ot: wav to mp3 linux tool?

[John Heim]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Samuel Thibault" <samuel.thibault at ens-lyon.org>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: ot: wav to mp3 linux tool?


Karen Lewellen, le Tue 10 Oct 2006 12:20:07 -0400, a écrit :
> Any simple Linux tool for converting .wav files to .mp3 files?

MP3 is patented, so you'll have a hard time looking for a legal and
"libre" software producing them.  That said, you can google for "lame"
(which has a quite good codec btw).


I was just listening to the wikipedia page on mp3 a couple of days ago and 
it said that lame is legal because the patent holder (Thompson Consumer 
Electronics -- I think) has said it won't enforce it's patent on open source 
projects. Plus, I doubt it would be illegal to use software that infringed 
on someone's patent. The end-user wouldn't be expected to know about that.

Ogg is a better format anyway.

Another thing the wikipedia page said that was interesting is that mp3 is 
obsolete as a technology but it has a certain momentum. But IMO, in a few 
years, we won't be seeing so many mp3 files around.