On Wed, Aug 28, 2002 at 06:46:21PM +0200, Jesus Climent wrote: > On Thu, Aug 29, 2002 at 02:16:07AM +1000, Reagan Blundell wrote: > > On Wed, Aug 28, 2002 at 05:57:03PM +0200, Jesus Climent wrote: > > > After an easy check of the code (trivial) it is obvious it uses a > > > decoder to transform the mp3 streams to ogg. > > > > > > Since the Thompson/Fraunhoffer guys have just modified the licensing > > > terms, it is possible that Debian will remove, as RedHat has already > > > done, the mp3 decoders from the distribution. > > > > > > > Given the timing of the ITP, I assumed that was the motivation > > for it - so that users can convert their mp3's to Ogg files > > before all the decoders disapear. > > I did not mention the quality degradation (as mention in other mails of > this thread) because i thought it was obvious.
I did not mention it for the same reason. > Long ago I decided to test reiterating the encoding-decoding of certain > file, and even with the same compression method, mp3, the quality > degradation was so impresive that I decided to reencode all my CDs when > I started using Ogg/Vorbis beta4, spending long time with the process, > instead of recoding the mp3s. However, if I decided to stop using MP3 decoders today, I'm left with 800+ CDs of music that I must re-encode. Given the amount of time I have available to swapping discs in and out, that is a process that is going to take me a few months to get around to completing. In the meantime I have the option of degraded quality files that are usable by free software, and to be honest, I wouldn't notice the degradation with the cheapo speakers that are attached to my soundcard anyway. True, I could write a script to do it all anyway, but not everyone is a wizard with scripting. Isn't Debian about giving the users a choice?