> if fraunhofer restricts the widespread use of its codec, mp3 will die. ogg > vorbis is the better alternative, and the only reason why it hasnt defeated > mp3 is the awkward name.
are you blind? the only reason it hasn't defeated mp3 is that the overwhelming majority of all compressed music format music players do not support it. do you have any idea how hard it is for a windows user to play even an ogg file? its like a bizarre inverse of the situation on some linux distros, where you can play oggs but not mp3's out of the box, and fixing it means tracking down an obscure repository and figuring out which of the many mp3-related packages you need. ugh, not ogg. there is almost no support for an alternative psycho-acoustic compression scheme within the commercial world. they already have mp3, and those that use it have paid their licenses; they also have WMA to contend with, and RealAudio as a distant third. companies don't want ogg, 95% of the userbase doesn't even know it exists, and when told about it, my guess is that most of them wouldn't care to dig further. the business phrase "barriers to entry" springs to mind here. like most walls, it may eventually fade, but the one that mp3 has set up is a well constructed, many-feet-of-reinforced-concrete-thick affair. --p
