News about the open source digital audio format Ogg Vorbis

 Improved Ogg Theora coming soon to an Internet near you, Jan 10, 2008

... when we move from talking about Vorbis to talking about Theora, we come to a screeching halt. Outside of Linux-land, hardly anyone uses it, and Theora encoding is in a sad state, especially for those computer users (estimated at 95%+) who prefer a GUI to command-line work.

OggConvert is a simple, GUI-based video transcoder that outputs only to the free Theora and Dirac formats. It couldn't be any easier to use, and it's the quickest way to get a feel for the still-new Dirac codec. No need to tweak pages of arcane settings -- just drag, drop, and watch.

Several months ago a workgroup of the W3C decided to include Ogg/Theora+Vorbis as the recommended baseline video codec standard for HTML5, against Apple's aggressive protest. Now, Nokia seems to be seeking a reversal of that decision:

Mozilla ruffled some penguin feathers last month when the organization revealed that Firefox 3 would get an extensive visual refresh to maximize integration with Windows and Mac OS X, but not Linux. After the decision was widely criticized by Linux enthusiasts, Mozilla reversed its position and decided to revisit Linux theming.

Six years after the project was launched, developers at the Xiph.Org Foundation have released a beta version of the free video codec called Ogg Theora. The source code of the libtheora 1.0 Beta 1 codec library can be downloaded from the developer website.

There is clearly a need for a non-patented, royalty-free standard for video and audio on the web. The Xiph.Org Foundation provided such standards. Adobe Systems Incorporated decided to ignore this and back the use of formats with submarine patents and no clear advantage over Open Media formats. Interoperability on the Web? Nah, screw that.

I'm a big fan of Richard Stallman and his work – even though, the first time I interviewed him, he proceeded to criticise my questions before answering them, not a journalistic experience I'd had before. Without his vision and sheer bloody-mindedness in the face of indifference and outright hostility, we would not have the vast array of free software we enjoy today.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched PlayOGG.org, a campaign to encourage use of the patent- and license-free standard OGG Vorbis as an ethically, legally and technically superior audio alternative to the proprietary MP3 format.

An industry giant could drive support for Ogg, but why would they bother? What's the profit margin on free?

One of the most interesting contenders is Ogg Vorbis, an open-source, royalty-free rival to MP3 that also represents a generational improvement in sound quality.

I've tried, I really have. For a couple of years now, I have been attempting to dump my destructive tendency of using MP3 as my audio format of choice and have instead, been working very hard to get onboard with OGG Vorbis 100 percent. However, this is very difficult when you own an iPod Nano and a Dell Pocket DJ.

LG UK has launched an 8GB HDD-based alternative to Apple's iPod with the catchy name 'MFJM53'. But there's nothing pedestrian about the player's design, with its clean lines and its 1.77in, 262,144-colour, touch-sensitive OLED screen.

Siemens has announced it is to join the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL).

Open-source software development may not be easy, and no one likes to air their dirty laundry, but in the end, it's the smartest way to make software.

iRiver has been trying to satisfy the customers by improving their products without changing the hardware component. Therefore even the customers who bought the iRiver products few months or even years ago can benefit the newest technologies without paying a single penny. The OGG Vorbis firmware is available for iFP-300/500 series as of today, December 24, 2003. The introduced firmware is the Manager version and the UMS and iMP series firmware will be available in January 2004.

FineArch, Inc., Tokyo Japan based semiconductor LSI design company, developed the system IP to decode the next generation digital music compression format, Ogg Vorbis(http://www. vorbis.com). FineArch successfully completed the Ogg vorbis sytstem IP to run at 12 Mhz. This is about 1/6 of the clock speed required to decode Ogg Vorbis with a single CPU system. This ultra low power IP fits well with the today’s portable music player market where battery life is critical factor.

Open source foundation Xiph.org, founders of the Ogg Vorbis codec, released the first beta of Neurosetta, the firmware upgrade that makes the Neuros the first portable hard drive player to support Ogg Vorbis playback.

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