This is part of The Pile, a partial archive of some open source mailing lists and newsgroups.
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 07:54:03 -0800 To: svlug@svlug.org From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> Subject: [svlug] .ogg format and related stuff Last night at Harry's Hofbrau, I mentioned a non-patent-encumbered, technically superior replacement for MP3 format -- and realise that the list at large may be interested. First off, see: http://www.xiph.org/ These guys are geniuses, but they're slightly nuts. The names! The audio format is called Ogg, the codec is Ogg Vorbis, and the group that is doing all this is named Xiphophorus. Oh, and the collective name for their multimedia projects is OggSquish. Information on the related audio software is here: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/ FAQ here: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/faq.html Background here: http://www.xiph.org/about.html Related site: http://www.vorbis.com/ The software is already available precompiled in Debian-unstable ("woody"). This is particularly significant because the owners of the MP3 patent have announced that they're going to start pursuing royalties towards the end of this year. Also, when they have their audio work finished, they're expected to turn their attention to video (including streaming), and _that_ could be spectacular. Oh, and Xiphophorus's Moaning Goat Meter must be seen to be believed: http://www.xiph.org/mgm/ === Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 14:06:05 -0800 To: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> begin hvrietsc@yahoo.com quotation: > any hints on which program i can use to re-encode my mp3 files > to a lower bitrate (say from 128 to 64 or 32 or 16)? oggenc will re-encode MP3 files to Ogg format very nicely, with output bitrate specified using the -m or --mode option, with modes as numeric arguments from 1 to 6 (default = 3), corresponding to the following: Mode | Bitrate 1 | N/A 2 | 128 kbps 3 | 160 kbps 4 | 192 kbps 5 | 256 kbps 6 | 350 kbps You can get oggenc at http://www.vorbis.com/download.html . You'll of course want to start converting to Ogg format because of the rapidly worsening MP3 patent situation: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/10/13/vorbis.html === Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 14:33:17 -0800 From: Don Marti <dmarti@zgp.org> To: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> Cc: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? On Thu, Nov 09, 2000 at 02:06:05PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote: > You'll of course want to start converting to Ogg format because of the > rapidly worsening MP3 patent situation: > http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/10/13/vorbis.html http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/broadcast.html says that Internet broadcasters will have to start getting licenses at the the end of the this year, not the end of 2001. If you have a net radio station, or want to start one, start experimenting with Ogg Vorbis now. === From: "David E. Fox" <dfox@tsoft.com> Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 19:01:37 -0800 To: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? Cc: svlug@svlug.org On Thursday 09 November 2000 14:06, you wrote: > oggenc will re-encode MP3 files to Ogg format very nicely, with output > bitrate specified using the -m or --mode option, with modes as numeric > arguments from 1 to 6 (default = 3), corresponding to the following: Currently, though, it won't read mp3 files directly (hence the need to decompress with mpg123 or similar) and it doesn't seem capable of reading from stdin. Thinking that it might recognize a '-' as standard input, it doesn't, it thinks it should be a filename. For those strapped for temporary space to store the decompressed files, this is not nice. Also, the supported bitrates (while nice) aren't very helpful for people who like lower-quality stuff (i.e., 32 kbps is fine for old-time radio programs, for instance) and encoding them in ogg format at even the lowest bitrate would produce very large files by comparison. And for us who still have underpowered computers - ogg seems to require more CPU horsepower than mp3, all else being equal. With mp3 being a relatively widely known standard, there are many available players, with mpg123 being one of the possible good choices for players that don't need a whole lot of CPU. So far, with ogg there is only one player available. I expect that to change soon as the deadline for mp3 royalties comes to pass. When is the "burn all MP3's" day? :) ==== Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 10:21:25 -0800 From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> To: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? begin David E. Fox quotation: > Currently, though, it won't read mp3 files directly.... Um, yes it does. On the download page for the Win32, Linux x86, and BeOS encoders: "An encoder will create Ogg Vorbis files (.ogg) out of wave format audio (.wav) or MP3 (.mp3) audio files." > ...it doesn't seem capable of reading from stdin. Incorrect. Use "-", as explained in oggenc -h. > And for us who still have underpowered computers - ogg seems to > require more CPU horsepower than mp3.... Which you no doubt understood when you read the fine manual: It hasn't yet been optimised, and has debug code. Remember that all the user-level software to manipulate this stuff is brand new and beta-ish. Fortunately, the data format is not. > So far, with ogg there is only one player available. Nope. Plug-ins for several popular players. === From: "David E. Fox" <dfox@tsoft.com> Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 17:30:22 -0800 To: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? Cc: svlug@svlug.org On Friday 10 November 2000 10:21, you wrote: > Um, yes it does. On the download page for the Win32, Linux x86, and > BeOS encoders: "An encoder will create Ogg Vorbis files (.ogg) out of > wave format audio (.wav) or MP3 (.mp3) audio files." That's what it is supposed to do but it won't work. I tried several times to get it to read from stdin, but that didn't work either. > Nope. Plug-ins for several popular players. Well yes, I'm aware of that. The xmms plugin is one, among many choices, but there's only one encoder. Perhaps that is what I meant. That'll likely change once it becomes a more popular file format, which is likely going to be inevitable. === Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 17:42:14 -0800 From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> To: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] how to re-encode mp3 files? begin David E. Fox quotation: > That's what it is supposed to do but it won't work. I tried several > times to get it to read from stdin, but that didn't work either. Try again under strace. If you still think your problem is real, report it to the developers. ===