Techdirt Podcast Episode 123: No, The MP3 Isn't Dead

from the seriously,-damnit dept

Tue, May 23rd 2017 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

When the "death of the MP3" started being reported, we were among the very few blogs that said umm, no — but the deluge of eulogies for the still-thriving format has been overwhelming and quite surprising. This week I join the podcast to discuss why the MP3 isn't dead, and how so much of the tech press got it so wrong.

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Filed Under: blogging, mp3, open source, patents, podcast

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 May 2017 @ 1:35pm

MP3 may not be dead, but it's obsolete.
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- Leigh Beadon (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 1:40pm
  
  Re:
  Obsolete means "no longer produced or used"
  
  I just finished producing an MP3 of this podcast a few minutes ago. And if you're listening, you're using it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Aaron Walkhouse (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 2:06pm
  
  Obsolete? no, not really.
  It works, people use it and existing recordings will last forever.
  
  Though there are newer and more sophisticated codecs, MP3
  is good enough for most purposes and now it's royalty free.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Roger Strong (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 2:52pm
  
  Re:
  
  MP3 may not be dead, but it's obsolete.
  
  In related news:
  
  John Deere has announced that with the advent of their DRM-restricted tractors, owner-repairable tractors are now obsolete.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 3:04pm
  
  Re:
  Some things that are obsolete are still used, and may be used for years to come.
  
  Everyone isn't going to re-rip all their mp3's overnight. Or acquire updated files in a new format from Amazon. Etc.
  
  Unless Amazon would make previously purchased mp3's available in new formats like FLAC. Wouldn't that be nice.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
PlagueSD (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 2:08pm

Will this podcast be available as an .mp3 download?
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- Leigh Beadon (profile), 23 May 2017 @ 2:54pm
  
  Re:
  They all are! Use the Download button on the Soundcloud page (under the More menu), or grab the MP3 link straight from the rss feed
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hugo Connery (profile), 24 May 2017 @ 4:40am

Doubt and verify
So, the "interested parties" of FOSS people get the story right, but the general (commercial) tech journalists get it wrong (with some margin of error on that statement).

Commercial journalists are on a treadmill and, as well observed, the title "MP3 is Dead" looks great. Compose, link, file, forget.

I saw the issue early, thanks to techdirt, and read the Iprogrammer article. This, I hope, is what we hope our media audience (i.e everyone) will do.

For people: trust and verify.
For journalists: doubt and verify
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Andre, 4 Oct 2017 @ 9:46am

The patents expired, so that means it is not "licensed anymore", it is now free to implement and use.
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