Re: [Advocate Play Ogg] Ogg Playing

[advocate]

address@hidden wrote:
> Hello, friends... I have some questions... (I'm not sure this is the
> place to ask this, but, anyway... I'm sorry if it isn't)
> 
> Can a band be sued for giving their songs for free in MP3/WMA format? Or
> only the software that plays MP3 has restrictions?

I don't think so, since you're not charging.  Thompson apparently just
wants a percentage of revenues from MP3 distribution
(http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/)

> I was hoping to have javascript to automatically play it,
> stop, go to next song, etc... maybe it's asking too much... Does anybody
> know if this is possible? Where can I learn how to do that, if so?

I don't know.  You might want to look into Cortado
(http://www.flumotion.net/cortado/) a Java-based Ogg player that someone
just mentioned.

> Do you think open-source enthusiasts should offer proprietary options
> too, after all, free software is about freedom, or only the free ones?

Tough call.  On the one hand, the proprietary codecs don't deserve any
free network effect.  But you don't want people without Ogg to be left
out in the short term.  If you think most of your listeners won't have
Ogg Vorbis, you could offer both Ogg Vorbis and MP3, but recommend Ogg
Vorbis and point to instructions for playing it.

Matt Flaschen