Julien Danjou wrote: > Package: wnpp > Version: N/A; reported 2002-08-28 > Severity: wishlist > > * Package name : mp32ogg > Version : 0.11 > Upstream Author : Nathan Walp <faceprint@faceprint.com> > * URL : http://faceprint.com/software.phtml > * License : Artistic License > Description : Converts mp3 file to Ogg Vorbis Aside from the possible legal difficulties involved in adding to Debian yet another program that needs or incorporates an mp3 decoder, I object to this program on the grounds of stupidity. Transcoding from mp3 to vorbis cannot improve sound quality, and will almost certainly degrade it, since the resulting vorbis file will retain all the mp3 artifacts and add vorbis artifacts as well (which are admittedly much more subtle than mp3 artifacts, but still quite real). It is much better to re-encode from the original source material if at all possible; if you can't do that, and can't leave it in mp3 format for whatever reason, then transcoding to vorbis is as easy as converting the mp3's to .wav format and then running them through oggenc. This is so trivial that there's no need for a dedicated program in the Debian repository to do it. Whenever the subject of mp3->vorbis (or wma->vorbis, or any other lossy codec to vorbis) transcoding comes up on the vorbis mailing list, the reaction from the vorbis developers and the more knowledgeable vorbis users is "don't do it". Aside from the effect on quality, the vorbis developers are also concerned with the effect on vorbis's reputation of the P2P sharing networks becoming flooded with crappy-sounding mp3->vorbis transcoded files. Craig
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