Re: AAC-LC patent expiry?
Reply #4 –
Once there are enough lossy files "with no lossless original", is very hard to get rid of the format. MP3 won't just disappear. And because Apple (the music vendor) settled for AAC, it is hard to get rid of that as well. (IIRC, Apple/iTunes accepted AAC uploads from musicians? Then they don't necessarily have any "better" to replace it with?)
There will be decoding support, and that makes it a "safer" choice for decoding.
If we look at (lossy) formats/codecs that once had some momentum (sorry, Musepack fans) and that we are maybe closing in on getting rid of, then what?
Real. A stellar example of how not to do it.
MP1 on DCC, and ATRAC.
Vorbis served the purpose of being a threat. Kept MPEG-formats cheap to costless. But I have only a few hours' worth of .ogg music. And video? (Can the Theora users please raise a hand? Both of you, please.)
WMA ... I have more .wma than .ogg, and even more when we count video files. Most downloaded from careless musicians who posted on their website in what their Windows computers would default to. But despite all the hardware players that support it, I don't see much .wma anymore. Abandonware it is as well. (I wish I could blame WMA on Steve Ballmer.)