4 ms·

I don't think the proper way to thank This American Life is to pester them about a data format that less than 1% of their audience can use. Idealism needs to be

by mustpax 15y ago

I don't think the proper way to thank This American Life is to pester them about a data format that less than 1% of their audience can use. Idealism needs to be tempered with practicality and radicals like RMS make all patent reformists lose credibility.

trotsky 15y ago
How sure are you about the less than 1% thing? https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.h... https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/VLC_media_player#Format_support https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/VLC_media_pla... And asking someone to use an un-patent-encumbered format is radicalism? Isn't that what google is doing?
meatsock 15y ago
rephrased, the proper way to ask a favor of a public radio show is on a note attached to your listener pledge, not an online petition that has little to do with the making of good radio, a task i imagine consumes the majority of TAL's energy.
dfxm12 15y ago
FSF is not demanding anything crazy here, and they'd be remiss to not bring this up. Revolution begins at home, but it is sad that for most of us it ends there too. TAL is in a unique position to actually do something about this, and you'd think they would when you consider the tone of their program. Ira Glass has the ears of more people than RMS or Brett Smith...
lukeschlather 15y ago
Android devices support Vorbis. While I will agree that it may be hard to use, I think you're underestimating its reach. And in any case, I don't see why this makes patent reformists lose credibility. They didn't stay stop offering mp3s, they said offer free formats. You're putting words in their mouths.
podperson 15y ago
Indeed. Given a choice between a patent-free file I can't listen to, and a patented-up-the-wazoo format I can listen to, I'll pick the latter. And, in case FSF hasn't been paying attention, WebM isn't looking too unencumbered right now. If Ogg ever becomes economically significant, it will probably end up in the same boat. As others have said, we need to balance idealism and practicality. E.g. providing real audio feeds (which many NPR shows and the BBC used to) is Just Plain Stupid. But while MP3 may not be perfect it (a) works (b) everywhere and (c) doesn't cost the end-user anything.

by mustpax 15y ago

trotsky 15y ago

How sure are you about the less than 1% thing? https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.h... https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/VLC_media_player#Format_support https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/VLC_media_pla... And asking someone to use an un-patent-encumbered format is radicalism? Isn't that what google is doing?

meatsock 15y ago

rephrased, the proper way to ask a favor of a public radio show is on a note attached to your listener pledge, not an online petition that has little to do with the making of good radio, a task i imagine consumes the majority of TAL's energy.

dfxm12 15y ago

FSF is not demanding anything crazy here, and they'd be remiss to not bring this up. Revolution begins at home, but it is sad that for most of us it ends there too. TAL is in a unique position to actually do something about this, and you'd think they would when you consider the tone of their program. Ira Glass has the ears of more people than RMS or Brett Smith...

lukeschlather 15y ago

Android devices support Vorbis. While I will agree that it may be hard to use, I think you're underestimating its reach. And in any case, I don't see why this makes patent reformists lose credibility. They didn't stay stop offering mp3s, they said offer free formats. You're putting words in their mouths.

podperson 15y ago

Indeed. Given a choice between a patent-free file I can't listen to, and a patented-up-the-wazoo format I can listen to, I'll pick the latter. And, in case FSF hasn't been paying attention, WebM isn't looking too unencumbered right now. If Ogg ever becomes economically significant, it will probably end up in the same boat. As others have said, we need to balance idealism and practicality. E.g. providing real audio feeds (which many NPR shows and the BBC used to) is Just Plain Stupid. But while MP3 may not be perfect it (a) works (b) everywhere and (c) doesn't cost the end-user anything.