>
> Actually, I am already here. If you would like some info feel free to ask, and
> I'll
> do my best (within the bounds of my NDA) to answer your questions.
>
One thing that I find really interesting: Rafael points out on the
MPecker web site that at 128kbs, it is not clear if layer-3 provides
any benifit over layer-2! I take this to mean that near-CD quality
can be achieved without the most sophisticated parts of MPEG,
suggesting it might not be as hard as it looks to develop a (new
format) open source encoder if one keeps everything simple: 128kbs,
44khz 16bit sampling, (I think Michael Cheng suggested this a little
while ago).
I do think it is worthwhile, and now might be the right time: we have
the FhG crackdown, and a bunch of new, cd quality proprietary formats
from (at least!) at&t, digital dolby and real audio. I would hope the
internet would standardize on a format not controlled by a single
company.
Is it really true that FhG cant shut down Tord Jansson because he's
in Sweden? Ultimatly his code is based on the dist10 source,
and so is using technology patented by FhG. Even if Sweden wont
enforce these patents, I dont think he could truely release his code
under the GPL.
Mark
