Record and encode MP3s from any source (internal radio tuner or line-in). [I have been told that recording to OGG is a possible future firmware update.]
The MP3 encoder for the Neuros' TI chip took at least three expert-engineer-years to write; it may have been six or nine.
We'd need to clone Monty repeatedly to get a Vorbis encoder working on the device in a timely fashion; there are also other things to do, like producing bugfix releases, some low-bitrate tuning to make sure vorbis is solidly above codecs with SBR (spectral band replication). Then there's Theora, OggFile, and Vorbis II. Not guaranteed in that order.
FLAC, as far as I've found, compresses things to 60% of their original size--that is, it's not quite capable of getting to half. 50% and lower is possible with some types of music, though--usually piano solos and Gregorian chants.
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We'd need to clone Monty repeatedly to get a Vorbis encoder working on the device in a timely fashion; there are also other things to do, like producing bugfix releases, some low-bitrate tuning to make sure vorbis is solidly above codecs with SBR (spectral band replication). Then there's Theora, OggFile, and Vorbis II. Not guaranteed in that order.
Nathan Sharfi
Webmaster, Xiph.Org
FLAC, as far as I've found, compresses things to 60% of their original size--that is, it's not quite capable of getting to half. 50% and lower is possible with some types of music, though--usually piano solos and Gregorian chants.
xvid is patent encumbered (as a number of other posters have mentioned); Theora is not.
Tarkin has been placed on the back burner since the technologyâ"and the mathematics behind itâ"haven't quite been figured out yet.
Nathan Sharfi
Webmaster, Xiph.Org