Open source to gain from MP3 court battle

CULTURAL IT MAG Wired claims that Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft.

It thinks that the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format, including open sauce formats might be the real winners.

For years the industry has tried to ditch MP3 which has truly pants performance next to later formats. There is MP3Pro, MPEG, Microsoft's Windows Media format and loads of open-source, royalty-free options, such as Ogg Vorbis.

These standards have not made much of an impression because of the popularity of MP3. However with the standard's future in legal doubt, thanks to the court ruling, companies that rely on MP3 will have to find something else.

Wired thinks that Apple's iTunes standard AAC is one potential alternative. Although Apple wraps it in DRM, AAC itself is an open format based on industry standard MPEG-4 technology. It is not royalty free, but is a strong contender. Vole's Windows Media format has a DRM component which hampers its acceptance.

An outsider is Ogg Vorbis, an open-source, royalty-free rival to MP3 which is already being used in Xbox games. µ

L'INQ
Wired