pippin wrote: > They do license a lot for the players. > There are two aspects here: > Software licenses (probably for mp3, WMA, and AAC) and patent fees (at > least mp3 and WMA, not sure about AAC). Both come with a fixed minimum > cost that makes them prohibitive at low volumes. > For those interested: MP3: http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/hardware.html AAC: http://www.vialicensing.com/licensing/aac-fees.aspx WMA: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/licensing/final.aspx
Or in summary (if my interpretation is correct), the minimum fees are: MP3: $5 000/year as minimum AAC: $1 000 initial setup (http://www.un4seen.com/forum/?topic=10328.0) WMA: Not sure what the $400 000 number means, feels like way too much as an annual fee. So basically, the alternatives are one of: - Make a DIY device and let the user assemble it and avoid the license issues - Base the device on hardware where the hardware manufacturer already pays the necessary codec/patent licenses. - Hope that nobody notice that you are violating licenses (might be reasonable if you only plan to sell 500 devices and doesn't advertise it much) - Sell to the masses - Focus on OGG/FLAC and avoid codecs/patents which requires a license. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=97881 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
