[vorbis] vorbis players (or lack of) for mac

[dongoodman]

On Monday, October 29, 2001, at 10:15  PM, mike wakerly wrote:

> Hey Don,
>
> On Monday, October 29, 2001, at 07:57 PM, dongoodman wrote:
>> Perhaps the devel list would be better, but a) i'm not subscribed to it 
>> just now and b) I'm lazy (dons flame-retardant clothing)...
>>
>> frankly, i'm rather tired of the lack of free ogg vorbis players for Mac 
>> OS; it doesn't look like iTunes is going to support the format anytime 
>> soon (and i have some real issues with its interface, too)...so, since I'
>> ve decided to learn Mac OS X/Cocoa programming, I have no excuse for not 
>> writing one.
>
> Sounds perfectly on-topic to me, and glad to hear of your endeavor. 
> Personally, I know of two ogg players for MacOS X: Mint Audio <http://www.
> unsanity.com/mint/>, and Audion <http://www.panic.com/audion>, from 
> Unsanity LLC and Panic Software, respectively. (Those names make you 
> think you're a little crazy, eh? heh heh.)

I'm using Unsanity Echo right now under Mac OS 9 (well, not really, it 
just expired), just checked out Mint...and I will reserve comment. Audion 
seems to have some nice features, but I doubt I'll try it out. Part of 
what I'm trying to accomplish is to provide a /free/ (beer and speech) 
player for MacOS...There isn't one. Even iTunes isn't /really/ free as in 
beer.

> Which is not to say that I am happy with either of them... Audion can't 
> handle any of my RC2 oggs (Panic says a fix is coming..) and I personally 
> can't stand Mint's interface. Since there are so many zillions of 
> different mp3 players now, really what will set yours apart (aside from 
> ogg support) is largely the interface. I'm thinking of playlists in 
> particular, but different people will spot different weaknesses. (Audion 
> has some sort of MP3 editor that might be useful to some tweakers; I 
> never use the thing.)

The interface is everything to me. If it means anything, I'm currently 
working on my doctorate in cognitive science, so I'm at least moderately 
well versed in the importance of a good UI, and methodologies for creating 
and testing them. This is important to me. I enjoy playlists, and I for 
one like how iTunes imports files from CDs into a nice neat directory 
structure...I'd like to find a way of combining, if at all possible, 
directory-structure based organisation with playlists. but i digress...

> As far as MP3 licensing issues, I'd expect that if you use a 
> non-Frauenhofer based decoding library (libmad?) then you're in the clear.

i suspect so too, but some of y'all are more on top of this than me, so i 
thought i'd ask.

> Though if you're talking about a one-year time frame to public release, I 
> should hope a player has come along before then... QuickTime support is 
> really needed, and soon, IMHO. (Perhaps they're just waiting for 1.0 
> though, understandable.) But if you're writing it for fun anyway, who 
> cares?

well, yeah i would have hoped there would be one by now, really, with the 
way vorbis development has exploded on other platforms. but, nay...i'd 
hope to have something usable out the door in less than a year, but i'm 
trying to be conservative. I am doing it for fun, and to learn how to 
program for Mac OS X, but I'm also doing it as a community service (the 
world needs more Free Software). so...time isn't really an issue for me. 
if something that meets my criterion comes out before i finish, 
well...i'll find another project =)

have fun
dongoodman

     %-----------------------------------------------deg3 at msstate.edu|
     |`I invented the term 'object oriented',              pobox 2516|
     |and I can tell you                         mississippi state ms|
     |I did not have C++ in mind.'                              39762|
     |Alan Kay-------------------------------------------------------%

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