[Advocate Play Ogg] Two thoughts: automated conversion, and radio4all.net.

[Karl Fogel]

Hi, I'm sending two independent ideas in one email here.  I'm not sure
that's wise -- feel free to respond using separate mails :-).

1. Does anyone have the resources to set up an automated conversion
   site?  That is, a website that accepts MP3 files and gives you back
   an Ogg Vorbis file?  Although I ask "anyone", I guess "the FSF" is
   the likeliest candidate to do this.

   An automated converter (for both MP3 and WAV) would make things a
   lot easier for people.  I understand there may be some technical
   difficulty going from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis without compromising
   quality, but don't know how severe that problem is -- is it a
   showstopper?

   When I mentioned this idea to a friend (Seth Schoen), he worried
   there might be copyright concerns, similarly to how YouTube got hit
   with infringement suits on the grounds that in order to convert
   video data to their streaming format, they had to first make a copy
   of the data, and making that copy was already an infringement. (!)

   I don't know if there's any real legal risk here, but there's a big
   difference between a hosting site and a conversion site that gives
   you back something that you then host yourself.  So perhaps if the
   converter had some form the user clicks on that to certify that she
   has the legal right to whatever data she's converting, that would
   be protection enough.  (I Am Not A Lawyer, etc.)

2. A while ago -- before the playogg.org campaign was started, but
   after http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-audio-format-matters.html
   was posted -- I wrote to address@hidden asking that radio4all.net
   link to that article and encourage their uploaders to use Ogg
   Vorbis.  (See my mail below.)

   I never got a response.  Does anyone here have any contacts at
   radio4all.net?  It would be great to get them on board here.

   By the way, Mark Weaver suggested that when writing radio4all.net,
   it would be good to mention that "Democracy Now!" makes their audio
   available in Ogg Vorbis format (in addition to MP3).  Since
   "Democracy Now!" is a very well-respected program among independent
   media activists in the U.S., their use of Ogg Vorbis gives the
   campaign legitimacy.  That's a foot in the door we should use
   whenever it might help.

-Karl

Below is the message I sent to radio4all.net:

  From: Karl Fogel <address@hidden>
  To: address@hidden
  Cc: Mark Weaver <address@hidden>,
      Richard Stallman <address@hidden>
  Subject: Encouraging radio uploaders to use Ogg Vorbis format.
  Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:09:21 -0700
  Message-Id: <address@hidden>
  
  Hi, I got your email address from Mark Weaver and Richard Stallman.
  
  We'd like to ask radio4all.net to encourage people who upload radio
  programs to offer Ogg Vorbis format.  We've written an article to
  explain to them why this is important:
  
     http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-audio-format-matters.html
  
  Would you be willing to link to that article in a fairly visible way,
  from the "Add Program" page?  That's this page:
  
     http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=add-program&session=blah
  
  Above, I've written "blah" instead of the long session ID that's
  present when one is logged into the site :-), but you probably
  recognize the page -- it's the one that begins:
  
     Submit Audio: Step 1
  
     How many file segments do you want to add?  [ ]
  
     If you have a long program or a program in stereo or at high
     bitrates, you may want to upload it in several smaller
     segments. (Find file splitter software for for MP3 and Ogg Vorbis)
     
     How do you want to add these files?:
  
     * Upload files to this server.  [ ]
     * Add links to files already located on an FTP/Web server. [ ]
  
  As you can see, the page already mentions Ogg Vorbis.  What would be
  great would be a bold notice right beneath that (that is, right before
  the "How many file segments do you want to add?" line) saying
  something like this:
  
     If you've never created Ogg Vorbis files before, please consider
     doing so -- it's easy, and Ogg Vorbis has some important advantages
     over MP3.  Please [see here] for more information.
  
  (I just came up with that wording off the top of my head, by the way,
  edit it however you see fit.)
  
  The "[see here]" link could either go to the article at the FSF site,
  or to a copy of the article on radio4all.net, since you might not want
  to lead people off-site.
  
  This would expose radio producers to the idea that not all formats are
  equally free, and would help out Ogg Vorbis a lot.  Thoughts?
  
  Thank you for your time,
  -Karl Fogel