No WMA for HP iPod 484
finelinebob writes "In spite of Paul Thurrott's wishful thinking, Wired is reporting that HP will not support the WMA format in its version of the iPod. From the article, according to HP spokesperson Muffi Ghadial, "'We're not going to be supporting WMA for now ... We picked the service that was the most popular (Apple's iTunes Music Store). We could have chosen another format, but that would have created more confusion for our customers.' He added, 'Most customers don't care about the format they're downloading.'" Thurrott's singing a different tune lately, anyway...."
Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not too long ago, they were threatening Dell of not giving them Windows licenses if IE wasn't the only browser in new computers... here's a
I also wonder if Apple restricted HP from supporting WMA? Yes, Apple does these kind of things [chaosmint.com] too!
Eh, a war of monopolies! They've just found common grounds to fight on...
Apple has the right to do this... (Score:5, Interesting)
If HP wants to demand WMA support, and Apple doesn't want to budge, HP can spend the R&D dollars to build its own portable music player.
This isn't a Bad Thing. This is a company acting in what it feels are its best interests.
actually Apple is MAKING them (Score:3, Informative)
Points to HP for bucking the trend and using standards instead of the Microsoft assigned format.
Re:actually Apple is MAKING them (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh come on. As the parent (or grandfather) says, this is a war of two monopolies. Neither one is using standards. I can't play iTunes files on my computer even though I have half a dozen players that will play, rip, and burn AAC files, because of Apple's DRM. I can't play them on my portable player either. DRM may be considered a necessary evil for these companies but it also means that all of these forma
Re:actually Apple is MAKING them (Score:5, Insightful)
i think you are talking about ITMS files, and not the standards-compliant AAC files one can choose to rip your files into with iTunes. You see, I think it's important in discussions like this to be specific.
Re:Apple has the right to do this... (Score:3, Insightful)
If, and that's a big IF Apple is the reason for no WMA support on HP's iPod-like device. That's a really shitty thing to do.
You're answering the wrong question. Sure Apple has the right to set whatever terms they like in their licensing, but the more important question is "Is it right" for them to restrict people like this?
This isn't a Bad Thing. This is a company acting in what it feels are its best interests.
And please tell me, what the fuck was it when Microsoft was thr
Re:Apple has the right to do this... (Score:4, Insightful)
And how "restricted" are the people really. It seems to me that both companies are pimping their own "standard" but a majority of devices out there support Microsofts standard PLUS mp3 or Apples standard PLUS mp3. Granted mp3 isn't a truly "open" standard either but it's at least non-aligned in this particular feud.
So what's so restrictive. I'd feel more inclined to think it was restrictive if the iPod only played ACC.
The clone manufacturers had a sweetheart deal that let them eat away Apple sales while in no way pushing the platform to greater market share.
It was lousy Apple management that allowed that deal to happen (a bad idea, the time for licensing clones was long past) but it was Jobs who said basically "This isn't helping, it's hurting" and pulled the plug. Call the guy slime for keeping the company alive if you like. I don't see it though.
Re:Apple has the right to do this... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Apple has the right to do this... (Score:5, Insightful)
1. System Bundles - Buy your HP PC, HP Monitor, HP Printer, and now, your HP Portable Music Player, all at once for a discount.
2. Even if they aren't allowed to undersell Apple, they reach different markets, so they're pushing the device at consumers Apple can't reach. Selling the iPod allows HP to get to market NOW, without R&D expense.
3. Tons of favorable press, by aligning with one of the industry's percieved "Good Guys". Imagine what Slashdot would look like it the headlines were: "HP Announces New Music Player, and Launch Support for the Bill Gates Music Store". You think the Ogg trolls are out in full force now...
4. Use your imagination! I don't have all day to sit here making lists.
Anyway, I don't think we'll see HP-branded Macs anytime soon. It would be nice to see someone create a desktop Mac at a, say, $500 price point that I could bring my own 19" monitor to. I guess Apple is content to see that business go to eBay, though.
Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:4, Insightful)
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Seriously, how do you figure apple as a monopoly on anything?
Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:3, Funny)
(Posts like this are like setting fire to your own Karma...)
Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this? (Score:5, Informative)
It is clear, however, that Microsoft has retarded, and perhaps altogether extinguished, the process by which these two middleware technologies could have facilitated the introduction of competition into an important market.
Through its conduct toward Netscape, IBM, Compaq, Intel, and others, Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's core products.
By refusing to offer those OEMs who requested it a version of Windows without Web browsing software, and by preventing OEMs from removing Internet Explorer -- or even the most obvious means of invoking it -- prior to shipment, Microsoft forced OEMs to ignore consumer demand for a browserless version of Windows.
To the detriment of consumers, however, Microsoft has done much more than develop innovative browsing software of commendable quality and offer it bundled with Windows at no additional charge. As has been shown, Microsoft also engaged in a concerted series of actions designed to protect the applications barrier to entry, and hence its monopoly power, from a variety of middleware threats, including Netscape's Web browser and Sun's implementation of Java.
Eric Engstrom, a Microsoft executive with responsibility for multimedia development, wrote to his superiors that one of Microsoft's goals was getting "Intel to stop helping Sun create Java Multimedia APIs, especially ones that run well (ie native implementations) on Windows." Engstrom proposed achieving this goal by offering Intel the following deal: Microsoft would incorporate into the Windows API set any multimedia interfaces that Intel agreed to not help Sun incorporate into the Java class libraries. Engstrom's efforts apparently bore fruit, for he testified at trial that Intel's IAL subsequently stopped helping Sun to develop class libraries that offered cutting-edge multimedia support
I could continue, but you can just read yourself I think.
While we're at it, there's a smaller speech titled WHAT IS COMPETITION? [usdoj.gov] by William J. Kolasky, Deputy Assistant Attorney General - Antitrust Division U.S. Department of Justice.
look up the definition of monopoly
This one? [microsoft.com] "The legal definition of 'monopoly power' is the ability to control prices and the ability to restrict output"
Re:Slightly OT, does anyone use iPod with Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
Linux firewire support is experimental in 2.4, so getting it working requires your basic linux skills, but I haven't had any real problems. Most firewire cards and MBs use a standard driver, so it is just to compile the modules (and firewire harddisk support) and run. I have never gotten automatic hotplug support working here, but scanning the scsi bus manually isn't that big a deal (and others apparently have). With kernels before 2.4.20 I had a recurring hard lockup while transfering, which was annoying, but that is gone now. And I don't think the drivers are completely optimal so the transfers are slower then advertised (but still many times faster than USB).
I don't know if it is better with the new iPods that support USB2.0, since I have an old firewire only model. And I haven't tried the 2.6 kernel which is supposed to have better firewire support.
The best software for adding and removing music that I have found is gtkpod [sourceforge.net]. It is a nice, easy to use, GUI program that allows you to select music, construct playlists, etc. The page also contains information for getting all the other stuff working.
I am happy with my iPod on Linux.
Re:Slightly OT, does anyone use iPod with Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
NEW FEATURE: import of AAC files (.m4a) supported, provided the
mp4v2 library from the mpeg4ip project
(mpeg4ip.sourceforge.net) is available during the compilation of
gtkpod. Writing tags to AAC files is also supported.
can also be imported, but they are not played by the iPod.
files work fine.
BTW, never mind what I said about not getting hotplug to work, I just checked it now and got it working fine using the instructions in the gtkpod README file.
the reason (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the reason (Score:5, Funny)
anybody actually read the first article?
talk about being superfanboy!
some quotes:
- "Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio format " (ehm... yeah)
- "Portable Media Center Devices Will Blow You Away" (wha? no it won't!)
- "Predictable Open-Source Advocates Decry Microsoft Anti-Linux Ads" (this on't a bit like those old beatles records... play it backwards, and you get the *real* hidden message!)
and this one is the best of the lot:
- "Jobs's Disappointing Macworld Keynote Address Makes Even Gates Look Good"
(okay, so maybe Jobs is boring, he always is, but making Gates LOOK GOOD? Paul? ya smokin' crack?)
well,
h357
Unfortunate (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Unfortunate (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Unfortunate (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Unfortunate (Score:4, Interesting)
That's exactly what HP has done. They've actually expanded support and given users an additional choice. You can use what came with Windows to handle all the WMA stuff (songs, online stores, portable music players) just like all the other PC makers, or you can also choose to use iTunes and the iTMS and an iPod -the industry leaders at present.
I really don't understand how HP adding iTunes and selling a rebranded iPod can possibly be said to limit choices.
But... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:But... (Score:2, Informative)
and apparently you heard wrong!
Re:But... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Paul Thurrott (Score:5, Insightful)
who gives a shit what he thinks? not me, probably not you. obviously not apple and hp. big whoop
Re:Paul Thurrott (Score:4, Insightful)
Reading his article where he parrots everything that Microsoft feeds him, I don't think he is biased because you would need an opinion and some traces of personality (both missing in this case) to be biased.
He's just an extension of MSFT-marketing.
Nice for Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Kinda Dupe (Score:2, Insightful)
MS unhappy with HP [slashdot.org]. Either HP is really sticking it to MS, or MS is sticking it to HP. Either way, it isn't surprising.
Re:Kinda Dupe (Score:2)
AAC vs WMA (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:AAC vs WMA (Score:4, Insightful)
because Microsoft is using its monopolistic hold on the desktop operating system sector to push it's other less superior products?
Re:AAC vs WMA (Score:3, Insightful)
You are misinformed (Score:4, Informative)
Now, what you're doing is encoding it at a lower bit-rate (probably an ear-numbing 64kb), and saying "Hell, *I* don't hear a difference its fine".
If you're happy at 64kb, congratulations...you have tin ears and that's a good thing because you'll fit four times as many songs on your player as a discerning person.
But WMA can't compress *better*. Its a physical impossibility.
Re:You are misinformed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You are misinformed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:AAC vs WMA (Score:3, Informative)
They are both proprietary formats. AAC is owned by Dolby, WMA by Microsoft. You want to make an encoder or decoder for either, you need to get out the checkbook and write a big check (bigger for AAC than WMA).
AAC is available on Mac and Windows. WMA is available on Mac and Windows.
As far as quality goes, in pretty much every blind ABX study published, they come out about the same. WMA is usually sli
Less support for WMA the better (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:5, Insightful)
Understand this: Monopolies suck. Monocultures suck.
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:2)
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:5, Informative)
Still, it worked for GIF I guess.
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:5, Insightful)
The guy we're disucssing, the windows user who ripped all his CDs to WMA, just has a pile of files which sound better than they would have had he chosen MP3.
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:2)
M
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:2)
Well, considering that most CD MP3 players can play WMA, how is this a problem him?
Re:Less support for WMA the better (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a Microsoft thing so I don't like it.
was explaining the concept of a CD MP3 player to someone I know and when he showed me his digital music collection, it was all in WMA
And this is a problem because? Your friend obviously ripped his CD collection himself. Are you angry because he used WMP to do it or because he didn't just download one of the 13 million free rippers capable of writing MP3 instead? Are you pissed because he's stupid? Nothing forces you to use WMA or WMP for that matter - the fact that it ships with Windows is besides the point. CDex runs just fine on Windows, as far as I can tell. If anything it's lack of information, yes? And this gets your panties all in a bunch?
MP3 is the standard, nothing else should be supported, if only for clarity and simplicity reasons!
You are so right. We should also all use JPEG, because that's the One True Graphics Format. Or was it PNG? Or TGA? Or GIF? Hmmmmm.
See, here's the thing: WMA is a choice. If you're not smart enough to figure out that you can rip your music to something else then that's just too bad. People that push things like OGG champion choice - is this a case of "yes well, but that's not the choice we like"?
If anything else is ever supported, it should be OGG because OGG is essentially open source MP3
No, because that would cause confusion. You just said that.
I won't even go into the benchmarks that have proven WMA is better than MP3 at lower bitrates for most audio uses, or the fact that it's a far better streaming format than MP3. That would be besides the point. I don't like WMA or otherwise use it, but just to give you an example: if I had a player with a smallish 5 or 6GB drive that supported WMA I'd probably encode my collection to it at lower bitrates to fit more songs into the thing, and still get pretty much the same audio quality. That's called choice. Look it up.
Easily confused (Score:5, Insightful)
We could have chosen another format, but that would have created more confusion for our customers.
So I guess that proves that Apple's customers are confused easily
Re:Easily confused (Score:4, Insightful)
This is blatant BS. Most customer's would prefer non-DRMed MP3s, but due to one specific industry cartel [riaa.com] there won't be any supply to meet that demand (except P2P).
Re:Easily confused (Score:5, Insightful)
That's cute. How many customers knows what DRM even means? Although trying our best to avoid seeing it, the world is actually made up of non-geeks. We're the exception to the norm, not them. They are "most customers", not us.
If people actually knew exactly what DRM meant, and if they actually had a choice, then surely they'd choose files without DRM. But MP3 or WMA? They don't give a damn. They just want to listen to the music. 95% of them use Windows, 95% of them can listen to either.
It's just like most people actually do not care exactly what kind of a motor is in the car they're driving - they just want it to look nice on the outside, accelerate fast and sound cool (and, if they're Volvo-owners, to be safe to drive in). And that's just the way it must be.
After all, if people were informed enough, more people would use Mac (because unlike Windows, Mac OS X is actually pretty easy to use, and doesn't break down on you). People don't know. They just expect computers to require rebooting, reinstalling drivers and calling tech-support, because "that's how computers are". In the same way they just expect not to be able to do just about anything with files bought online, apart from somewhere close to the things that Apple lets them do.
Well do I really care? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone can play them on their PC
People's old mp3 players are happy with them
192kbits gives me all the quality I can hear
Yes I know that the patents are annoying but that's not come to bite me yet. I shall see. Also I know that I won't find an online store selling mp3s, but I still only buy CDs since, they're not all that much more expensive, you get the album artwork and they look nice on a shelf (I still have them on a computer, since it makes searching faster).
Btw. has everyone seen the mini iPod on Apple's website yet? I wonder what the UK price will be and also when Apple makes it officially compatible with Linux.
No Reason for WMA in iPod (Score:5, Insightful)
Right now, Apple enjoys a 70% market dominance in the online music sales market - and they have significant brand name and mindshare, which isn't going anywhere soon. Walk up to a standard non-geek person:
Question: What MP3 player works with the Apple Music store? (I know it's called the iTunes store, but who actually says that?)
Answer: iPod.
Question: What MP3 player works with Napster?
Answer: Ummmm....
A geek might know the answer, but most people do not.
So, based on that, Apple's move to have HP license the AAC+Freeplay system is a good move - it encourages the use of the protected AAC files, and Apple gets a cut of that licensing technology, whether through direct iPod sales, or through the purchase of "iPod compatible" devices.
Apple has a 5% market share because they didn't license their operating system - which is fine with them, they make money off of hardware. But licensing "iPod compatible" devices is a way to make money off of every MP3 player sold eventually. If you want to use the iTunes Music Store, and you sell MP3 players, you can either compete against the "de facto standard", or play with it.
If Apple added WMA support, perhaps that would in the short term increase iPod sales since it would work with all the music stores - but in the long term, that's bad for Apple, because then anybody who wanted to switch MP3 players would just pick any WMA compatible device.
Apple can't break into that desktop market at this time - but if they play the cards right, they could become, as Steve Jobs said, the "Microsoft of the online music world". Once that happens, maybe they'll sell more desktops, maybe not - but it would be interesting to see how much money Apple would make from "iPod compatible" devices as opposed to just computer sales alone.
If that became the case, then other online music stores would have to support the AAC+Freeplay "de facto standard" - which means that for every song sold online, Apple would get a cut for the licensing.
So what makes more money: WMA in iPod for short term sales, or take a gamble at getting the whole damned pie?
Eh - just my thoughts. I could be wrong.
Napster Player Also PortalPlayer (Score:2)
Re:No Reason for WMA in iPod (Score:4, Interesting)
If you have
Its as simple as that. Any 'modern' music player shouldn't *ACTUALLY* be limited by the codec. A real music player would have -extensible- codec capabilities...
What's needed is someone with the balls and cash to put Linux in a smallpocket format, open the source to -everything- and stand back while everyone and their brother ports their codecs to it... its not that hard.
Re:No Reason for WMA in iPod (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple definitely is ballsy lately, let's hope it doesn't morph into overconfidence and miscalculation. But for now I say "Go Apple!"
Re:No Reason for WMA in iPod (Score:5, Funny)
Question: What MP3 player works with the Apple Music store? (I know it's called the iTunes store, but who actually says that?)
Answer: With the what music store?
Question: The online music store run by Apple Computers.
Anser: What computers? I have a Dell with 256 giga pixels of CDs.
Question: No, no. Thats a Windows based computer made by Dell. Apple computers run an OS based on BSD UNIX. The same company runs an online store where you can buy songs.
Anser : ? ......... So you mean like Warehouse-music.com? I use that through AOL. Whats it got to do with fruit?
Question : Never mind....
Most people have no idea what a computer can realy do much less be able to do much with it. They walk into CompUSA or CircutCity with their pants around their ankles and their wallet open. Answer: Ummmm....
Paul Thurrott (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Paul Thurrott (Score:3, Funny)
Formats Confusion (Score:5, Insightful)
What does the format people download have to do with the formats their version of ipod supports? We already know what format they will be downloading if they are using itunes music store. The question is if the ipod can support formats not downloaded from the store. I think people would care if they downloaded a wma file that wouldn't run in their ipod.
For Apple, That's the Point (Score:5, Insightful)
And for Apple, that's the "bingo". The first time someone goes to buymusic.com and buys a WMA file and tries to play it on their iPod, they say "Oh - damn, this sucks!"
Guess where they're going to go next time they buy music online [apple.com]?
Either way, Apple wins. You buy the iPod, you use their file format. You use the free iTunes, you download a song - now you need an iPod or "iPod compatible" player.
That is what Apple - and Microsoft - is shooting for: that you support their format, or you feel pain.
iTunes Rocks! (Score:3, Informative)
*You must make a back-up copy because Apple will not replace any files you lose. So you aren't *wasting* a CD and you can play it in the car.
Re:iTunes Rocks! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:iTunes Rocks! (Score:3, Insightful)
However, since your iRock FM modulator is limited with a low pass filter at 12 kHz, and I like hearing cymbals in my rock, I'll stick with the line input straight into my stereo.
-T
Our top stories tonight... (Score:2)
In other news, pot calls kettle black. Film at 11.
WMA/AAC (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand (Score:5, Interesting)
For example, let's say Microsoft is licensing WMA support to all the mp3 player creators for about 20 cents a unit. Then IBM decides they're going to start supporting Linux. Suddenly Microsoft decides they're licensing it to everyone for 20 cents a unit EXCEPT IBM, who has to pay a billion dollars for each player sold. They can do this, and they have shown in the past-- with OEM pricing on Windows-- that they are more than willing to do this exact sort of thing..
AAC, meanwhile, is equal for everybody.
Of course the FairPlay DRM is a totally different matter, but I've yet to be able to figure out if Apple is unwilling to license that to others or if just no one's asked.
Makes sense for Apple (Score:2, Interesting)
The words of an arrogant bastard.... (Score:2)
I think he meant to say... (Score:5, Funny)
"Most customers don't care about the format they're downloading."
I think he meant to say:
"Most customers don't care about the wma format, they're not worth downloading."
Silly HP.
Thurott == idiot? (Score:5, Interesting)
"When I asked an HP representative how the company would solve the incompatibility problems, he told me, incorrectly, that the Protected AAC files users download do, in fact, work on HP's products and that converting them is a simple task if they don't."
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but by HP's products, doesn't he mean HPs PCs running a version of Windows? And if so, where does such a user get Protected AAC files? Right, iTunes for Windows. Now, isn't iTunes (win or mac) ALL ABOUT AAC? What part of the HP representative's comment is incorrect?
HP machines run windows. iTunes is available for windows (and will be on all HP machines soon). iTunes Music store is the biggest (only?) provider of Protected AAC files. Sounds pretty simple to me...
Re:Thurott == idiot? (Score:4, Informative)
iTunes on both Windows and Mac organizes sound files in any format that Quicktime handles, including MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, Apple Sound files, and probably a dozen others I can't think of. It can also convert between WAV/MP3/AAC/AIFF, at different rates, and import any of those 4.
The iTunes Music Store only distributes in AAC to include the Fairplay wrapper. As has been commented upon many times, it is fairly simple to remove this protection if really desired, but enough of a hassle that the person doing so at least thinks about it.
You kind of lumped them together, and I just wanted to make the point that a person can use iTunes on Windows without the music store or any AAC files, and it would even work with other MP3 players. It just won't work with WMA.
Thurrott's article formatting... (Score:2)
You'd think he could sing it in a more web friendly format, anyway. Instead of using the HTML paragraph <P> tag, he uses single line break <BR> tags to separate his paragraphs. Makes for one big unfriendly block of text.
I guess the important point to him isn't that you necessarily read, or enjoy reading, his article. Maybe he just wants to innundate you with text so that he appears really authoritative. I don't know.
MS adding WMA to iPod a violation of DMCA? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd like to thurottle the guy (Score:2)
It's DejaVu all over again (Score:4, Insightful)
Between all the alliances and industry player alignments/supports, MP3 has the best: the pirate industry support -- hundreds of thousands (millions?) of entrepreneurial individuals working out of basements, garages, or simply leaving their machines turned on serving files. I go to a street corner in Brazil and I can find CDs burned with hundreds of songs in MP3. Same thing in all of the "developing world" -- Malaysia, Russia, Paraguay, China. Paying a dollar a song is a luxury that *will* make WMA/AAC (and all DRM) look like Betamax, or Sony's MD.
DRM songs will try to fit in a niche: wealthy countries or individuals which are willing to pay for songs because they "just-want-to", or because of a very slight edge of "coolness" or exclusivity. This niche, though important for the potential margin, will always be smaller than the MP3 choice (or Ogg, in an unlikely scenario). MP3s will survive like cockroaches, and is IMNSHO the only assured bet for a format that will be still be around ten years from now. Trying to "migrate up" MP3 users with cool gadgets like Ipod may be profitable, but will never close the door that MP3/Napster/Kazaa/CD burners opened.
I think that is fine.
Re:It's DejaVu all over again (Score:3, Interesting)
For me this view seems to be far from the current reality.
I predict that people will not move from free and DRMless p2p to the iTMS or any other comparable offer. Some may, but not nearly the majority. What's more, buying real music CDs will still be the preferred method of obtaining m
Mr. Thurrot: Practice what you preach (Score:3, Funny)
So your way of championing consumer choice is to recommend WMA and invest your time/money in Apple's product and service?
Hurting the industry ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why would Microsoft care about any of this? (Score:3, Insightful)
If that is the case, then why would Microsoft be concerned with the selling of music? I guess it's a silly question because Microsoft wants to certainly not lose out in the digital lifestyle arena, but what does Microsoft offer that would suffer from this? Media Player comes with every Windows PC, which makes up, when I last checked, about 95% percent of the market.
HP wants to make money selling hardware, like Dell and Gateway, so they should pick what will sell the most hardware. Is HP supposed to do the research and development for Microsoft? And what the hey, they might woo in more people from the Apple camp.
No iTunes competition (Score:2)
some things do not change (Score:4, Insightful)
who cares? they're both proprietary formats (Score:3, Interesting)
What's wrong with mp3's/oggs? The premise on which iTunes is based (that here is a method that allows you to download legally) is wrong; in fact, lots of musicians are putting mp3's out there for free. Look at dmusic.com [dmusic.com], IUMA [iuma.com], irate radio [sourceforge.net] and netlabels [archive.org]. Some of the stuff is eclectic, experimental, not mass market, but it's not that far off.
I stopped listening to commercial music 6 months ago (although I still donate to artists with tipjar links). For "open content" listeners like me, all this talk of proprietary locked content only encourages musicians to put their content in locked formats. That is bad for everyone.
Share the Music day [sharethemusicday.com]; sharethemusic weblog [imaginaryplanet.net]
WMA support in iPod firmware? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:WMA support in iPod firmware? (Score:5, Informative)
Which is it? (Score:3, Funny)
The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year.
I don't get it. Are they adding support for WMA, or for a superior format?
Silly (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Silly (Score:2)
Not true. But why should Apple support MS anyway?
Re:Silly (Score:5, Interesting)
It used to be we only had to change formats every 10-20 years or so - LPs, casettes, 8 tracks, CDs, etc. Now with new digital media, we may find ourselves having to change formats every 6 months! Somethings got to give. Reminds me of a Simpsons quote, Bart saying something to the effect of "mp3's my ass! When I was a kid all we had were CDs, and those were plenty good enough"
Re:Disappointed (Score:5, Insightful)
Carly Fiorina is smart in the business sense; that is, she is the kind of unbelievable bastard CEO who votes herself a $150,000,000 bonus then lays 6,000 people off to "cut costs". In technological matters she is a fool.
The DEC research lab of old is dead. Don't expect too much.
WMA == lock in (Score:5, Interesting)
Once again we see the Microsoft monopoly extending it's grasp. They create WMA and then they set it up so that the built in CD-ripping in Windows will default to using WMA. Most people end up ripping in that format, not knowing any better. Then that becomes the standard for these files.
If that's the standard, then Microsoft can choose to enforce it however they want. They can alter licensing, build in whatever DRM restrictions they want, and since it's the standard everybody has to play ball.
Re:WMA == lock in (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes but... (Score:4, Insightful)
As it now stands, WMA is not de facto. People became used to MP3's being the standard for digital music before WMA came into this scene. Whether it remains that way or not going forward remains to be seen. If all players support it and the majority of people are ripping wma files, then it's quite possible. At that point, then Microsoft controls the world of digital music.
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac? (Score:5, Insightful)
Rio Karma plays Vorbis and FLAC, so if you want those formats, support that player (and quit whining about iPod).
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac? (Score:2)
But, I digress...I was referring to the HP product that
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac? (Score:2)
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You mean the blue iPod? HP isn't doing ANY develpment on it, they're just having apple add an HP logoa and change the color, and reselling it. No development.
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac? (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree. How many people are there who will ONLY buy an iPod once it supports OGG? Very few, I imagine. AAC sounds just as good, and is also a cross platform, industry standard file format with freeware encoders and decoders. In fact, the only people who need OGG on an iPod would be people who had massive libraries already converted to OGG. Are there enough people with OGG libraries who don't already have a portable music
Re:but what about... (Score:2, Funny)
Seriously, I wish iPod would add Ogg Vorbis support, so that every discussion of digital music on Slashdot would not degenerate into a "What about Ogg?" circle jerk.
There are players that support Ogg Vorbis, if that is all you care about (see above). Please buy one and stop bothering us.
Re:but what about... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ogg is all fine and good, but hardly anyone knows about it, even fewer people use it, and there really isn't any good reason for these facts to change.
Re:but what about... (Score:3, Interesting)
I can copy my mp3s to any mp3 player and they will play.
I can give a cd of mp3s to my mother and she can easily play them on her computer without having to futz around.
I have no need to distribute a product and I would say the same thing for the vast majority of people.
What I can't do is fluff up my ego by telling strangers I use a sexy standard to encode my music. I guess I can live with tha