MP3 decoder
Can someone explain me HOW can gnulinux decode .mp3 files? isn't mp3 proprietary? i have just put my mp3s on harddrive and i tought i will be unable to listen mp3's but i CAN?
Can someone explain?
The authors of the MP3 format do not make free software for dealing with their formats. However, Trisquel uses software compatible with those formats, but is released under a free license.
If you want to have your audio files in more freedom friendly formats, Triswuel comes with a tool built called OggConvert. To use OggConvert, click the Trisquel logo in the bottom left (this behaves sort of like the Windows start button), hold the mouse over Sound & Video, and click OggConvert. This program will easily convert most audio files, but most long video files will take a long time to process.
Do you need any help after trying what I told you? We'll be happy to answer any other GNU/Linux questions you have.
Also, in case it seems odd that we say free, we mean free like free speech, not necessarily zero price.
I understand Free and Freedom i watched stallmans 2h speech here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztd9m71Jc-Y
New GNU users should listen that :)
Im not sure I understand you -> Trisquel is using free software that can decode non-free codec?
[EDIT] I must have accidentally posted under the wrong topic. Sorry!
sinanziric, I think you're conflating two different issues: One is the license of a program, and the other issue is patents.
Due to the patented nature of MP3 I think its use should be discouraged in favor of other things (like Ogg Vorbis) that are not patent-encumbered.
There are programs that can encode and decode MP3 files that are under free licenses. Those programs can still be subject to patents though, but still qualify as free software because you still get all four freedoms and as a result they can still be included in Trisquel.
Thank you jxself now I understand
Cheers.
To add up on what Nathan and jxself wrote: MP3 is a format and not an application. The MP3 format is problematic in its use of software patents (an absurdity) that are actively enforced. Because of that, any user relying on this format might, in the future, not be able to listen to her files (if the patents are enforced against the free codecs, such as gstreamer, to read them). That is why it is an excellent advice to prefer Ogg Vorbis, which is designed to be patent-free. Notice that software patents only are enforceable in countries that are fool enough to allow them: the USA, Japan, ... but not China, India, Brazil or the European Union where Trisquel is based, hence not worrying too much about them.
That said using free software that may infringes patents does not entail anything bad for your freedoms. In fact, any (free or proprietary) software potentially infringes many patents (one of the basic problem with software patents and their uncertain scopes)...
The EU situation vis-a-vis software patents in fairly ambivalent. According to the law they are not allowed, yet the patent office is accepting them. And US is pushing hard to make EU accept them.
We can only hope that the legislators won't further cave in, that patent office would start following the law and the national court systems have enough sense to reject this madness.