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GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
| From: | Joshua Gay <jgay-AT-gnu.org> | |
| To: | advocate-AT-playogg.org, info-fsf-AT-gnu.org, info-press-AT-fsf.org | |
| Subject: | [GNU/FSF Press] WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg! | |
| Date: | Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:46:38 -0400 | |
| Message-ID: | <20080414174638.GA23335@fencepost.gnu.org> |
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Take Action with PlayOgg.org:
Public broadcasting deserves free audio formats!
----------------------------------------------------------
Read the blog and the letter to WBUR.org Boston:
* http://www.fsf.org/blogs/wbur-playogg
Boston-locals: Join the PlayOgg.org campaign to hand-deliver a letter
to "Boston's NPR Station," WBUR, requesting that they provide an Ogg
Vorbis stream on wbur.org. To make sure they understand that our
request stems from a serious ethical concern, and not just a
preference in technology, we are going to be delivering the letter in
person as well as handing out informative fliers to employees and
guests that morning.
Not a Boston-local? No problem, find out how you can help:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/wbur-playogg#nonlocals
Media Contacts:
Joshua Gay, campaigns manager
Free Software Foundation
http://PlayOgg.org
Phone: (617)542-5942 x19
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press@gnu.org>
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
(Log in to post comments)
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 15, 2008 17:34 UTC (Tue) by andrel (guest, #5166) [Link]
Many public-radio stations are already on the list of Vorbis streams.
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 15, 2008 19:01 UTC (Tue) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]
I would like to hand-deliver a letter to the San Jose Sharks asking for the same thing. Their current internet radio is almost unlistenable. Playogg.org appears to be about getting consumers to adopt Ogg. Is there any place to organize the producers? I picture a site describing the available free software, server and bandwidth requirements, pitfalls, experience, etc. Maybe even organize volunteer consulting. I know I'd donate 8 hours of my time to be able to listen to Sharks games without all the hiss, warble and pre-echo. Does anything like this exist?
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 15, 2008 20:34 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
For sports and talk radio it would be cool of the speex format was more popular. It's specifically designed for voice transportation. Like a traditional phone system that cuts out frequencies above and below the normal range of human voices. Normally these things are used in VoIP operation and generally they are very expensive things to use.. but speex is completely free software and I suppose does a good enough job. The end result of it is that you end up with a very compressed audio stream that you can hear voices clearly. This way these radios stations would not only save a crapload of money on bandwidth, but they would actually be very listenable.
Wikipedia chose Ogg Vorbis
Posted Apr 15, 2008 23:14 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]
FWIW, when the Wikipedia community had the debate over which format to use for the recordings of spoken articles, Ogg Vorbis won. Mp3 was the second choice and speex the third. Ogg Vorbis beat speex because it was agreed that some usability could be sacrificed to avoid patents, but they couldn't then further sacrifice usability for the sake of using the technically superior format.
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 16, 2008 9:31 UTC (Wed) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link]
As you say, Speex is designed more as a phone/VoIP codec than for use in broadcast audio. Radio and talk shows would sound significantly worse (although intelligible) than they would encoded in Ogg Vorbis.
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 18, 2008 21:01 UTC (Fri) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link]
Radio talk shows would sound worse in Speex than in Vorbis? Why is that? Anybody got an uncompressed radio talk show that we can try it out on? (The only internet talk show that I listen to is http://econtalk.org , but they don't distribute raw audio versions...)
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 18, 2008 21:41 UTC (Fri) by jmspeex (subscriber, #51639) [Link]
(I am the author of Speex) Speex is indeed designed for VoIP in mind, although it has other applications. When it comes to choosing Speex vs Vorbis for applications like speech-only radio, here's the rule of thumb I always suggest. If your target bit-rate is above ~32 kbps, use Vorbis, if below, use Speex. Of course, that's a rule of thumb and the exact application can change things. Speex does worst on music than Vorbis, but it does much better than Vorbis in case of packet loss. If used properly (at 16 kHz and not 44.1 kHz as some idiots try to use it), Speex will give you a quality that's somewhere between AM and FM radio.
GNU and FSF tell WBUR.org Boston: PlayOgg!
Posted Apr 18, 2008 21:02 UTC (Fri) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link]
My local radio station streams Vorbis over the Net for me: http://radio1190.org