isn't an especially big deal if you have a good set of headphones and use them properly (I leave my EQ on "Normal"). Tell me you aren't using those miserable buds that came with your iPod? Invest in a pair of Shure E3c's and some triple-flanged earcups, or a set of Etymotics and form a good seal in your ear, and you'll have a much more enjoyable listening experience, especially in the lower register.

  35. Re:Downloading Garbage (kill Bill) by darkonc · · Score: 2, Funny
    On a global scale, 46% of P2P traffic is video in Microsoft formats.
    Percentage figures like these are ..... going to do nothing but light a big fire under the MPAA and RIAA's.

    Suit up guys.... Lock and load. We're going after Bill.
    The Bill??!
    Yep.
    But he survived an attack from Washington.
    We're the RIAA. We're bigger than Washington.

    --
    Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  36. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only reason ogg never caught on is that until Tremor came around in 2002, the decoder required floating-point arithmetic. There was no way in hell portables could support it. I guess they couldn't predict that the iPod would change everything and assumed most people would play their audio files at their desktop, I don't know.

    Oh, and Microsoft tried plenty hard to beat mp3. Didn't work out too well.

  37. Commies! by supabeast! · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Almost all of the OGG files are traded via BitTorrent protocol with most of the growth coming from Asia..."

    This provides more proof that open-source is a communist plot -- most open-format audio files traded on those illegal p2p networks come from Asia, home to the largest communist country on Earth! Protect American business and ban p2p and the GPL!

    1. Re:Commies! by EnderWiggin99 · · Score: 1

      Careful, mods, not TOO high. Don't want the Homeland Security guys keeping an eye on the long-haired smellies to get any ideas.

      Mod parent down.

  38. Probably does the EQ before the DCT by seanadams.com · · Score: 1

    Does the equalizer work for WAV files?

    If not, then most likely the reason is that their EQ is completely MP3-specific. The process of MP3 decoding generates for each frame a set of 32 frequency components extracted from the compressed bitstream, which are then converted back into the time domain ("pcm synthesis").

    Probably they implement a crude EQ by manipulating the frequency bands which are already available as an integral part of the decode process.

    I think you could do the same with ogg, but it sounds like they don't.

  39. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 1

    If you look at most mp3 players, they have wma support too

  40. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by EvanED · · Score: 1

    Just because a player plays the 'standard' formats does not make it superior.

    The poster didn't say there was a casual relation there.

    For all you know, the poster's opinion could be that the iPod is a better player in spite of the lack of OGG support.

    Just because a player plays only the 'standard' formats doesn't mean it's inferior either.

  41. But does anybody use Theora yet? by tepples · · Score: 1

    Actually ogg is a container format which can contain both sound and video. Vorbis is the audio format.

    But do people actually use Theora yet? Last time I checked, it wasn't even out of alpha.

    1. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by rpdillon · · Score: 1

      Ogg doesn't have to use Theora...it can use other video codecs. For example, I rip a lot of my DVDs to ogg using Ogg Vorbis for audio, with XVid for the video.

    2. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      This practice is very common for Anime, since the OGG container can handle subtitles and multiple audio streams (The more common AVI cannot), and there are very strong preferences for both subtitled and dubbed translations.

    3. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by HorsePunchKid · · Score: 1

      A few people do, at least. There are some videos on Wikipedia (or more likely, the Wikimedia Commons) that use Theora. Check out the rather cool Controlled Impact Demonstration. You may need to install codecs to view the videos. (These are just the ones that the Media help page suggests; they worked fine for me.)

      --
      Steven N. Severinghaus
    4. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by millette · · Score: 1

      [ 2004 Jun 1 - Theora I bitstream freeze ] from the official site.

    5. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://revision3.com/systm/ episodes are available in Theora. Haven't downloaded the Theora versions myself, though.

    6. Re:But does anybody use Theora yet? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1

      Theora bytestream format is stabilized. So now, all they have to do is to improve the encoder a bit and make the decoder slightly better (the decoder reference implementation is pretty good, except seeking the stream is not as flawless as it should in VLC and Totem at least). And, of course, major video encoding apps should made to support it out of box too, like VirtualDub(Mod) and mencoder. ffmpeg kind of does, already, with ffmpeg2theora.

      As for if people even use it - videos in Wikipedia are in Theora format. That's a pretty high-profile user =)

      Aside of Theora, a lot of people use ogm/ogmmux encapsulation, which is a horrenduous hack that lets V4W codecs be used with Vorbis audio - a lot of ogm files out there with XviD video and Vorbis audio.

  42. Apples and oranges? by EvanED · · Score: 1

    No, this is comparing apples and oranges.

  43. ^bump^ by TubeSteak · · Score: 1
    that's what I was thinking.

    Ogg is just a container for other stuff.
    Theora video
    Vorbis audio
    FLAC
    etc

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  44. Apple iPod OGG position by baylanger · · Score: 0

    Great info here: http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/ogg-on-ipod-why-th e-ipod-may-not-have-the-horsepower-for-ogg-015607. php And at the bottom of the page, there are 2 other interesting links.

    1. Re:Apple iPod OGG position by HeroreV · · Score: 1

      What a retardedly long filename.

    2. Re:Apple iPod OGG position by r_benchley · · Score: 2, Informative
      That link does not contain great info. Two days after it was posted at Gizmodo, there was a rebuttal that was posted: http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/ogg-vorbis-on-ipod -a-rebuttal-015738.php/
      First off, the original iPod does indeed have the horsepower for Ogg
      The rebuttaal was written by Monty from xiph.org. Monty is he author of the Tremor codec and OGG itself. I agree that Apple should offer support for OGG Vorbis on the iPod, or allow a third party to add support, because choice is a good thing. However, there is no technical reason that the iPod would be unable to play OGG Vorbis files.
    3. Re:Apple iPod OGG position by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything that might actually help the general open source community is NOT going to come from Apple. Apple (and its users) are leeches on the free software community. They're happy to take code and applications that were written to be portable and run them under OS X (or as part of OS X), but new apps are always written to Apple's closed source API's and always use Quicktime and other closed proprietary technologies.

  45. It's the article's title by tepples · · Score: 1

    You didn't think they were saying ogg represented 12.3% of all P2P traffic did you?

    <title>Ogg Vorbis Share Reaches 12.3% on P2P Traffic</title>

    1. Re:It's the article's title by DWIM · · Score: 1
      Ogg Vorbis Share Reaches 12.3% on P2P Traffic

      That's not the same as saying the share reaches 12.3% of P2P traffic. Further, the body of the posting states clearly:

      Moreover, 12.3% of all the music files traded on P2P networks are in Ogg format.

    2. Re:It's the article's title by VoidWraith · · Score: 1

      This is Slashdot, we can't be arsed to read the BODY of the summary.

  46. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by Oliver+Defacszio · · Score: 1
    Dear obvious OSS supporter,

    Would you say so even if you did find a difference?

    --

    -
    Inventor of the term 'pardon my French'.
  47. Misleading topic by [cx] · · Score: 1

    Ogg Vorbis merely takes up 10% of the percentage that music takes up of P2P traffic.

    its a percentage of percentage.

    [cx]

  48. They trade albums by tepples · · Score: 1

    If we assume that the average audio file is 5MB, which is probably too large

    Recorded music on BitTorrent is usually albums, not singles. Albums on BitTorrent are at least 40 MB in most cases.

  49. Portable? by DirePickle · · Score: 1

    Yay! Does that mean we can buy music players that support vorbis, soon? Are there any portable CD-players in the US that support it? My collection of oggs is angry, being confined at home.

    1. Re:Portable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There exists an ogg Player for Symbian (mobile) phones. Armed with a fairly big memory card, That's makes a pretty good portable music player.
      http://symbianoggplay.sourceforge.net/

  50. Ogg on P2P by nunchux · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I never really use them anymore, but I remember that if you're looking for something on the P2P networks that isn't a top 40 hit you're at mercy
    of the seeders/uploaders/whatever you call them. If the parties ripping the music files decide to use Ogg over mp3 and the downloaders want the song, they're going to find a way to play them. This goes double for binaries groups... I remember quite a few times having to find new players for the various formats people would use, because I really wanted to hear more obscure (and otherwise unavailable) recordings.

    I also wonder, though this is pure speculation, if non-mp3 (and non-wma?) formats are gaining popularity because of the floods of garbage mp3s. The RIAA and whoever else is responsible probably aren't bothering with the marginal formats, at least not yet.

    1. Re:Ogg on P2P by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      I'm finding that most collections I download are in FLAC. If you know where to look, you can find lots of non-top 40 songs.

      I've found that the searching and begging for seeds is too much of a hassle. allofmp3.com is a lifesaver for older stuff, and if they don't have it I go to iTunes.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  51. How to stop that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I believe it is possible to stop this RIAA 'well poisoning'. After I did my work in DSP (wavelet theory) I spent a while working on methods of analysis that can be used to provide a signature for digital files based on a spectral checksum. You probably heard recently about the **AA hoping to use this kind of algorithm to snoop on filesharers and identify copyright material on users machines.

    Well, we can turn this theory against them and use this to remove junk from filesharing repositories. The key is to use in combination with Torrents. Typically a poisoned file is not detectable until you have already downloaded all of it, by which time it's too late. Normal file transfers like FTP are vulnerable, but not a torrent.

    Since torrents split a file into many small parts
    this lends itself to a distributed (random access) signature check. With only a few packets of a torrent it should be possible to determine if an audio (or video) file is the genuine article.

    This does not require that you have a precomputed analysis of the file, it works on any file dynamically constructing the distance matrix on the fly.

    As an outline: The order in which torrent units arrive is not sequential, you may get the first chunk followed by chunk 3167, then chunk 23, etc... Now then.. If a file is junk the mean distance between a sufficiently large set of chunks is low [the poisoning usually fills the file with noise or a looped segment] , if the file is genuine the average of these differences will be large, since most music and video evolves.

    An extention to the torent protocol could perhaps expose this 'spectral diversity profile with only a handful of chunks'

    Admitedly, very repetitive music might throw false negatives, but most music should pass the test.

    Please mod up if you feel this worthy of dicussion. Cheers.

    1. Re:How to stop that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gee wiz you sure sound smart! Your entire paragraph of big words is based on this premise "the poisoning usually fills the file with noise or a looped segment". What if the RIAA just puts a 10-second obnoxious noise in random places within their "junk MP3s"? Your plan now is defeated right?

    2. Re:How to stop that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you are correct about that weakness. However some understanding of wavelets might help understand the potential. Incongruous segments stick out like a sore thumb. The property that music evolves in a particular way is the very basis on which compression like mp3 works, discontinuities advertise themselves rather well. And you can't poison with truly random signals, anything close to complete noise looks a lot like anything else close to complete noise.

      I'm not suggesting it's a cure-all, but it's one tool in an arsenal to fight back by identifying those files which have a *high probability* of being corrupted, deliberately or otherwise.

      Another weakness you also missed is that it cannot easily detect truncated files, but hey, I offer food for thought, not a finished algorithm. Take the ball and run with it if you have some math background. I suggest start with Garbors work and Kohonen self organisation maps which can quickly decide if a bunch of datums belong together.

      Appologies for the multisyllabic words, I find them necessary to communicate complicated ideas.

      btw sorry for the delay replying:

      "Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.
      It's been 51 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment"

        --- That's hardly a reasonable window for a brief exchange. :(

    3. Re:How to stop that? by rooster9 · · Score: 1

      Actually, I prefer L. Flynt's work to that of amateurs like Garbors. That being said. If the RIAA hires me for only $10.50/hour, I will write a small piece of code that copy a random 5-second piece of music from the MP3 and reinsert that copied chunk of music 5 seconds later. I might even do it twice in the same song! Now, NO ONE will have the time or the energy defeat something that simple. Only $10.50/hour!

    4. Re:How to stop that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm very interested but I can't seem to find a ref for Flynts papers, any chance of a link please Rooster? Cheers.

      Also, don't make it RANDOM. Chances of accidently finding an in-phase zero crossing point for both the extraction and the insertion are rather bleak in the time domain. Your result would contain at least 2 nasty pops or phase anomolies even with a crossfade. Although why you would want to destroy data instead of directing your ingenious talents toward creation is a somewhat beyond me. Nihilism bleeds the soul.

      JFYI I am also a published musician and there's some chance you have a copy of my work in your collection, hence the AC. I've seen the rot from _inside_ the business and I promise you wouldn't like working for those people, they chew up techies and spit them out like old gum when you've exeeded your usefulness. If I had funding I'd offer you 20 bucks/hour to defect from the dark side ;)
      peace,
      AC

      "It's been 1 hour, 4 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment Chances are, you're behind a firewall or proxy.."

      LOL, come on /. neither of those statements are correct! Need a decent Perl programmer?

    5. Re:How to stop that? by briancurtin · · Score: 1

      why would they hire you for $10.50 when they already do this, and have been doing this for a while now?

      --
      My UID is a palindrome, that must be good for some type of prize.
    6. Re:How to stop that? by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 1
      it'd be interesting, but I don't think it'd work

      currently, there are too many bittorrent clients out there for a change to the protocol to propogate to all the users any time soon.

      also, your basic theory is that the seed file is poisoned and that others in the swarm will pick up on that and report to you that it's bad.

      however, when RIAA or MPAA poison a bit-torrent file, they seed it. some times many times over. I recall seeing a warning against trying one poisoned file. the tracker was reporting several hundred seeds, well over the amount of a legitimate file of a similar name. that tells me that RIAA or MPAA will host a poisoned file and seed it heavily.

      so any sort of peer-processing would be dependant on RIAA or MPAA admitting to all the other clients in the swarm that it's fake.

      also, if most people that find out that they're downloading a fake file would kill the download and delete the file. they wouldn't keep seeding the file in order to warn others off.

      In short:
      1. BT is too decentralized to try that with.
      2. The *AA groups will brute force false negatives
      3. Users won't suppor the system.

      Nice idea, but it's just not feasible enough. In the meantime, the primary way to find out whether or not a file is legit or not is to go through the comments pages of major BT aggregator sites. The community does post feedback and sometimes it's worth paying attention to. (there's also a bunch of teenage bullshit comments on there, too. but it's worth it to take a closer look before you download the torrent and connect to a *AA BT tracker.

    7. Re:How to stop that? by rooster9 · · Score: 1

      how fuckin long do i have to wait until I can post (after hitting the fuckin reply button)? ridicious

    8. Re:How to stop that? by rooster9 · · Score: 1

      Dude... I don't devote any effort towards creation. Do I sound like a student from Kansas or something? Evolution! FYI: I am pleased you used "pops" cause I can relate to that word. But "phase anamolies"? I would have to be Capt Kirk to understand that stuff!

    9. Re:How to stop that? by EternityInterface · · Score: 0

      1) Nihilisms aim is to destroy something (society/ego) which is so corrupted the only way to make it survive (or change) is recreating it from scratch.

      Recommended alternatives
      * gothism
      * emoism (most recommended, everyone hates this)
      * vampirism
      * capitalism
      * MSism

      2) Log in instead. Or you're too afraid to start at 0 with a name next to it. Limit isn't even 5 mins any way. Although when the 0 default starts, your anon posting is revoked.

      --
      the sun is god
  52. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by andy+jenkins · · Score: 1
    The only reason most standalone mp3 players don't have ogg support is because the developers wrongly think that it's a completely marginal format

    Ogg seems to use more power thus decreasing battery life. Ogg on a chip will help, but will players really have one chip for ogg and one for mp3?

  53. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by twitter · · Score: 1
    Thanks. I've been working on scripts to do the opposite, ogg2mp3, so I can use a cheap music player. My script used sox to make a wav then toolame to encode to mp3 but did nothing with tags or the name.

    It would be better if device vendors got with the program and started making cheap and tiny ogg players. The sound quality going between the two compressed formats is "good enough" but it would be easier to not have to fool with mp3 at all.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  54. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by TinyManCan · · Score: 1

    Not the one with 80%+ of the marketshare!

  55. High Ogg % shows RIAA is winning by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Actually there is more to be said. The fact that Ogg is 12% of audio files demonstrates that either

    The study is flawed and is only monitoring a niche population not the general population.

    Or

    The record industry has been successful and mainstream users are not trading audio they way they used to, that only a niche population is engaging in large scale audio piracy.

    Ogg is good technology but it has not been embraced by 12% of digital audio users.

    1. Re:High Ogg % shows RIAA is winning by baker_tony · · Score: 1

      OR People don't realise they are downloading ogg files and are getting pissed that they can't play what they've just downloaded.

  56. Downloading Engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "There are commercial artists who I respect for their music, but I don't respect the attitude of them or anyone else who one the one hand claims to be an artist and then on the other demands that people pay money for their works in order to support their lifestyle. They should go and get a real job like the rest of us!"

    That would be the one going overseas, right?

  57. Mass Converter for Windows? by Apoptosis66 · · Score: 1

    Does anyone know of a mass converter for MP3 -> OGG? I am a windows user and the only one I can find is oggasm which is only for linux. Also all my mp3s are 192kbs, what is the quality equivalent for OGG. Some people are saying 128kbs, however that seems low to me. Thanks for any help.

    1. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by iantri · · Score: 1
      There will be a substantial loss in converting MP3 to OGG -- the quality will only get worse from the re-compression, however high you compress it at.

      I would reccomend leaving your existing music in MP3 and ripping your new music to OGG or, if you have tons of hard drive space, FLAC or Apple Lossless (so you can re-encode from a perfect source for playing on portable devices).

    2. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by anhdres · · Score: 1

      converting your already lossy audio files to another lossy codec (like OGG) is no good. You'll only get more artifacts and such. Plus, I don't think you'll find many places where you can play ogg and you can't play mp3... BUT, if you want to play with it, I may suggest you try the dbpoweramp converter at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm , the swiss army knife of audio transcoding. You just install the codec plugins you want and that's it.

    3. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Apoptosis66 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the warning guys. Kind of sucks, to be perfectly honest I don't have all the cds anymore. I guess I am stuck with MP3 forever. I am not willing to go half and half with my collection. Oh well. Thanks again for the quick response.

    4. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Beolach · · Score: 1

      This is why I rip all my CDs to FLAC. I can then later reencode them to whatever format I want for a specific purpose. MP3 for my ancient cheapo portable MP3 player, Ogg Vorbis for most other things, and I can burn my own standard Red Book audio CDs with no loss.

      --
      Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
    5. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      I just wish that There was a way to put the CD ID into the CD's I burn from FLAC. While the audio is perfect, I want to put the CD in a player, and have the CDDB recognize it. This and the lack of gem case inserts is what keeps me away from distributers like www.magnatunes.com

    6. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Apoptosis66 · · Score: 1

      So its too late for FLAC, I sure wish I knew about that 6 years ago when I started my collection. However, just for kicks I just tried dBPowerAMP as suggested. I converted 192kbs MP3 to Quality 6 OGG, which seems to be VBR. I didn't have any new artifacts, and for the life of me I can't tell a difference. However, before I go crazy I will have a few more ears listen to see if I can tell the difference. While I have some of your guys attention. I have been looking into creating a movie jukebox much like my mp3 jukebox. I have been doing a ton of research. My conclusion is the future will be h.264 with a .MP4 container. The only reason I haven't jumped in is that future seems a good year or two off. I can't find any really eazy software to do h.264. So my question for you guys is... do you think I am on the right track, and if so do you think I should wait a bit longer. I have 300+ dvds so this will be quite a undertaking. I want to make sure I get it right. Thanks again if anyone is still up.

    7. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Beolach · · Score: 1

      Odd... I thought the CDDB/FreeDB disc ID was calculated off of the track durations on the CD. So if you burn a CD from FLAC files, as long as the CD is in the CDDB & you burned all the tracks in the same order, it should recognize it.

      --
      Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
    8. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by croddy · · Score: 2, Informative
      Your claim that there is a "substantial" loss indicates that you have never transcoded from one lossy format to another.

      Yes, of course -- there is a loss of quality. But the difference when going from LAME standard to Vorbis Q5, for example, is something more accurately described as "barely noticeable" or "reasonably insignificant".

      Certainly, if you frequently transcode your files from one lossy format to another, you will begin to notice artifacts. But the losses from a single transcoding are so slight that it is quite often worth it for some added convenience.

    9. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      XviD can ~losslessly compress dvds to half their size. If you don't want files that big, head over to doom9.net and look at the recent video comparisons. They know what they're talking about. But whatever you do, be sure to try and pick an open-source implementation, that way you don't lock yourself out of your own files a decade or so down the road.

    10. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by iantri · · Score: 1
      I've done it several times; 128kbit WMA to 192kbit VBR MP3 in iTunes; and (though the originals sound like shit) the transcoded files are even worse.

      Perhaps Vorbis pulls off a much better job of it but it still avoids the question of why converting one's MP3s to Vorbis is necessary in the first place, since the quality has nowhere to go but down.

    11. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by croddy · · Score: 1
      I think the problem is that you used the iTunes MP3 encoder. It tends to produce pretty poor audio quality even at 192kbps. LAME will do you much better :-)

      You can even install LAME as an iTunes import plugin. As for why it's necessary?

      I wrote a script to convert a large quantity of files to low-bitrate vorbis (from both high-bitrate vorbis and mp3 sources) because I wanted to put a random selection of music on my Neuros' flash memory unit. I could fit much more by creating a directory full of low-bitrate vorbis files before sync'ing it.

      You seem to have made the assumption that I would delete the original files. Not everyone manages their music in the same way.

    12. Re:Mass Converter for Windows? by Hangnail+Whipperwill · · Score: 1

      You're correct that disc IDs are based upon the number and duration of the tracks on the disc. Ideally, CD->FLAC->CD should produce a binary-exact copy of the original CD that produces the same result from CDDB/freeDB. However, due to slight variances in CD/DVD drives, it can be tough to produce an exact copy - most rippers will produce a copy that comes back as an "inexact match" in CDDB. The only ripper I'm aware of that can produce binary-exact copies is Exact Audio Copy, and that's only using secure mode and after you determine your drive's offset value. There used to be an online tutorial on calculating the offset value; it's no longer there, but can still be found in the Internet Archive.

  58. in other news... by blib-hiptop · · Score: 0, Troll

    P2p music downloaders have to re-encode 12.3% of their music downloads.

  59. no no no by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    only 12.3% of thieves and vagabonds.

  60. NO!!!!!! by Kiaser+Wilhelm+II · · Score: 1

    Do NOT transcode from one lossy format to another lossy format.

    The result is something that is even worse. Don't do this ever.

    Rip from the source (CD, WAV, etc.). Never transcode. Ever. I can't say this enough!

    --
    Lord High Crapflooder The Right Honourable Vlad Craig Esther McDavenpherson III
    Destroyer of Mercatur.Net
    1. Re:NO!!!!!! by John+Courtland · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not really that big of a deal. If you encode at a high enough VBR going into OGG, you won't notice. I run my own little internet stream on Ices v2 and you cannot play mp3 through it. I had to transcode all my mp3's, and while a few got fucked up, most don't sound worse for the wear.

      --
      Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
    2. Re:NO!!!!!! by Kiaser+Wilhelm+II · · Score: 1

      Streaming audio isn't meant to be high quality.

      Kinda shitty software that wont let you stream MP3s though. Streamers like Icecast reencode audio anyway.. to a lower bitrate MP3 stream.

      Yes, you will notice though. Unless your audio system is junk. Why waste time transcoding MP3 to OGG? Its pointless and stupid. Reencode from the source. There is nothing gained from the process.

      --
      Lord High Crapflooder The Right Honourable Vlad Craig Esther McDavenpherson III
      Destroyer of Mercatur.Net
    3. Re:NO!!!!!! by John+Courtland · · Score: 1

      ...except ease and speed. I had somewhere around 10000 files. I would have killed myself before I would re-extract that by hand again.
      By the way, Ices is the Xiph.org streamer, same guys who made Icecast. Icecast is just the software the provides the serving connection. Ices v0 WILL play mp3, but there was something about it I wanted that was only in v2, I can't remember what though. I don't know why they don't include mp3 support in Ices v2. Maybe licensing issues.

      --
      Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
    4. Re:NO!!!!!! by Kiaser+Wilhelm+II · · Score: 1

      Ease/Speed? I don't get it. It takes less horsepower to decode an MP3 than it does an OGG and as far as I can tell, they're equally "easy" to use.

      By all means, do what you want, especially if your software prefers oggs (though I'd consider the software retarded if it refuses to stream MP3, the most common formoat on the planet, I'd be switching to another streaming server).

      --
      Lord High Crapflooder The Right Honourable Vlad Craig Esther McDavenpherson III
      Destroyer of Mercatur.Net
    5. Re:NO!!!!!! by John+Courtland · · Score: 1

      I meant the ease and speed of automatically reencoding my whole library using a script, as opposed to re-ripping my CD collection.

      --
      Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
  61. Yes by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    Or Apple Lossless. This is really where the online music stores should be leading the way, rather than wait for the hackers to lead the way like the music industry did in the 1990s. If iTMS or a similar music store offered lossless downloads they would be presenting a real alternative to record stores and a legal alternative to p2p that is also much more reliable. Even 99 cents a song is too much for a lossy mp3 or AAC file; but for a guaranteed good FLAC version I bet many people would be willing to pay the 99cents rather than take their chances on getting a bad file off p2p (after waiting for the 23M download).

  62. Look, don't just swallow the cyanide pill, chew it by rooster9 · · Score: 1

    How about even a single 5 second, random sound in the middle of an MP3? No one would want that shitty MP3... and no software would ever catch that. Note: RIAA... I am looking for work. I'll take $10.50/hour.

  63. poratble Ogg/FLAC player here by bach37 · · Score: 1

    Check out the iAudio X5. Plays all sorts of formats, and is Linux friendly. No software, just drag and drop you stuff onto it and it plays.

    1. Re:poratble Ogg/FLAC player here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just got a 30GB X5L last week. So far I am giddy happy with it. Everywhere I read comments everyone was positive about it. It sounds great, better quality DACs or something than iPod and possibly even sounds better than iRiver (H320 is a great player too). I've run mine with Beyer Dynamic DT-770 studio headphones (250ohm impedence version) and I am quite happy with the resulting sound. I need to get a decent pair of earbuds really soon. But as it stands so far, I have zero complaints, the interface is extremely intuitive and easy to use. I'm extremely satisfied.

  64. iAudio by bach37 · · Score: 1

    Are there any portable music players that support .ogg vorbis yet? (and are they any good?)

    Yes, and yes. Linux friendly, also.

  65. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by MarsLander · · Score: 1
    If ONE developer would include ogg support, then it would become even more popular and accepted.

    I've had an iRiver H340 for what seems like ages... a year maybe? It plays OGGs. In fact OGG compatibility was the reason I bought one in the first place as that's what I'd encoded all of my CDs to.

    Only problem is that I started encoding my CDs to OGG before it reached 1.0, so some of my older CDs have playback problems (sound quite distorted). I still haven't got around to re-ripping them... who can be bothered sifting through CDs these days!? ;)

  66. Downloading Self-Image by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...apparently it is, or people would not be willing to pay that much for it."

    Apparently they don't teach economics in school anymore.

    Anyway what the OP really meant to say was "I'm envious of the success of others, but I don't have the talent to compete with them. So I'll pretend that what they're doing isn't a 'real job' so I'll feel better about myself"

    --

    The "are you a script" word for today is surreal

  67. Linux is 67% of the hacked computers. by wot.narg · · Score: 0

    Ooops, I ment 67% of .1% of hacked computers. My bad :)

    --
    Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    In Soviet Russia
    Poems write you!
  68. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by modecx · · Score: 1

    I've had the H120 for a little over two years, plays oggs fine. If it had a decent interface I'd be really happy. But I'd be even more happy if the USB port didn't decide to stop functioning a few months ago. Gotta take it apart to get some new music on it. Grrr!

    Seriously, I dunno what happened to it. Never been dropped or abused or anything like that.

    --
    Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
  69. In a word... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Patents.

  70. Ogg Vorbis and music by ndtechnologies · · Score: 1

    We use Ogg Vorbis as our music file of choice for our online music service. It is a really great format that works really well. All of our files are encoded at 160k (which is about 192k or more in mp3 format).

    I can't believe that more sites don't use Ogg Vorbis.

    --
    I have nothing clever to put here...
    1. Re:Ogg Vorbis and music by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      Nice site...hope it takes off well :)

      Although I'd say that a ~128k (q4) Vorbis file is probably the equivalent of 192k or higher in Mp3 ;)

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  71. portable players exist but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No car stereo head unit is available. Which is what I would REALLY like to use to play vorbis files.

  72. Mod Parent Up by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

    The guy might have been slightly trollish in the apple-cock statement, but I'd personally of modded it funny :P

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    1. Re:Mod Parent Up by Slashcrap · · Score: 1

      The guy might have been slightly trollish in the apple-cock statement, but I'd personally of modded it funny :P

      Yes, but you have a sense of humour. I've found that the set of people with a sense of humour and the set of people who own Apple products very rarely intersect.

  73. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by cbreaker · · Score: 1

    They could just as easy have one chip for both. Or a chip that's powerful enough to play OGG and MP3 without acceleration - the whole thing about ogg's CPU usage is really overstated. Sure, it's a little heavier on the CPU but these little devices were designed with just enough to decode MP3.

    I'm guessing the battery lifetimes would be negligible between MP3 playing and OGG playing on a capable player.

    --
    - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
  74. Re: THIS JUST IN... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THIS JUST IN....

    A suprising study conducted by my cock has shown that 99% of the videos on p2p networks are PORN!!!

  75. I'm sorry, by Suppafly · · Score: 1

    But 12.3% of 11.34% is not something to be proud of.

    1. Re:I'm sorry, by mikeage · · Score: 1

      But 12.3% of 11.34% is not something to be proud of.

      Well, it's better than 11.34% of 12.3%...

      --
      -- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
    2. Re:I'm sorry, by ffub · · Score: 1

      Depends. If I had 12.3% of 11.34% of all the world's money I'd be pretty smug.

    3. Re:I'm sorry, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? They are both 1.39482%.

    4. Re:I'm sorry, by mikeage · · Score: 1

      First of all, it was a joke.

      Nevertheless, I think what I wrote stands. After all, Ogg has very little control over the total share of Music, but they do have control over their portion. In other words, if it's going to be 1.39482% of the total, better they should have a larger slice of a smaller segment than a smaller slice of a larger segment.

      --
      -- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
  76. So OGG is the format of choice for pirates by I'm+Don+Giovanni · · Score: 0

    no surprise there.

    --
    -- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
  77. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by dal20402 · · Score: 1
    Two words: harpsichord music.

    Harpsichord music is *very* difficult to compress without artifacts/sound changes because the waveforms are so totally gnarly. (Check them out.)

    There will probably be at least some harpsichords in any decent classical collection. I use my harpsichord recordings (along with a few others) to evaluate formats, and what I found was that even at 256kbps they sounded very different from the original with mp3 and somewhat different with aac. (Using iTunes -- no ogg available.) So I went with Apple Lossless; I would have chosen FLAC if I were using a player that supported it.

    FWIW, for me most pop is transparent with 192kbps AAC. But there are things out there that don't compress as well.

  78. Re:Convert all of your mp3s today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    iRiver mp3 players play ogg files, nuff said.

  79. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by badmammajamma · · Score: 1

    "Ogg seems to use more power thus decreasing battery life."

    My Rio Karma plays ogg files longer than an iPod can play AAC or MP3s, so I'm not sure where you're getting your information.

    --
    Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. -- H. L. Mencken
  80. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by bombadier_beetle · · Score: 1

    Glad to see another Rio Karma fan. Built-in webserver, excellent interface, better sound quality than anything else on the market, and about $100 cheaper than the iPod. Oh, and it has true gapless playback across albums, which for me was the big seller.

    I can't understand why any intelligent and well-informed person would buy an iPod instead of the Karma, unless they simply want to broadcast their metrosexuality to the world.

    --

    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
  81. Cowon iAUDIO X5 is great! by Nick+Driver · · Score: 1

    I just got a Cowon iAUDIO X5L 30GB player. This thing is sweet...

    I just bought one of these too. This is the first time I ever paid near full retail for a geek gadget immediately after it first hit the market... usually I always wait a while until prices come down, or a new model is released and the first version models get discounted since I'm a cheapskate, but this time I'm very pleased with my purchase and glad to be an early-purchaser. The X5 has better sound quality than just about all other DAPs on the market. I specifically bought it for the OGG and FLAC support, and really didn't matter if it had video or not, but that's proven to be a neat novelty to have too. The "JetAudio" software the thing came with is pretty slick too. The GUI interface for ripping and converting is so easy to operate that I've quit using all the other softwares I formerly used for that. I play it in my car thru an FM converter and that sounds ok, but I really need to pull the car stereo and add a 1/8" stereo mini-jack to the aux input wiring so I can go direct and get a stronger cleaner signal.

    1. Re:Cowon iAUDIO X5 is great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's an interesting thread on sound quality:
      iaudiophile thread
      thread i was really posting about

      Now the reason I posted these links, is because they were debating whether or not there is a difference in the sound quality of the headphone out vs the aux line out on the subpack. I believe the conclusion tenatively is that the headphone out sounds better. So you may find these informative.

  82. iAudio X5 rocks by Nick+Driver · · Score: 1

    The X5 is about the best sounding portable DAP with OGG support. Also supports FLAC too. Got mine at NewEgg.

  83. Copyright is Over, If you want it by Simonetta · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A paraphrase of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's media campaign of 1971 ("War is Over, if you want it").

      I no longer accept anyone's definition of copyright or the expectation of any person or corporation that they can legally deny access to any digitized recording, image, or written work for any reason.

        Think I'm "stealing"? Think what you like, I don't care.

        'The LAW explicitly says...". I don't care. The people who pass laws are directly paid by the corporations to pass laws that are directly benefit the corporations and no one else. That isn't law, it's just purchased muscle.

        "The poor exploited musicians...", Give me a break. Get a job. Stop expecting people to give you money because "you're cool". The more the economy sinks, the less I feel inclined to give money to people because they extrude charisma.

        I'm really beginning to wish that all the celebrities would all just go the fuck away. I really don't need them, I don't care about them, they don't care about me. I'm never going to give them any more money, regardless of what they do, or how great their new CD or film is. The 20th century is over, there's a new thing around, something is happening but you don't what it is, do you, Ms. Jones?

        Get out of my face, and take your tits with you.

    1. Re:Copyright is Over, If you want it by maxpublic · · Score: 1

      I no longer accept anyone's definition of copyright or the expectation of any person or corporation that they can legally deny access to any digitized recording, image, or written work for any reason.

      So, when all is said and done, you're just another one of those "everything I want for free should be free" assholes. Get over yourself, junior; you're just another fucking loser trying to justify why it's okay for you to violate copyright.

      I'm really beginning to wish that all the celebrities would all just go the fuck away.

      And a jealous loser, at that. Guess the fact that you're never going to bang Natalie Portman or Jessica Alba is really a source of deep personal bitterness for you.

      Max

      --
      My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
    2. Re:Copyright is Over, If you want it by danila · · Score: 1

      The death of copyright is really long overdue. It poisons people's minds. How do you like it - my sister goes to show me some photos from her mountain trip that her guide took. And she explicitly asks me not to distribute any copies, because the guy who took them said they are his intellectual property. How perverted is that?

      --
      Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  84. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by andy+jenkins · · Score: 1
    My information comes from experience with my iAudio M3. mp3s I've nicked off various people seem to play longer than the oggs I've ripped even though my oggs have a lower bitrate - though I've never actually timed this.

    But I envy your gapless playback. I really, really do.

  85. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because all MP3 players need a fucking webserver. Jeezuz.

    I can't understand why any intelligent and well-informed person would buy an iPod instead of the Karma,

    Because I've never owned a Rio product I liked.

  86. Wait, so it's not 12 percent. It's 12% of 11%. by rinks · · Score: 1

    Bit misleading. And not quite as impressive.

    --
    My good looks paid for that pool, and my talent filled it with water.
    1. Re:Wait, so it's not 12 percent. It's 12% of 11%. by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      How many people need to say this before some of them get modded redundant?

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  87. Talk show archives too. by jbn-o · · Score: 1

    Plenty of people have posted links to places where you can get zero-cost music. If you're interested in some political talk, give News from Neptune a try. Recordings are available as Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, or Speex files. The Speex compressor is amazingly high-quality considering how small the files are relative to the Ogg Vorbis files. All of the recordings are licensed to share.

  88. ssssssshh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shut the hell up Skeater! the last thing I want is the coppers raiding my home for "OGG VORBIS"!, MP3's? I got none.

  89. Re:Ogg vorbis can lick my ass by sbergman2 · · Score: 0

    Wasn't the Vorbis reference implementation released under the BSD license? (And IIRC, RMS publicly agreed with the reasons for doing so.) I'll refrain from commenting upon the relative lickability (or non-lickability) of your ass, if you don't mind. I suspect that the point is rather moot, anyway, what with you living in your parents' basement and all...

  90. in other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    HIV is the preferred format of queer to queer (q2q) connections

  91. Flac by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1
    While OGG is a very nice format, I personally prefer the FLAC format, which incidentally also seems to be on the rise (no statistics to support this, but I've noticed more and more torrents where the music is encoded with FLAC). :)

    1. Re:Flac by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Vorbis is better suited for audio in movies, I think it's about time everyone started storing their music in lossless format.

    2. Re:Flac by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      It's a total waste of bits. Blind listening tests prove that lossy codecs can achieve the same subjective effect at a much lower bitrate. Lossless trading (typically of live concert recordings that had shitty audio to begin with) is little more than an audiophile affectation, on a par with all the nonsense they waste money on in the analog domain. And as for local storage: I can get 69 CD's worth of music onto one DVD with LAME-generated MP3s. I could get, what 14 CD's worth with FLAC?

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  92. What program to use? by Nightspirit · · Score: 1

    I'm a winxp user (tablet PC, don't know of a linux version), and I was going to convert my CD collection to a format. So far FLAC looks ideal, as I don't like compression artifacts.

    The problem is that I need to easily encode from FLAC to MP3, as my cellphone, PDA, and car stereo use this format.

    Is there a program that allows an easy conversion of multiple files (ideally from a playlist or similar) from FLAC to MP3 for portable devices or burning?

    Thanks

  93. plenty of artists out there by AussieVamp2 · · Score: 1

    that do not mind this at all

    see www.indy.tv

    www.irateradio.com

    for a random selection

    (I have kept well over 1000 tracks from listening to these for example)

    or even places like radio stations

    http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/mp3s.htm

  94. Ogg Vorbis-quick facts by Quant64 · · Score: 1

    Ogg is a cintainer format, it is most comonly used to store Vorbis audio. Ogm is the extension used for video in an ogg file. Ogg is currently the best audio codec in doubleblind tests http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/result s.html Vorbis audio is used in a lot of the video files on p2p networks etc.

  95. Ogg or Ogg Vorbis? by Bogtha · · Score: 2, Informative

    TFA doesn't say Ogg Vorbis anywhere. It says Ogg. For all we know, that's 99% Ogg Speex files (i.e. audiobooks or other recorded voice) and 1% Ogg Vorbis. Or it could be the other way around. We don't know because the article doesn't say. The claim that it's Ogg Vorbis is completely fabricated by the Slashdot submitter.

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  96. moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hare post here moderated? hov could have passed a post sayng so much wrong things?

    ogg is the container, vorbis is the audio.

    so, avi file with mp3 audio should count?

    The pergentage indicated tell about nothing: is the donwloa hit, the download in size, or what?
    the download ratio refers of the last week, the last year, or from the start of p2p?

    aren't these new for nerds, stuff that matters?

    this is plain misinformation, driven by ignorance.

  97. I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by Nice2Cats · · Score: 2, Interesting
    ... because I'm sick and tired of Ogg Vorbis not working with iTunes. This is turning into the the next one-mouse-button-is-fine issue with the Mac, except that I don't feel like waiting 20 years this time. How hard can it be to include one single little free format?

    1. Re:I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by barryvoeten · · Score: 1

      Well there is a plugin somewhere, my girlfriend has it going okay...anyone ?

    2. Re:I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by KingPrad · · Score: 1

      has it not occurred to you do search for "ogg itunes" and find the plugin? On Windows you download a single file and copy is to a windows subdirectory. On Mac you do approximately the same thing. It takes exactly 1 minute. It probably takes about as long as typing that whining comment about something "not working with iTunes" when it clearly does.

      --
      Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
    3. Re:I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by MouseR · · Score: 1

      Just do a little searching for google's sake:

    4. Re:I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This isn't very effective, as 10.4 has just about permanently broken ogg support in iTunes, by upgrading Quicktime to version 7. Sure, if you're NOT using 10.4, you can downgrade quicktime from version 7 back to 6.5.2, but that downgrade doesn't run on 10.4. Hence, brand new Mac = no ogg support, make sure you re-rip all your music in aac, since that is apparently what Jobs wants anyways. For being the self proclaimed elistist OS and hardware platform, they sure don't want the best audio format do they?

    5. Re:I hope Steve Jobs reads this article by pohl · · Score: 1

      What once half-worked on Sun Nov 3, 2002 now doesn't work at all. Doing a little searching left you with a mistaken impression.

      --

      The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...

  98. morality of distribution? by N3wsByt3 · · Score: 1

    "I'm talking about morality here. Do those songs belong to you? Do you have a right to distribute them to people you don't even know?"

    well, ermm... even if they don't belong to me, but I'm legally allowed to distribute them, then to your last question I can only answer: yes.

    --
    --- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
    1. Re:morality of distribution? by aristotle-dude · · Score: 1

      Unless if they are released under a license which allows for distribution or are public domain, you do not have a legal right to distribute them. Copyright is somewhat of a misnomer as it is not have the right to copy but rather the right to distribute. If you are not the legal rights holder, you are not allowed to distribute unless the music was release into the public domain or released under a license which permits distribution.

      --
      Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
    2. Re:morality of distribution? by N3wsByt3 · · Score: 1

      Well, indeed, this is what I said: if you are legally allowed to do so, then the answer is yes (You do have a right to distribute them to people you don't even know, even if the songs aren't yours).

      As a consequence, the question of morality becomes moot, at least in this case.

      --
      --- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
  99. Sorry, that's not the case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an Asian person myself, with many many asian friends, I can't honestly, truthfully, and accurately tell you that you don't know shiiiiitt.

    The original poster is correct. North American content is NOT popular around the world, as many Americans would like to believe (and I'm one of them).

    And no they are NOT copies. God, grow up!

    1. Re:Sorry, that's not the case by taxevader · · Score: 1

      As an Asian person myself, with many many asian friends, I can't honestly, truthfully, and accurately tell you that you don't know shiiiiitt.

      The original poster is correct. North American content is NOT popular around the world, as many Americans would like to believe (and I'm one of them).

      And no they are NOT copies. God, grow up!"

      NOT copies? Thats funny dude! Look at the Britney clones, the hip-hop clones and most laughably the gangsta clones. Not much else left, is there?

      You obviously dont know shiiiit, and bringing race into the matter is juvenile.

      --
      -Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
    2. Re:Sorry, that's not the case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't no Shiiitttt either. Dude, "britney clones"?!

      Where do you get that from?

      Get out of the house!

      Grow up!

      Get a life!

      Not everything revolves around "the Great US of A".... Sorry to break your bubble, but countries around the world are moving AWAY from the USA as much as they can. But, it's no point debating anything with you, since you refuse to remove those fish goggles of yours!

  100. Thinking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...nope no worries for me.

    Assuming that really was your brother's file that ended up on the black market. Why do I care?

    Your brother either:
    A. had his file stolen. (I sympathize.)
    OR
    B. gave his file to someone else who shared it around or shared it around himself. (He distributed it.)

    Either way, why would this effect my desire to encode my own copies of multimedia? Why should I worry or "think about" it?

    1. Re:Thinking... by The+Wicked+Priest · · Score: 1

      To me, "something to think about" doesn't imply worrying, just something that's interesting.

      --
      Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  101. People, I don't want a plugin by Nice2Cats · · Score: 1
    [H]as it not occurred to you do search for "ogg itunes" and find the plugin?

    Oh yes. In fact, I even used the plugin for a while. Two major problems: First, it doesn't work with AirTunes, so the music reverts to the computer's speakers when the playlist hits an Ogg Vorbis file. This sucks as bad as the iBooks' toy speakers. Second, when iTunes went to 4.8, the plugin crashed my system. Bad, hard, complete, reproducable. I haven't tried the plugin with 4.9 and I don't intend to, because I don't want to go through the whole thing in 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 etc.

    The reason I bought an Apple is because I don't have time at the moment for a computer that isn't in the "Just Works" class. If I still had time to fool around with plugins and such, I'd be using a ThinkPad with Gentoo.

    And anyway -- this is not like asking Apple to switch to Intel or make a mouse with four buttons. This should be simple. Ogg Vorbis is not a fringe format anymore, and it would be nice for Apple to actually listen to what seems to be a substantial part of their customer base for once without the usual decades of telling us that we don't really need it.

    1. Re:People, I don't want a plugin by LibrePensador · · Score: 1

      As a paying customer, complain directly to Apple. You are more likely to succeed that way.

      I have held off buying a Mac because I have 20 GB of music in Ogg Vorbis format and I have no plans to re-encode all of that. In fact, I love the way it sounds, so why should I?

      --
      Pragmatism as an ideology is not particularly pragmatic in the long term. Keep it in mind when you dismiss Free Software
  102. Microsoft Format NOT Codec by SoloFlyer2 · · Score: 0

    OK so 46% of video is in microsoft formats, but probally not using microsoft codecs...

    AVI (Audio Video Interleave) is a microsoft format but the audio codec most commonly used is mp3 and the most common video codec used is DivX / XviD.
    From a technical point of view 46% of video probally is in microsoft formats but the amount of microsoft video formats containing microsoft codecs is probally very low!

    --
    "I reject your reality, and substitute my own" - Adam Savage
  103. Re:Ogg vorbis can lick my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://directory.fsf.org/audio/ogg/

    Ogg Vorbis - [The GNU General Public License, Version 2 or later] - 2002-07-22
    Free audio format

    Basement? Hah. You should be so lucky as to own my property.

  104. Fairly useless to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ogg is useless to me. I already converted all of my cds to mp3. My car deck plays burned mp3 cds, and my tv entertainment center plays mp3s through the home network.

    Ogg is 100% useless to me, no matter how good it is.

  105. iRiver by twitter · · Score: 1
    An AC writes:

    iRiver mp3 players play ogg files, nuff said.

    The older, hard drive based players do and are very nice. The newer 5 gig ones do not. Also, the littler players with the thumb joystick have broken usbfs that does not work under linux, so you will be stuck with DRM encumbered and virus prone Winblows for your music that way. I was willing to pay the extra money for the device but not to put up with broken USB and brought it back. So, if you want something iRiver that works with free music you are still stuck paying a premium for an expensive device which may not be available.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

    1. Re:iRiver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Moderators: Please note that "twitter" is a known fanatical psycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft bashing. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" or "fanboy" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, twitter is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

      I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

      If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

      To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. I mean, this is an article about email disclaimers, right? The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx. WTF?

      Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

      More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one.

      Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.

      More? Bad spelling in astounding conspiracy theories, more offtopic FUD and uninformed "I'm right, look at me" rants, promptly proven wrong. Worse even, twitter wants to be RMS, apparently (that first one is a winner). I mean,

  106. Re:Listening? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1
    I wonder if any of you guys who sit and debate over OGG, MP3, AAC, etc etc etc actually LISTEN and ENJOY the music, or just sit there all day debating over which is closer to the original WAV...

    WAV files suck. :-)

  107. Media Center! by meehawl · · Score: 1

    Is there a program that allows an easy conversion of multiple files (ideally from a playlist or similar) from FLAC to MP3 for portable devices or burning?

    Media Center. Can do on-demand transcoding of formats for different destinations, be they devices or streams. Can also intelligently downsample bandwidth to throttle for narrow client pipes. Amazing software.

    --

    Da Blog
  108. Media Center by meehawl · · Score: 1

    another organizer will need to beat iTunes by being more comprehensive, useful, intuitive and stable

    Yes, there is one. Media Center. Can do on-demand transcoding between pretty much every format for different destinations, be they devices or streams. Can also intelligently downsample bandwidth to throttle for narrow client pipes. Also does ASIO and multi-zone. Amazing software.

    --

    Da Blog
  109. Re:the apple cock tastes fine by OldeTimeGeek · · Score: 1
    I can't understand why any intelligent and well-informed person would buy an iPod instead of the Karma, unless they simply want to broadcast their metrosexuality to the world.

    No, not really. I bought an iPod because I wanted something that worked.

    I really wanted to buy a Rio Karma. It had some good features and I liked the design. When they became available to order, I ordered one. Three months later, I actually got it. It was DOA. The second one was too.

    The delay in shipping sucked, but I could tolerate it. A single dead player I could tolerate. Two dead players out of two is a trend. I didn't really feel like waiting around a whole lot longer for Rio to finally get it right so I got an iPod.

  110. Not really. by hummassa · · Score: 1

    One word (one TLA, really): AVC.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  111. 61% is video? Well DUH VIDEO FILES ARE LARGER? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So of course video will produce more traffic.

    How much of that video is pr0n? The MPAA cant do shit about pr0n.

    Thats why I share pr0n on the ratio sites. Its way safer.

  112. There is one other way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buy an empeg.

    The empeg runs on linux. The player binary (closed source) included a licensed wma decoder.

    Before anyone thinks about asking for that binary - forget it. It is tied closely to the empeg hardware.

  113. mod up WAYYY UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nice post

    and the guy above me that replied to you, it was jesus on the cross you stupid ass not god.

    besides whats your god then if it killed jesus? satan? allah? yoru sig makes no fucking sense you stupid 16 year old loser

  114. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's good to hear that OGG market share has declined to such a point. I wonder how long it will take to reach zero. Long live MP3!

  115. Doubtful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    What if the RIAA just puts a 10-second obnoxious noise in random places within their "junk MP3s"?

    You mean give away their entire rap catalog? I think not!!

  116. including archives? by bobbomo · · Score: 1

    i wonder if they include archives... a little bird told me that much of what is xfer'd is in rar, tar, and zip.

  117. Downloading The One True music. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "You market your crap to enough people and someone's going to be stupid enough to buy it. Doesn't mean that people in general like it."

    Translation: I can't understand why people don't like the music I like? They must be stupid.

    1. Re:Downloading The One True music. by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 1

      I've known that people were stupid for quite a while. This just confirms it.

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
  118. Ogg Vorbis by MagnusDredd · · Score: 1

    Whatever the numbers are....

    Most people say, Ogg What???

    Personally I avoid them since they don't support album art. Every song in my collection has cover art. Even the audio books. Likewise those on my home network use iTunes (win and mac). Until a better plugin is released....

  119. Mp3 is the cassette of the digital era by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 1

    FLAC achieves a compression ratio of 55% on average. So assuming a 44100 Hz 16-bit stereo wav:

    (4500000000 bytes/(44100 hz * 2 bytes * 2)) / 0.55 = ~13 hours

    But even if you can't hear a difference with the equipment you use now, you can't be sure that the next set of speakers won't enable you to hear a difference; when I originally got introduced to mp3, I ripped a few cd's with a bitrate of 128 kbit because I couldn't hear a difference between that and the original. But when I upgraded to a better set of speakers, my mp3's sounded the same as before, but the original cd's had a wider range of sounds that couldn't be heard on my old speakers. By using FLAC you can be sure that your audio will be a perfect copy of the original; I would think that this is especially important if you archive your music on DVD's. Also, what's the point with digital audio if you can't have identical copy of the original?

    Oh, and I didn't know lossless is popular among live concert recorders. It makes sense though; if the source is of poor quality, degrading it further with lossy compression sounds like a very bad idea.

  120. Any codec - EQ - Sound out by Ignominious · · Score: 1

    No codec should have to implement an equalizer - the same equalizer should be tacked on to the output of whichever decoder is being used, by the audio player.

    As the other posts state, XMMS is not well maintained. The equalizer in beep-media-player works fine with Ogg Vorbis files on my Linux box.

    As for hype, do some listening tests of your own, if you really want to know. To save time, you could try the Ogg Vorbis dare to compare listening tests. At the end of the day, use what sounds best to you - anyone else will have at least some natural bias.