[plug] Re: [OT] Portable Music Player, Voice Recorder

[Craig Ringer]

On Tue, 2005-08-09 at 12:12 +0800, Ryan wrote:

> I also make heavy use of FLAC - another open format, which unlike some
> alternatives, is easier to pronounce and works on any popular platform
> without a fuss.

If you have the disk space, FLAC is great - maintains the quality of the
original, and can be cleanly trans-coded into whatever format you
currently need, in whatever bit rate you need.

If I ever have to re-rip my CD collection again (likely) then I'll
probably use FLAC, even if I have to keep it on a separate HDD.

It amazes me that so many Mac and Windows tools don't play FLAC and
vorbis, given the good quality, portable, free libraries available for
them. It's less surprising for embedded devices, which have to worry a
lot about ROM size, power consumption, CPU speed, etc and want to avoid
including an FPU if they can.

I've also been very impressed by Speex. That codec seems to be gaining
some traction in the wider world - especially VoIP in games.

--
Craig Ringer