[GLLUG] Recommended Ogg Rippers

[C. Ulrich]

Edward Glowacki wrote:
> A not about OGG format.  It's got good quality, it's open source, etc.
> etc., but good luck trying to find hardware that supports it.  With MP3,
> once you rip and encode, you can use your music in mini-portables while
> you run, CD-based portables while you travel, car CD players while you
> drive, CD changers in your stereo, and even TiVo now can play MP3's. 
> With OGG, well, you basically have to have a computer.  I have a bunch
> of stuff in OGG format (almost 200 CD's) and I'll probably re-rip it all
> into MP3 at some point in the near future just so I can play it
> somewhere other than my computer (namely through the TiVo and in my
> car).  I like the technical and philosophical ideas behind OGG, but when
> it comes down to it, MP3 just has the ubiquity and probably will for
> some time... =(

I don't disagree with you, but I think there are a few more ways to look at
it. Remember that MP3 started becoming popular among the computer savvy long
before there was any hardware support. The MP3-playing portables and home
stereo equipment are relatively new. I remember a time when you had to have a
fairly recent PC in order to decode MP3s in realtime at all. Also, bear in
mind that the MP3 format currently has enormous momentum. To switch people
over to a new format is simply going to take time. Add even more time when the
vast majority of MP3 users, the unwashed masses, see no huge benefit to
switching. From their point of view, all they need is a format to play their
music while saving disk space, regardless of what the political or technical
benefits may be. Both MP3 and OGG do that, but OGG doesn't offer anything more
that they care about. In addition, the electronics companies aren't likely to
start producing equipment that supports OGG until there's a demand for it.
(The classic chicken-and-the-egg syndrome that plagues Linux hardware driver
support.) Finally, there are other interests vying for the official title of
successor of MP3. Microsoft and others all want their own formats to become
the next "MP3" and they'll pull every dirty trick in the book to win.

In order for OGG to truly succeed, there are some pretty major obstacles to
overcome. I'm pleased, though, that it does seem to be (slowly) gaining momentum.

--Charles Ulrich
-- 
http://bityard.net