Freespire's Google ads: "What is Ubuntu Missing?"

[Conrad Knauer]

On 9/23/06, Daniel Robitaille <robitaille at ubuntu.com> wrote:

> > What program are you playing them in? (e.g. I use XMMS to play MP3s,
> > but AFAIK its independent of the gstreamer* packages)  Also, some of
> > the gstreamer0.8 packages can decode MP3s too as I recall.
>
> I usually use rhythmbox or totem.  With gstreamer0.8, it was in the
> gstreamer0.8-mad package.  Not sure where that codec went in the mew
> framework of gstreamer0.10 plugins packages.

Do you have gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly installed?  One of its
dependencies is libmad0 :)

> > http://www.mp3licensing.com/patents/ does not list CA
>
> That  mp3licensing.com web page is very interesting...it's actually a
> long series of gifs, so you cannot search it easily.

Sneaky! :-/

I hadn't noticed that (I just did a text search).  Thanks for pointing that out.

Also, I read the Wikipedia article on MP3s a little more closely and
it mentions "patent holders declined to enforce license fees on open
source decoders, allowing many free MP3 decoders to develop.
Furthermore, while attempts have been made to discourage distribution
of encoder binaries, Thomson has stated that individuals using free
MP3 encoders are not required to pay fees. Thus while patent fees have
been an issue for companies attempting to use MP3, they have not
meaningfully impacted users, allowing the format to grow in
popularity."

CK