Re: Bug#349693: ITP: gst-fluendo-mp3 -- MP3 decoder plugin for GStreamer
On Wednesday 25 January 2006 12:10, Joe Wreschnig <piman@debian.org> wrote:
> 2) We take the patent issue seriously, and drop all MP3 support.
MP3 software does not belong in Debian/main. Unlike many patents the MPEG
patents probably have a good basis.
Any software which is based on Frauhoffer patents (MP3 and other similar
encoding systems) should be on an external archive.
As far as I am aware OGG media is a good alternative to MPEG in every
technical measure. OGG is not as well supported by 3rd party devices (no
support in iPod for example) but there are devices which support it (iRiver
as an example - incidentally the iRiver gives better sound quality according
to the experts and allows recording so is better than the iPod anyway).
By continuing to support MPEG in Debian/main we are decreasing the support of
OGG. I believe that the best thing for the community is to drop MP3 support
from main thus avoiding any potential patent risk for Debian users and also
increasing the support for alternatives that can be legally used.
This also applies to mpc123.
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