MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain

nadamsieee refers us to a piece up at Wired on the fallout from Microsoft's recent courtroom loss to Alcatel-Lucent over MP3 patents. From the article: "Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft this week. Other beneficiaries are the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format... Now, with a cloud over the de facto industry standard, companies that rely on MP3 may finally have sufficient motivation to move on. And that raises some tantalizing possibilities, including a real long shot: Open-source, royalty-free formats win."

Comments

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah! And what kind of name is Ogg Vorbis anyway!? ..

Stupid stupid name!

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[Nexx]

256kHz and 512kHz? I can't hear much above 20kHz, nor do I think my computer can produce that sound in the 16bit-44kHz audio formats, given Nyquist limits.

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[e4g4]

can you REALLY tell the difference between 256khz and 512khz (hint: if you say 'yes', you are lying) I sure can, 512khz is an octave higher than 256 khz :P (I know, i know, you meant kbps).

Re:the problem with format patents

[Hrodvitnir]

That's what you think! They could be infringing on stuff that hasn't been patented yet. Then they'll be screwed.

Re:There's a worry here

[imbaczek]

Are linux distros about to get hit with a torrent of C&D letters? Nah, nobody will seed.

Portable turntable

[theshowmecanuck]

I prefer to keep a portable turntable in my pants. The vinyl tends to skip when I fart, but I can really hear the difference between crappy digital and the analog. The vinyl record sounds better too.

Re:Portable turntable

[kbielefe]

I can really hear the difference between crappy digital and the analog

That's why I got one of those new-fangled mp3 players that converts the digital music to analog when outputting it to the speakers.

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[FunkyELF]

Years from now when you can buy multiple terrabyte portable mp3 players, someone will still choose to store 10 million ogg/mp3 files instead of 1 million FLAC files. All legal files of course.

I'm sure the math of off but you get the point.

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[Anonymous Coward]

So I should buy better hardware so I can hear the noise in my MP3s?

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[alx5000]

I want my... I want my Mp3...
I want my... I want my Mp3...

Now look at them Lucents
That's the way you do it
You play your music on your Mp3
That ain't workin'!
That's the way you do it
Get your money for patents
and your suits for free

Now that ain't workin'
That's the way you do it
Lemme tell you these guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a lawsuit for your little codec
Maybe get a lawsuit for your Zune

We gotta install class action lawyers
Custom codec circuitery
We gotta move these patent infringements
We gotta move these Alcatel bills

[...]

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[mczak]

I sure can, 512khz is an octave higher than 256 khz Oh a bat reading slashdot. You sure have good ears if you can hear those frequencies!

Someone tried!

[matt me]

Yeah! And what kind of name is Ogg Vorbis anyway!? .. You think Moving Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3 has a certain buzz to it?

Re:is storage that big of an issue anymore?

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

I have a patent pending algorithm that allows reproduction above the Nyquist limit by using a reverse-aliasing predictor transform.

It can represent up to the sampling rate, instead of half the sample rate.

Using complex elements in the transformation matrix one can get 2X, but that causes many terms in the transform to not cancel out until the end, and thus uses too much RAM (O(N^2)) for embedded applications. I've even got it up to 8X the sample rate using quaternions, but the exponentially increased complexity makes it impractical even for the desktop (slower than real-time on a 3 GHz PC).