[quake3] Mp3 support patch

Thilo Schulz arny at ats.s.bawue.de
Wed Oct 4 12:10:44 EDT 2006


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On Wednesday 04 October 2006 17:53, Joerg Dietrich wrote:
> No protest but some concerns here. MP3 is a heavily patented technology
> and the patents are heavily defended. So this patch is very risky.
> But as long as we do not include any of the decoding routines in the
> source (not even to make compiling on Windows and Mac easier ;)
> we should be safe.

The patch only makes use of libmad, doesn't actually include it.

And even if libmad is statically linked:

- From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3:
###
Additionally, patent holders declined to enforce license fees on open source 
decoders, allowing many free MP3 decoders to develop. Furthermore, while 
attempts have been made to discourage distribution of encoder binaries, 
Thomson has stated that individuals using free MP3 encoders are not required 
to pay fees. Thus while patent fees have been an issue for companies 
attempting to use MP3, they have not meaningfully impacted users, allowing 
the format to grow in popularity.
###

So really, the risk seems to be only a theoretical one. xmms, mplayer, and 
alot of other well known and well-liked open source projects don't seem to 
have an issue with that.

- -- 
Thilo Schulz
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