why does the free software foundation reject mp3?
Is it the codec? Is it the license? Is it the software that plays mp3 files? Here https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audiocodecs/mp3.html it says, that patents are stopping.
Does that make a difference?
Yes. Just like with GIF, once all patents are expired, there is no problem with it. That being said, MP3 is technically inferior to Vorbis in every way, and the latter has been widely adopted, so there will be little reason to use it. GIF would have had the same treatment if it weren't for its animation support (which is all it's used for these days).
Thank you.
>will be little reason to use it
I disagree. Websites selling music are likely selling mp3. There are devices that will play mp3 files and not free software foundation compliant codecs. My mp3 files I have not converted. To me it is important if they become free software foundation compliant.
I would like to know the status on mpeg4 files too. About mpeg4 the codec is common and some devices play only that codec.
Are flac files free software foundation compliant?
You can play, in complete freedom, files in those format: there are free software codecs. For instance, the codecs in the "ugly" set (that is how it is officially named) of GStreamer. Trisquel has them in its default install. It has always had, contrary to other GNU/Linux distributions that do take the risk.
Indeed, the patents on the MPEG formats represent a real risk: the (free or not) codec you use today may be forbidden tomorrow, if the MPEG LA mafia decides to file a law suit against the developers. They would abandon the suit for a few million dollars though... MPEG LA even pretends Theora and VP8 infringes their patents, although those formats were specifically designed to be patent-unencumbered. In the case of VP8, Google paid the ransom: http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/88/n-13-03-07.pdf
Software patents are monopolies on mere ideas. See http://patentabsurdity.com/watch.html if you have not yet. It is the best explanation on software patents I know. You can listen to http://dcc.ufmg.br/~lcerf/wpa.mp3 too: excellent investigative journalism on software patents (ironically, the podcast was distributed in the MP3 format that I did not transcode to not lose in quality).
All that said, all the main patents on MP3 (specifically) have now expired. The patent tonlee refers to was the last one. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and_legislation :
Technicolor (formerly called Thomson Consumer Electronics) claims to control MP3 licensing of the Layer 3 patents in many countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada and EU countries. Technicolor has been actively enforcing these patents. MP3 license revenues from Technicolor's administration generated about €100 million for the Fraunhofer Society in 2005. In September 1998, the Fraunhofer Institute sent a letter to several developers of MP3 software stating that a license was required to "distribute and/or sell decoders and/or encoders". The letter claimed that unlicensed products "infringe the patent rights of Fraunhofer and Thomson. To make, sell or distribute products using the MPEG Layer-3 standard and thus our patents, you need to obtain a license under these patents from us."
€100 million in a year... Acting like a mafia makes money.
FLAC is fine. It is developed by Xiph.Org as a free/unencumbered format.
Seems that it is unencumbered now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and_legislation
Still, it is an old and inferior format.
It should've happened many years ago. Now it's kind of moot. We have lots of other options now.
What about the other mp's? I remember RMS warning against 'mp-anything' when getting ready to deliver his speech to a new audience somewhere on the road.
It's more like a ethical problem. But there is not great warm in playing em. Keep in mind that there are superior formats, of course.
From the official FSF PlayOgg FAQ at http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/playogg/faq:
Unlike MP3, Ogg Vorbis is not restricted by patents. Microsoft at one time was faced with a $1.5 billion jury verdict after being sued for using MP3 without a license. After a multi-year process, the verdict was overturned only when a judge determined that they had actually purchased a license. With a patent-free format like Ogg Vorbis, they could have avoided all that!
These patent lawsuits might never affect you directly, but they create a culture where creative and skilled individuals cannot develop multimedia software without fear of being legally attacked. Using Ogg is one way to support them in their efforts and to encourage a better culture.
As Tonless pointed out, the main reason MP3 is and will remain dominant for some time is the number of hardware music players that play MP3 but not Ogg formats. In fact, the primary reason for patents like the MP3 patent is to constrain the freedom of hardware manufacturers. I'm guessing that a) they got told they'd get sued for patent infringement if they didn't buy an MP3 license, whether they supported MP3 or not and b) one of the conditions of that license was not to support competing technologies. Like someone else said, it's a mafia and a racket.
Full MP3 support coming soon to Fedora: https://fedoramagazine.org/full-mp3-support-coming-soon-to-fedora/
Just saw the same thing, referenced on DistroWatch:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20170508#news
Fedora The Fedora distribution has long avoided providing full support for encoding MP3 audio files due to licensing restrictions on the MP3 format. However, the patents on the MP3 format have expired and the Fedora distribution will soon be able to ship with support for both playing and creating MP3 files. Up until now MP3 encoding support has been provided by third-party software repositories. Fedora Magazine explains: "A couple of weeks ago IIS Fraunhofer and Technicolor terminated their licensing program and just a few days ago Red Hat Legal provided the permission to ship MP3 encoding in Fedora. There will be a bit of time whilst package reviews are carried out and tools that are safe to add are identified, as only MP3 is cleared and not other MPEG technologies. However, it will soon be possible to convert physical media or other formats to MP3 in Fedora without 3rd party repositories."
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However I must say I remain an advocate of Ogg anyway. When introducing friends and family to free software, we should set CD rippers, playback software, etc to default to Ogg.