New MP3 License Terms Demand $0.75 Per Decoder

Götz writes "The licensing terms of Thomson and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, who are the owners of the mp3 patents, have changed. Now not only mp3 encoders but also mp3 decoders require a license. This page lists the fees -- it's $0.75 per decoder. As a consequence, Red Hat has already removed all mp3 players from the Rawhide development version."

Ha!

[Pig Hogger]

Let them come to me to cough-out 75 for my license. I hope they have plenty of fun!!!

Re:These prices were up last year.

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of the Simpsons when they realize the laws state that they are still in prohibition, its just that no one has enforced it...

Rev. Lovejoy-
See, it says we should be in prohibition, right below the law that states that ducks should wear pants.
Mayor Quimby-
My god, it does. Ducks must wear pants!

Re:i wonder

[Lordfly]

I didn't realize immediately that winamp is affected by this. Hopefully Nullsoft's parent company (AOLTImeWarnerTurnerOmniCorpKellogMotorGeneralFord ChevyMicroSunSoftSystems Ltd. Inc.) will absorb the cost for them. Otherwise, mp3 proliferation will collapse. Or we'll start seeing alot more advertisements in Winamp. Sigh.

Lordfly

My check is in the mail !

[gosand]

I love the MP3 format, so my check is in the mail.

Well, not exactly a check, more like 75 pennies.

In an envelope

Postage due

(In college once I paid a $2 [total BS] parking ticket in change, in one of those "postage will be paid by addressee" envelopes.)

Lawsuit waiting to happen?

[TibbonZero]

Perhaps they are just getting their legal team cracking, and are just waiting for the right time to strike..
Odd, sueing someone over the IP of something that has caused more IP problems than anything else in history.

Re:Thank god for ogg!

[llZENll]

ms already has root privileges to our lives, society, and government, so i don't think my little stupid computer matters too much! :)

Like the (updated) saying goes

[A_Non_Moose]

Beware of greeks bearing .gifts.

The definition of irony...

[Anonymous Coward]

...scads of people who have no problem whatsoever pirating hundreds of gigabytes of $19 CD's throwing a tizzy fit over the notion that someone else might have to pay $0.75.

Re:Thank god for ogg!

[cheezus]

a mp3->ogg converter would still need to decode the mp3.

you want to cough up the $0.75?

Re:Do they not realize the effect of this?

[axneck]

Yeah that makes sense. RedBook CD audio is uncompressed as well, but having an overpriced, tape-based solution is always superior.

Re:i wonder

[ImaLamer]

Winamp has already bought a license.

AOL did however get into trouble because they tried to use the fact they owned Nullsoft to get out of buying another, see the license wasn't transferable.

Whew!

[killmenow]

Thank goodness I bought all those CDs!

Re:i wonder

[Hes Nikke]

call me a conspiracy theorist

ok, your a conspiracy theorist

Re:There outta be a law...

[ameoba]

This is what happens when they lay off their patent lawyer and replace him with a crack dealer in the name of cutting expenses.

Thank goodness for the alternative!

[derinax]

It's a good thing I already converted all my MP3s to Windows Media!

*ducks*

Re:MP3 to OGG Converters

[khuber]

You forgot that nobody actually owns the real CDs, silly.

-Kevin

Re:load them with quarters.

[Utopia]

Better yet load them with Liras.

Now how many millions would $0.75 that be ...

europe ?

[noospy]

mmmmm.... i wonder.... is that valid/legal in europe ? marc :)

Re:Show your support for this petition then.

[0x20]

Show your support for this petition then.

I hereby support this petition.

Is there a petition i can sign to show my support for it?

Re:Fair use

[fishbowl]

"I only get in trouble if I sell the a turnup twaddler!"

Or, more specifically, if you give away turnip twaddlers. Or, possibly, if you use unlicensed turnip twaddlers in your commercial kitchen, and
have used them in the preparation of the twaddled turnips you have for sale.

Xiph's reply

[patrikr]

The guys over at Xiph.org have posted a reply, in the form of a highly sarcastic open letter [xiph.org] to Thompson. :)

Re:heh!

[geektweaked.com]

i use mp3.

i have an mp3 encoder.

i have an mp3 decoder.

yes, i will probably reencode everything to ogg.

i wouldn't call myself in a panic, though. in fact, after i finish posting this, i'm going to go have dinner with my girlfriend. note that open-source, free software, my need to encode everything to ogg, etc will not be mentioned during dinner.

why?

because it really doesn't fucking matter.

so have fun sitting back and watching the natural consequences of my short-sightedness. if you live anywhere near bethel park, pennsylvania (in the USA) you can watch me and my girlfriend eat dinner. i don't see how you'd enjoy it, but to each his own.

-c

Re:Fair use

[kesuki]

How dare they?!? We the people demand our fair-use rights to twaddled turnips! Next theing you know they'll have a license fee to carry a twaddled turnip in public, and a license to carry a concealed twaddled turnips. Pretty soon, you'll have to pay a fee for every bite you take out of a Twaddled turnip, and they'll be designed to rot away instantly if you try to pass the twaddled turnip to your neighbor! And what do we do if they get the refrigerator makers in on this? so you can only store twaddled turnips if you've paid up on your licenses? And what about people who own a cooler? Will we have to relicense our twadled turnips to transport them via the cooler? Will we be able to put any unused twaddled turnips back in the fridge later?!? Put an end to the maddness it's time the twaddled turnip users unite! Let's fill the hills with unlicened ice-houses and unliceneced turnip twaddlers. We can even grow our own crop of turnips to make sure their quality isn't compromized by anti-twaddling genetic modifications.

Re:Thank god for ogg!

[galaxy300]

And bad spellers of the world, UNTIE!

No... it can't be true...

[infra-red]

halfelven said:

Because other encoders are written for people who can tell the difference between sound that seems to be good and sound that really is good. ;-)

But you must be mistaken, I mean, millions of fans love Backstreet Boys and they can't all be wrong? And what about N'Sync, I mean, they almost sorta had cameo's in Eps2. Certainly the majority of people can determine what is true quality!