Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Another delivery system

Author:greg@loraxconsulting.com
Posted:5/19/1999; 8:22:51 AM
Topic:It might be OVER for MP3....
Msg #:6467 (In response to 6421)
Prev/Next:6466 / 6468

>>But surely the file format itself is irrelevent...

I agree. MP3 is not going to be the last file format for music. When the player, whether Rio or WinAmp, supports a new file format natively (no plugins needed) then that file format might be accepted. I'm sure future versions of the Rio will play more than just mp3's.

The reasons that mp3 is so popular are that it is fairly open (though I think there are licensing issues with the patent on the algorithm), there are numerous tools on almost any platform to create, modify, and listen to mp3's, and there are few restrictions on copying and distributing the files. People won't embrace other file formats if they are not as "user-friendly" as mp3, especially not for just 30% smaller files.

The piracy issue will mostly go away when the music is priced reasonably, say $.10 to $1.00 per song. When video tapes were priced around $90 for a new tape piracy was rampant. Now that most tapes cost between $10 and $20, it is more trouble to pirate a movie than it is to just buy a legal copy. Piracy can never be wiped out, but realistic pricing can make it insignificant.

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