Hardware that supports Ogg Vorbis

[Matt Ivie]

I'm sure this topic has been brought up many times but I'm curious what
the current status is. What hardware devices support Ogg? I currently
use a 5th generation iPod running Rockbox to play my Ogg files but I was
curious about buying a head unit for my car that would play that format.
It seems that there aren't any...
I did a search on the xiph.org wiki and everything listed is either old
and discontinued or exists outside of the U.S.

My thing is this: why would anyone adopt this format if it was difficult
to get onto devices? Why isn't it supported on more devices and what do
we have to do to get it supported on these devices?

When I say way would anyone adopt this format, I'm talking about the
average user. I know why I adopt it and why anyone on this list would. I
want to be able to suggest to my friends that they should use it and be
able to point to some readily available commercial devices that support
it.

[Matt Ivie]

There are many freedom issues with the Samsung devices as well. I know that
replicant will run on some of them but even then, you can't run the
bluetooth without non-free firmware. Is there an avenue to cooperate with
hardware manufacturers to get ogg support into their products? Is there a
real good reason they don't do it in the first place? How hard would it be,
on a technical level, for them to incorporate it into their stuff?


On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:37 PM, Aaron S. Hawley

Yeah, seems nobody makes a car stereo with Ogg support. The music
player installed on all the Samsung devices play Ogg vorbis out of the
box. My Samsung Galaxy player can bluetooth or line in to a car
stereo. Maybe suggest Samsung products to your friends.
Happy Ogg-ing,
/a

Post by Matt Ivie
I'm sure this topic has been brought up many times but I'm curious what
the current status is. What hardware devices support Ogg? I currently
use a 5th generation iPod running Rockbox to play my Ogg files but I was
curious about buying a head unit for my car that would play that format.
It seems that there aren't any...
I did a search on the xiph.org wiki and everything listed is either old
and discontinued or exists outside of the U.S.
My thing is this: why would anyone adopt this format if it was difficult
to get onto devices? Why isn't it supported on more devices and what do
we have to do to get it supported on these devices?
When I say way would anyone adopt this format, I'm talking about the
average user. I know why I adopt it and why anyone on this list would. I
want to be able to suggest to my friends that they should use it and be
able to point to some readily available commercial devices that support
it.
--
/* Free software is a matter of liberty not price.
Visit www.GNU.org * www.FSF.org * www.trisquel.info */

--
In general, we reserve the right to have a poor
memory--the computer, however, is supposed to
remember! Poor computer. -- Guy Lewis Steele Jr.

[Matt Ivie]

All your questions are good questions...

I'm guessing that this mailing list isn't real active? Do you know how
active the Play-ogg campaign is? I'm just curious what the current
activity level is and how everyone is working toward right now.

[smc+]

Post by Matt Ivie
I'm guessing that this mailing list isn't real active? Do you know how
active the Play-ogg campaign is? I'm just curious what the current
activity level is and how everyone is working toward right now.

It's effectively dead. The FSF put up a page at "playfreedom.org" just about 2 years
ago that was supposedly going to be a followup/replacement campaign, but nothing
was ever done with it. They seem to be a lot more "anti-restriction" than really being
"pro-freedom" as far as this goes. (I actually directly asked John Sullivan about the playogg/playfreedom
campaigns at Northeast Linux Fest. The response was [in my own slightly-bitter paraphrasing here]
more or less that they sort of want to come back to it someday but they're too focussed on
yelling at Apple and Microsoft right now and aren't sure when they'll have time for anything else.)

More to your original question - Ogg Vorbis support overall is actually pretty widespread,
but abysmally unadvertised. Many devices that actually support it don't even mention it
anywhere (e.g. lots of Android-based devices. ALL Android devices support Ogg Vorbis
audio for example, but a lot of them only mention mp3, aac, wma, etc. in their specifications.)

I'm not sure about head unit support overall, though I know there was at least one company
making them quite a few years ago so they're likely to be out there. Personally, I'd prefer
to stick with an extremely basic unit with an auxiliary input, and just plug in my phone or
other Vorbis (or Opus, now)-capable player, which I can then take with me easily and use
when I leave the car.

As far as I know, pretty much every media-playing device made by Sandisk or Samsung over the
last half-decade or so supports Ogg Vorbis, along with quite a few other companies that
aren't Microsoft or Apple. (Apple MAY support Opus in future devices, since Opus support
is "Mandatory to Implement" for the WebRTC standard. Microsoft PROBABLY actually will eventually support it - they were part of the committee that signed off on it. Microsoft does have some ongoing argument with WebRTC, but the Opus codec doesn't seem to be part of that argument.)

(If you're interested, I had a "pro-free-media" episode at Hacker Public Radio up last year, which
included some discussion about how widespread Ogg Vorbis support actually is despite its low profile.
http://hackerpublicradio.org/eps.php?id=1103 )

[Aaron S. Hawley]

Folks should volunteer with FSF. There's no reason not to contribute
to the campaigns against Microsoft and Apple and still promote
unencumbered media formats. Obviously, knowledgeable people are
needed to offer specific alternatives in these discussions.

Post by smc+
More to your original question - Ogg Vorbis support overall is actually pretty widespread,
but abysmally unadvertised. Many devices that actually support it don't even mention it
anywhere (e.g. lots of Android-based devices. ALL Android devices support Ogg Vorbis
audio for example, but a lot of them only mention mp3, aac, wma, etc. in their specifications.)

An easy thing to do is probably to update the xiph.org Wiki. There's
a lot of good historical information on Ogg hardware, it just needs an
update. If the FSF gets back to these campaigns in the future, it
will likely be relying on that Wiki for the campaign.

aaron

[p***@public.gmane.org]

Hello Matt,

I use my smart phone that runs Replicant, and there are no problems
finding compatible software in that regard. If you are looking for a
stand-alone music player, thinkpenguin sells one for $50 that also works
as a camera, video player, and text reader. You can find it at
libre.thinkpenguin.com.

Peter Stevenson

Post by Matt Ivie
I'm sure this topic has been brought up many times but I'm curious what
the current status is. What hardware devices support Ogg? I currently
use a 5th generation iPod running Rockbox to play my Ogg files but I was
curious about buying a head unit for my car that would play that format.
It seems that there aren't any...
I did a search on the xiph.org wiki and everything listed is either old
and discontinued or exists outside of the U.S.
My thing is this: why would anyone adopt this format if it was
difficult
to get onto devices? Why isn't it supported on more devices and what do
we have to do to get it supported on these devices?
When I say way would anyone adopt this format, I'm talking about the
average user. I know why I adopt it and why anyone on this list would. I
want to be able to suggest to my friends that they should use it and be
able to point to some readily available commercial devices that support
it.
--
/* Free software is a matter of liberty not price.
Visit www.GNU.org * www.FSF.org * www.trisquel.info */

[Sameer Verma]

Post by Matt Ivie
I'm sure this topic has been brought up many times but I'm curious what
the current status is. What hardware devices support Ogg? I currently
use a 5th generation iPod running Rockbox to play my Ogg files but I was
curious about buying a head unit for my car that would play that format.
It seems that there aren't any...
I did a search on the xiph.org wiki and everything listed is either old
and discontinued or exists outside of the U.S.
My thing is this: why would anyone adopt this format if it was difficult
to get onto devices? Why isn't it supported on more devices and what do
we have to do to get it supported on these devices?
When I say way would anyone adopt this format, I'm talking about the
average user. I know why I adopt it and why anyone on this list would. I
want to be able to suggest to my friends that they should use it and be
able to point to some readily available commercial devices that support
it.
--
/* Free software is a matter of liberty not price.
Visit www.GNU.org * www.FSF.org * www.trisquel.info */

I have a Phatnoise unit in my VW Passat. It plays Ogg Vorbis out of
the box. http://www.phatnoise.com/

Sameer