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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-audio-format-matters.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-audio-format-matters.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68da7c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-audio-format-matters.html @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.84 --> +<title>Why Audio Format Matters +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/why-audio-format-matters.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Why Audio Format Matters</h2> + +<h3 class="subtitle">An invitation to audio producers to use Ogg +Vorbis alongside MP3</h3> + +<p>by Karl Fogel</p> + +<div class="announcement"> +<blockquote><p><a href="http://xiph.org/about/">More information</a> about Xiph.org (the +organization that created Ogg Vorbis) and the importance of free +distribution formats <a href="http://xiph.org/about/">is available</a>.</p> + +<p>The Free Software Foundation have also produced <a href="http://playogg.org">a user-friendly guide to installing Ogg Vorbis support in Microsoft +Windows and Apple Mac OS X</a>.</p> + +<p>The patents covering MP3 will reportedly all have expired by 2018, +but similar problems will continue to arise as long as patents are +permitted to restrict software development.</p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<p>If you produce audio for general distribution, you probably spend +99.9% of your time thinking about form, content, and production +quality, and 0.1% thinking about what audio format to distribute your +recordings in.</p> + +<p>And in an ideal world, this would be fine. Audio formats would be +like the conventions of laying out a book, or like pitches +and other building-blocks of music: containers of meaning, available +for anyone to use, free of restrictions. You wouldn't have to worry +about the consequences of distributing your material in MP3 format, +any more than you would worry about putting a page number at the top +of a page, or starting a book with a table of contents.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. MP3 is a patented +format. What this means is that various companies have +government-granted monopolies over certain aspects of the MP3 +standard, such that whenever someone creates or listens to an MP3 +file, <em>even with software not written by one of those +companies</em>, the companies have the right to decide whether or not +to permit that use of MP3. Typically what they do is demand money, of +course. But the terms are entirely up to them: they can forbid you +from using MP3 at all, if they want. If you've been using MP3 files +and didn't know about this situation, then either a) someone else, +usually a software maker, has been paying the royalties for you, or b) +you've been unknowingly infringing on patents, and in theory could be +sued for it.</p> + +<p>The harm here goes deeper than just the danger to you. A software +patent grants one party the exclusive right to use a certain +mathematical fact. This right can then be bought and sold, even +litigated over like a piece of property, and you can never predict +what a new owner might do with it. This is not just an abstract +possibility: MP3 patents have been the subject of multiple lawsuits, +with damages totalling more than a billion dollars.</p> + +<p>The most important issue here is not about the fees, it's about the +freedom to communicate and to develop communications tools. +Distribution formats such as MP3 are the containers of information +exchange on the Internet. Imagine for a moment that someone had a +patent on the modulated vibration of air molecules: you would need a +license just to hold a conversation or play guitar for an audience. +Fortunately, our government has long held that old, familiar methods +of communication, like vibrating air molecules or writing symbols on +pieces of paper, are not patentable: no one can own them, they are +free for everyone to use. But until those same liberties are extended +to newer, less familiar methods (like particular standards for +representing sounds via digital encoding), we who generate audio +works must take care what format we use — and +require our listeners to use.</p> + +<h4 class="sec">A way out: Ogg Vorbis format</h4> + +<p>Ogg Vorbis is an alternative to MP3. It gets high sound quality, +can compress down to a smaller size than MP3 while still sounding good +(thus saving you time and bandwidth costs), and best of all, is +designed to be completely free of patents.</p> + +<p>You won't sacrifice any technical quality by encoding your audio in +Ogg Vorbis. The files sound fine, and most players know how to play +them. But you will increase the total number of people who can listen +to your tracks, and at the same time help the push for patent-free +standards in distribution formats.</p> + +<p>The Ogg Vorbis home page, <a href="https://xiph.org/vorbis/" +>www.vorbis.com</a>, has all the information you need to both listen +to and produce Vorbis-encoded files. The safest thing, for you and +your listeners, would be to offer Ogg Vorbis files exclusively. But +since there are still some players that can only handle MP3, and you +don't want to lose audience, a first step is to offer both Ogg Vorbis +and MP3, while explaining to your downloaders (perhaps by linking to +this article) exactly why you support Ogg Vorbis.</p> + +<p>And with Ogg Vorbis, you'll even <em>gain</em> some audience. +Here's how:</p> + +<p>Up till now, the MP3 patent owners have been clever enough not to +harass individual users with demands for payment. They know that +would stimulate popular awareness of (and eventually opposition to) +the patents. Instead, they go after the makers of products that +implement the MP3 format. The victims of these shakedowns shrug +wearily and pay up, viewing it as just another cost of doing business, +which is then passed on invisibly to users. However, not everyone is +in a position to pay: some of your listeners use free software +programs to play audio files. Because this software is freely copied +and downloaded, there is no practical way for either the authors or +the users to pay a patent fee — that is, to pay for +the right to use the mathematical facts that underly the MP3 format. +As a result, these programs cannot legally implement MP3, even though +the tracks the users want to listen to may themselves be perfectly +free! Because of this situation, some distributors of the GNU/Linux +computer operating system — which has millions of +users worldwide — have been unable to include MP3 +players in their software distributions.</p> + +<p>Luckily, you don't have to require such users to engage in civil +disobedience every time they want to listen to your works. By +offering Ogg Vorbis, you ensure that no listeners have to get involved +with a patented distribution format unless they choose to, and that +your audio works will never be hampered by unforseen licensing +requirements. Eventually, the growing acceptance of Ogg Vorbis as a +standard, coupled with increasingly unpredictable behavior by some of +the MP3 patent holders, may make it impractical to offer MP3 files at +all. But even before that day comes, Ogg Vorbis remains the only +portable, royalty-free audio format on the Internet, and it's worth a +little extra effort to support.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to + files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should + be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this + without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the + document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the + document was modified, or published. + + If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. + Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying + years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable + year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including + being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). + + There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers + Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> + +<p>Copyright © 2007 Karl Fogel</p> + +<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are +permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this +notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2020/07/22 12:11:15 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |