[vorbis] Re: Ogg Vorbis Article in Telepolis.de

[Sascha Lüdecke]

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Andreas Karlsson <a.karlsson at bredband.net> writes:

> Can some one please translate this article to English? I´m not so good
> at German.

I'll give it a try.

DISCLAIMER: 

  The following is a translation of
  http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/11022/1.html

  My own annotations are included in ([...])

  Any errors you may find are my own and I am to blame for them, not
  the original author.

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Title:    The Beginning of the End of the MP3-Format

Author:   Tino Hanekamp   01.11.2001

Subtitle: Sounds better, makes smaller and doesn't cost anything: Ogg
          Vorbis

Abstract:

  Take care with superlatives, don't write about revolution and
  definitely don't brag: everything concerned with internet is fast
  moving.  Things new today, announced as technologys bleeding edge,
  assumed to change everything tomorrow, are often already forgotten
  the next day, obsolete or simply turn out to be useless.
  Technological revolution were announced, which have been superseded
  by newer things before they even started.  Thus its good to be
  sceptical.  Always.  So, carefully: there is a new standard in
  music, which could replace the legendary and spectacular MP3-format.
  It's called Ogg Vorbis [1] and relates to MP3 as Linux [2] relates
  to Windows [3].

Article:

Ogg Vorbis is new, doesn't cost and is Open Source.  It is even said
to be already better as the MP3-format, developed by the german
Fraunhofer Institut.  But lets start at the beginning: initally Ogg
Vorbis was a student research project with a strange name.  Ogg stands
for a tactical move in the network game "Netrek" and Vorbis is the
name of a figure in Terry Pratchets novel "Small Gods".  Christopher
Montgomery, a 29yrs old american, had the idea for this technology.
He developed the principles of his compression formats as a student
research project at the well-known Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT).  Ogg Vorbis was never intended for the public, until
the day Montgomery learned that people who use MP3 technology had to
pay for it.  Though everybody could download numerous MP3 files from
the net, developers of software and hardware had to pay fees to the
Fraunhofer Institut in Erlangen [4] and the french Thomson Multimedia
Group -- $ 15.000 basic fee for the licence and between $ 0.5 and $
2.5 for every sold product.  But you can also compress music into
small, suitable files with Ogg Vorbis.  Furthermore Ogg Vorbis doesn't
cost anything and everybody is free to use, reprogramm or change it,
just like the free ([free speech]) operation system Linux.

But why should one adandon the established MP3-technology or players
and files in the real- or WMP-format?  Just because of the money, the
user doesn't even have to pay directly?  Montgomery stated on CNET
News [5]: "Ppl are worrying for years about MP3 which looks free
([free speech]), but comes with all the restricting and fear provocing
patents."  Montgomery, the computer nerd living in Boston, further
stated to the Stern magazine ([a german weekly news magazin]), that
the MP3 format is technologically obsolete and will not survive, just
because it costs money and is not a free ([free speech]) standard.
Ogg Vorbis is able to do all the things with music its patented
concurrents do.  Only videos can not yet be played with it -- emphasis
on 'not yet'.

Additionally Montgomerys invention achieves a better quality than MP3.
A piece of music compressed in the Ogg Vorbis format needs less space
than compressed with MP3.  Since the standard is constantly
developing, one can assume that the files will get even smaller and
the compression technique even more effective.  Moreover, as tests
have shown, Ogg Vorbis data heaplets ([small heap, is there a better
word?]) have a much better sound quality than MP3 files, because of
different mathematical principles.  Thats why a Vorbis file
encoded with the same bitrate as a MP3 file sounds cleaner.

Two weeks ago the second beta of the Vorbis software was released.
Everybody can download it from the homepage, as well as plugins for
various, popular players - to get vorbis files running with winamp or
real player.  The developers promise, that version 1.0 will (finally)
be released within the next days.  They are a group of honorary
programmers, working for the non-profit organization Xiphophorus
Foundation [6].  They constantly improve the technology.  The
ambitioned work is financed by donations.  Helping hands are always
welcome, as Montgomerys says.

Links:

  [1]  http://www.vorbis.com
  [2]  http://www.linux.com
  [3]  http://www.windows.com
  [4]  http://www.fraunhofer.de
  [5]  http://www.cnet.com
  [6]  http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis

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Please forgive my creative english.

Best regards,
Sascha

- -- 
Skip the pangs of puberty thanks to your PC.
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