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The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

iis.fraunhofer.de

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Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#221

Post by huhtenberg »

dingo_bat wrote: post #184
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But MP3 is what made it possible to share music on the Internet and to play music off of iPod-like music players. Shouldn't the inventors benefit from their work? Don't algorithmicists deserve the same protections that say electrical engineers do?

No, apparently all software is created in free time, for hobby purposes. That's why all software should be free, open source and patent-free. Software devs can make an easy living off supporting their software.

Sarcasm doesn't do well on HN.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#222

Post by throwaway91111 »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #118
throwaway91111 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you suggest I don't listen to music, or are you prepared with an alternative to apple?

Amazon sells music and lets you download DRM-free mp3s.

They are not patent free, which is the point at hand. Do they allow ogg/vorbis or other unencumbered formats?

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#224

Post by alphapapa »

kelnos wrote: post #168
bastawhiz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mp3 is also really accessible. Anyone who's ever worked with audio in an amateur capacity knows how to create an mp3. I don't think many people would know how to properly encode an Opus file. I did an informal survey on Quora a while back, and I was surprised to see that almost every audio industry professional had no idea what Opus even was. Mp3 is, for all intents and purposes, the animated gif of audio.

> I was surprised to see that almost every audio industry professional had no idea what Opus even was. Assuming you mean people who deal with audio production, I'm not surprised. Opus is primarily for real-time audio streaming, not for streaming music or for general audio compression or storage.

http://opus-codec.org/

> Opus is unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet, but is also intended for storage and streaming applications.

> Opus can handle a wide range of audio applications, including Voice over IP, videoconferencing, in-game chat, and even remote live music performances. It can scale from low bitrate narrowband speech to very high quality stereo music

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#225

Post by matt4077 »

glennos wrote: post #223

"We thank all of our licensees for their great support in making mp3 the defacto audio codec in the world". This doesn't make sense. Defacto standard?

de jure: Standard prescribed by law

de facto: Standard, because it's what everyone does, without any coordinating entity

d'ISO: Standard set by standard-setting body.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#226

Post by la_oveja »

thisrod wrote: post #212
URSpider94 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are confusing the issues. TFA is about the license fees paid to Fraunhofer for the MP3 codec, for which they owned the underlying and now-expired patents. MP3 is not an encrypted codec, the format itself is quite open and doesn't place any real restrictions on redistributing music -- in fact, most of the original music sharing sites like Napster traded exclusively in MP3. The use of MP3 has no bearing on…

> The real issue There's real a higher-order issue, too. Why did anyone want GNU to incorporate an MP3 player in the first place? There is no law of physics that requires songs to be encoded as MP3.

> Why did anyone want GNU to incorporate an MP3 player in the first place? There is no law of physics that requires songs to be encoded as MP3.

Dude, in 2006 ALL MUSIC was mp3.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#227

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ryukafalz wrote: post #104
throwaway91111 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a suggestion? Where can I find Rihanna in Ogg/Vorbis?

The simplest thing, IMO, is just to buy your music on CD and rip it to a free format yourself. Some indie artists release their work online in free formats, but for mainstream artists a physical copy is often the only way.

In the UK format shifting was briefly allowed but media corps objected and the Tories decided it was better for society not to be able to rip CDs you own. iTunes, f.e., is a tool for contributory infringement in the UK.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#228

Post by pbhjpbhj »

pdeuchler wrote: post #19
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you don't believe in software patents?

All software can be reduced to mathematical formulae, which cannot be patented, so no. There should be no such thing as a software patent.

If there's a Theory of Everything then surely all physical existence can be expressed with mathematics.

In Europe at least maths can't be patented but applications of maths often can, just like software can't be patented as such but if it has real-world technical effect it can.

A new rocket launch trajectory may be "just maths" but if it reduces fuel consumption then it arguably isn't "just maths" and so will probably gain a patent.

This approach seems compatible with the quid pro quo intention of patents.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#229

Post by amelius »

bogositosius wrote: post #218
amelius wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can my friends who studied medicine, physics, and mechanical engineering make money with their inventions, while I, software engineer, cannot?

Since when is a patent required to make money off software?

That's not making money off software. That's making money off software AND business efforts.

Re: The licensing program for MP3-related patents has been terminated

#230

Post by Iv »

TD-Linux wrote: post #32
notaplumber wrote: post #11

Recognizing this adds legitimacy to software patents. Don't. There have been free and open source MP3 decoders for many years now.

Not believing in software patents is unlikely to change a court's mind. Instead, support formats that are royalty free from the start - Vorbis, Opus, and Codec2, for example.

Or be based in Europe where software patents are basically unenforceable.

Or make your patent-dependent development OSS.

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