[vorbis-dev] Mime Type and Ogg (More)

[Maciej Stachowiak]

Chris Hanson <cmh at bDistributed.com> writes:

> I think part of the reason this issue keeps coming up is that there 
> is no generalized "media framework" used on most Unix variants. 
> Instead, there are a number of libraries which implement various 
> formats, each with their own APIs.
> 
> Contrast this with the Macintosh.  If I were to implement file 
> preview functionality on the Macintosh, I'd use QuickTime.  If 
> QuickTime knows how to open a particular file as a Movie, I can then 
> examine that movie for sound and video tracks.  Or -- and this is 
> more likely -- I can just set up a standard QuickTime controller and 
> let it handle all of the playback etc. for the preview.
> 
> If I then write a media import component and an audio decompressor 
> for Ogg Vorbis, anything which uses QuickTime gets support for Ogg 
> Vorbis for free *including file preview*.
> 
> I bet the situation on Windows is similar.
> 

I don't think that's really the issue. People still write pure audio
players on Windows, Macintosh and BeOS, all of which are reputed to
have good integrated multimedia frameworks. In fact, experienced
Macintosh and BeOS hackers, as in people who worked _on_ the operating
systems, not just with them, tell me that many users like to replace
the all-in-one media players that come with these systems with
audio-specific ones for audio files.

The desire of many users to use different programs for playing audio
and video is in fact real and not a technological artifact.

 - Maciej

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