MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

[mikeycal]

Well, I haven't looked very deeply in to this yet, but just a couple days ago http://www.fluendo.com/ announced that they were now providing a free gstreamer mp3 decoder plugin that can be legally distributed with any Linux distro. If this is what it sounds like, Kubuntu can have MP3 playback out of box without any legal issues.

I know that MP3 playing can be enabled with a simple download from universe but it's nice to do things the legit way when you have the option.

Check out the following link for more info on using the MP3 plugin:

http://www.fluendo.com/resources/fluendo_mp3.php

[Patrick]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

I think this was discussed in #ubuntu-devel a few days ago... can't remember what the verdict was...

[jriddell]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

It's impossible to win this one, if it complies with the patent it can't comply with the GPL and vice-versa (amarok etc are GPL).

[kinematic]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

that's not entirely true.i also have PCLinuxOS installed and it has mp3 support out of the box and PCLinuxOS is gpl.

[mikeycal]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

There are mp3 decoders/encoders that are completely GPL. That isn't the problem. The problem is that even if the code is under the GPL you are still supposed to pay a royalty to decode an MP3 or rip one. The same thing is true with DeCSS. PClinuxOS is likely in compliance with the GPL but if they are not paying the royalty fee to distribute a mp3 decoder -- like companies such as Linspire do -- they are not in compliance with the law. They are likely getting away with nocompliance by not hosting their servers in the USA or any other country that strictly enforces such things.

that's not entirely true.i also have PCLinuxOS installed and it has mp3 support out of the box and PCLinuxOS is gpl.

[balilu]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

i think it would be very gr8. all distros i used had an mp3 decoder with it. and this is the first strange thing i found in ubuntu.

[oblio]

Re: MP3 decoder that can be shipped with Kubuntu....

There are mp3 decoders/encoders that are completely GPL. That isn't the problem. The problem is that even if the code is under the GPL you are still supposed to pay a royalty to decode an MP3 or rip one. The same thing is true with DeCSS. PClinuxOS is likely in compliance with the GPL but if they are not paying the royalty fee to distribute a mp3 decoder -- like companies such as Linspire do -- they are not in compliance with the law. They are likely getting away with nocompliance by not hosting their servers in the USA or any other country that strictly enforces such things.

that's not entirely true.i also have PCLinuxOS installed and it has mp3 support out of the box and PCLinuxOS is gpl.

From the Fluendo site:

Issues to be aware of:
If you are living in a country where the mp3 patents don't apply you can of course use the source code provided by Fluendo (or anyone else) to get legal mp3 support onto your Unix/GNU/Linux desktop.

On the other hand, if you live in a country where the patents apply, or if you are a distribution maker who sells your distribution in countries where the patents apply, then you need the licensed binary from Fluendo. This of course is no problem, but be aware that even if our binary is made from MIT licensed source code the resulting binary combined with our license is not free software, at least not GPL-compatible. This means that if you ship GStreamer with our binary mp3 plug-in, you need to be sure that you don't ship any GPL-licensed plug-ins that could end up being used together with the mp3 plug-in, as this would violate the GPL. And you don't want to violate the GPL. You also need to make sure you don't ship any GPL-licensed players which would use this plug-in.
Luckily most GStreamer plug-ins are LGPL and there are already playback applications out there with licensing terms that allow them to be used with non-free plug-ins. The Totem media player and the Banshee music player are two examples.

..meaning: "you cannot ship/distribute Amarok if you use this binary mp3 plugin."

Regards,