As some have pointed out, mp3 is still the safest consumer audio compression technology, simply because it is so pervasive. It was developed and licensed as a technology to be used, and not as a cash cow, and that's why it only cost MS $16M to use outright, as opposed to Alcatel's troll award of $1.5Billion! Fraunhofer and the other companies that helped pushedthe standard forrward into application deserved to reap some reward from their efforts, and now the money grubbers have come out of the woodwork to try and glom a little cash - such as Alcatel, Texas mp3 et al. But if we switch to Ogg Vorbis, you can bet your ar** that someone will rise up and claim some sort of IP rights to some element inside that technology. Fight the patent trolls, and support the reasonable licensing of IP!! You are deluded if you think people will develop technolog yforever with no reward, so it's all about managing the rewards reasonably.
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As some have pointed out, mp3 is still the safest consumer audio compression technology, simply because it is so pervasive. It was developed and licensed as a technology to be used, and not as a cash cow, and that's why it only cost MS $16M to use outright, as opposed to Alcatel's troll award of $1.5Billion! Fraunhofer and the other companies that helped pushedthe standard forrward into application deserved to reap some reward from their efforts, and now the money grubbers have come out of the woodwork to try and glom a little cash - such as Alcatel, Texas mp3 et al. But if we switch to Ogg Vorbis, you can bet your ar** that someone will rise up and claim some sort of IP rights to some element inside that technology. Fight the patent trolls, and support the reasonable licensing of IP!! You are deluded if you think people will develop technolog yforever with no reward, so it's all about managing the rewards reasonably.