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I highly doubt there are any devices that are capable of accessing the modern web, with all its JavaScript bloat, yet cannot decode a simple audio codec. Even w

I highly doubt there are any devices that are capable of accessing the modern web, with all its JavaScript bloat, yet cannot decode a simple audio codec. Even when Apple was installing AAC hardware decoders, they were already almost obsolete by modern embedded CPU development (especially the rise of medium-power ARM SoCs). I highly doubt any devices released in the past 5 years have any sort of fixed-function audio decoder. Maybe an encoder, possibly some general-purpose DSPs, but not a format-specific decoder.

andai 8y ago
I use Opus on my phone all the time. I was in a place where internet was really expensive, so I'd download and convert things on a Linux server. In conjunction with youtube-dl I could listen to pretty much anything I wanted, using almost no data. These days I use it mostly for audiobooks, if storage is limited.
- _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
  Opus is awesome for audiobooks at 24kbps (probably one could go lower than this even) and music at 96kbps. I don't hear any difference in quality. It makes a big difference for my mobile which is limited to 128Gb.
  - andai 8y ago
    Man that's a big collection! Though to be fair the iPod 160GB came out like ten years ago, and I thought we'd have advanced a bit more in that department by now. (Like imagine an iPod but instead of the spinny hard drive it's all microSD! There's just no market for it I guess.)
floatboth 8y ago
Yeah, the last time hardware audio decoders were relevant was like... back in the Nokia N-Gage days. The N-Gage QD removed the MP3 decoder that was present in the original model. And you could install a software player, and it would struggle with bitrates above 128kbps :D Modern phones can decode video in software (sucks for battery life, and framerate/resolution are more limited than with hardware, but it's possible). Audio is nothing for them.
- CharlesW 8y ago
  > Yeah, the last time hardware audio decoders were relevant was like... back in the Nokia N-Gage days. I guess it's irrelevant you feel overwhelmed by how long your phone can go on a charge. Plus, low-power/low-CPU requirements are an order of magnitude more critical in devices like smartwatches.

andai 8y ago

I use Opus on my phone all the time. I was in a place where internet was really expensive, so I'd download and convert things on a Linux server. In conjunction with youtube-dl I could listen to pretty much anything I wanted, using almost no data. These days I use it mostly for audiobooks, if storage is limited.

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
Opus is awesome for audiobooks at 24kbps (probably one could go lower than this even) and music at 96kbps. I don't hear any difference in quality. It makes a big difference for my mobile which is limited to 128Gb.
- andai 8y ago
  Man that's a big collection! Though to be fair the iPod 160GB came out like ten years ago, and I thought we'd have advanced a bit more in that department by now. (Like imagine an iPod but instead of the spinny hard drive it's all microSD! There's just no market for it I guess.)

floatboth 8y ago

Yeah, the last time hardware audio decoders were relevant was like... back in the Nokia N-Gage days. The N-Gage QD removed the MP3 decoder that was present in the original model. And you could install a software player, and it would struggle with bitrates above 128kbps :D Modern phones can decode video in software (sucks for battery life, and framerate/resolution are more limited than with hardware, but it's possible). Audio is nothing for them.

CharlesW 8y ago
> Yeah, the last time hardware audio decoders were relevant was like... back in the Nokia N-Gage days. I guess it's irrelevant you feel overwhelmed by how long your phone can go on a charge. Plus, low-power/low-CPU requirements are an order of magnitude more critical in devices like smartwatches.