EMI goes DRM free

[Sam3]

I think this announcement will spur the widespread adoption of AAC and bring on the demise of mp3.

Though I have to admit, I don't encode AAC, I encode in mp3 using the LAME script. I think that LAME-encoded mp3's sound better than iTunes-encoded AAC. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that the LAME people have been studying audio and coming up with the best algorithms. Maybe someone will do this to AAC now.

[Article Accelerator]

[quote elmo3]How many AAC players are out there?
Portables? At least 110 million.

Others? At least 150 million.

AAC is, for all intents and purposes, a proprietary, closed format owned by Apple

No matter how intensive your purposes are, Apple does not own the AAC format, nor is the AAC format closed--it's open and licensable.

OTOH, it is proprietary.

(Something tells me that word doesn't mean what you think it means, Elmo...)

[Baby Tats]

[quote Sam3]I encode in mp3 using the LAME script. I think that LAME-encoded mp3's sound better than iTunes-encoded AAC. Maybe I'm missing something...
Ditto. I have done single blind tests and for my ears, lame --alt-preset extreme sounds better than any other lossless format.

[ho'ard]

After a bitr of testing a few years ago I decided to encode all my music for iPod to 320k AAC.
Would have been happy to stick with AIF if not for the 32mb buffer problem.

Anyways, at 320k, sound quality is close enough to original for me to be OK with, but there's definitely a difference.

It is just plain false for Apple to claim the quality is "indistinguishable" from original at 256k.

I used to expect better . . .

[silvarios]

[quote elmo3][quote deckeda][quote elmo3]
Pray tell, what "format licensing issues" have you ever run into with MP3?
Well, if you're going to sell a device or piece of software that plays back MP3 files, you've got "format licensing issues" to deal with, or get sued for patent infringement. MP3 is not open source.
That doesn't answer my question.

What "format licensing" issues have you ever run into with MP3?

MP3 is everywhere. AAC isn't.
Try legally decoding or encoding MP3 or even AAC in Linux or other open source software. Sure, an end user can add the codecs after install, but even that action is legally murky.

The average user, say my grandmother, who want a secure, stable, and relatively user friendly GUI based OS that will also run on her current hardware (can't cope with Windows XP as bad security and user ignorance is a lethal combination) is a poster child for something like Ubuntu. In fact her PC is still running a year after the Ubuntu install with barely any need for intervention, as opposed to her Windows XP install which would crap out routinely because of the complications of keeping a system patched while running as a LUA. The alternative was sticking to an Admin account and that certainly wasn't safe. Yuck.

Point is, when she wants to move into the realm of audio streaming from the net, she can't legally install the necessary components to accommodate most sources of the audio (Ogg vorbis and FLAC yes, almost everything else, no).

AAC is immune to the royalty payments on distributed content which so afflicts MP3, but just as MP3 has a licensing fee for implementing decoders and encoders, so does AAC. I really do wish that Ogg and FLAC can put a dent into the proprietary audio codec market-share. Each being free to implement and competitive to other codecs when it comes to sound quality.

AAC license FAQ
http://www.vialicensing.com/licensing/MP...=MPEG-4AAC

MP3 license FAQ
http://mp3licensing.com/help/index.html

In short, I have personally been affected by the patent encumbrance of both MP3 and AAC because of their inability to integrate into my Linux systems without running into issues of US patent law. These components don't ship with the software and as a US citizen I am not supposed to install the components after install. Even still, I choose the lesser of two evils which is MP3 as indeed its ubiquitous standing as the defacto digital music standard allows me a much wider level of support from software and hardware encoders/decoders. Also LAME sound pretty darn good to my ears.


Nathan

[Sam3]

Apple would need to add OGG and FLAC to the iPod for those formats to have any dent in the market. As long as no player supports them those are near useless formats. I've been wanting Apple to add OGG since the iPod came out, it can't be that difficult and it would add goodwill from a small, but growing market to Apple's iPod sales; the Linux market.

[silvarios]

[quote Sam3]Apple would need to add OGG and FLAC to the iPod for those formats to have any dent in the market. As long as no player supports them those are near useless formats. I've been wanting Apple to add OGG since the iPod came out, it can't be that difficult and it would add goodwill from a small, but growing market to Apple's iPod sales; the Linux market.
I believe all of COWON's players support Ogg and a fair share of the newer players also support FLAC. I love my iAudio G3. Not the smallest 1GB flash player, but the easy to change single AA battery is a pleasant change of pace from most digital audio players on the market. If I were buying a player today, I would want spport for Ogg, FLAC, WAV, and MP3. AAC spport would be nice, but not as essential unless eMusic started selling AAC files.

COWON America
http://www.cowonamerica.com/

iAudio G3
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/g3/


Nathan