GStreamer's MP3 for Linux: Thanks, but no thanks. [LWN.net]

GStreamer's MP3 for Linux: Thanks, but no thanks.

Posted Jan 2, 2006 22:17 UTC (Mon) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227)
In reply to: GStreamer's MP3 for Linux: Thanks, but no thanks. by spot
Parent article: GStreamer's MP3 for Linux

Arjan's "slippery slope" has little to do with this plugin. The binary nature is not meant to hide anything from the user, stop them from recompiling the plugin, stop them from redistributing the plugin's source, or anything like that. The patent holders require that binary MP3 decoders be licensed. This plugin makes it possible to legally (in many countries) ship MP3 support.

Also keep in mind that every single one of those "easy to install" Fedora MP3 add ons are (1) in no way easy to install unless you're a Linux dork with nothing interesting to do with your life besides sit in front of a computer and learn how things like yum and rpm work, and (b) are all illegal in many countries, including the the USA.

The only "easy to install" that actually exists is "already installed and configured." If the distribution doesn't come with MP3 support enabled in its default media player(s), then there many/most users are not ever going to get MP3 support, and are likely to just blame Linux since "it sucks and can't even play MP3s" and will use a [non-free] OS that actually "works."

This plugin from Fluendo can also be a vehicle to achieve Freedom. Assuming you want to do things legally (which many large companies sure as heck do, not to mention some overly-honest/anti-anarchist home users), this plugin from Fluendo is the only way to digitally convert an existing set of MP3s into unencumbered formats such as Vorbis.

Finally, this plugin is also a decoder *only*. Fluendo is not releasing an MP3 encoder under this terms, as they do not want users to either intentionally or inadvertantly create new content in an encumbered format.

The plugin exists to assist in migration to a Free platform and to unencumbered formats. Even if some do consider the plugin a "slippery slope," it's the *only* [legal] slope available to many people.

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GStreamer's MP3 for Linux: Thanks, but no thanks.

Posted Jan 2, 2006 22:29 UTC (Mon) by spot (subscriber, #15640) [Link]

There are distribution restrictions, and Fedora would have to ship a binary without matching source code. This is ignoring the legal issues raised in the above comment. Of course, IANAL, so the Fedora Foundation legal team might think its all fine and dandy (but I seriously doubt it).

I'm not convinced that the Fluendo plugin is legal in a Fedora distribution without Fedora (re: Red Hat) paying for the patent license from Thomson, since Fluendo doesn't have the ability to "resell" the patent license.

This is also a slippery slope in that it tells Thomson that their practice of collecting royalties on software patents is ok. It opens the door to all sorts of binary components going into the distribution, because they "work"... and then we're no better than Windows.

I know that this sucks for end-users, but we can either sweep this under the rug, or stand for open source principles.

GStreamer's MP3 for Linux: Thanks, but no thanks.

Posted Jan 3, 2006 15:23 UTC (Tue) by Uraeus (guest, #33755) [Link]

To clarify something in regards to our abilility to 'resell' our patent license. We have the ability to let our business partners redistribute our plugin with their products. So anyone who signs a contract with us can freely redistribute our plugin with their own products. The 'reselling' part you are mentioning is that we of course can't give everyone the same right we have, meaning that people could sign a contract with us, then have other people sign contracts with them and so on. Everyone have to either sign a contract with us to distribute our plugin, or get a contract with Thomson/Fruenhoffer to distribute their own plugin (which they could build from the source we provide).

Christian Schaller