[BC] Media players (WAS:HD Radio Article)

[Robert Orban]

At 06:51 PM 2/26/2006, you wrote:
>From: WFIFeng at aol.com
>Subject: [BC] Media players (WAS:HD Radio Article)
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <1d9.4ef7813d.3133bf0e at aol.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
>In a message dated 02/26/2006 3:41:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>rorban at earthlink.net writes:
>
> > Real Player 10 (or higher) will play aacPlusV2 streams. There really is
> >  little reason not to use aacPlusV2 for streaming, given that both Real 
> and
> >  Winamp will play it. and that there is a substantial cost savings to the
> >  broadcaster because, compared to WMA, one can get better quality at lower
> >  bit rates  (32 kbps aacPlusV2 is good enough for a majority of the
>consumer
> >  space; 48 kbps will satisfy anyone but hard core audiophiles.)
> >
> >  Both players are both free downloads.
>
>But WinAmp isn't bordering on Spyware, like REAL does in its newer versions.
>(Unless they've changed that policy.)

Changing file associations is a long way from spyware as long as the 
software allows the user to opt out of any changes as part of the install 
process. The last time I installed WinAmp, it gave me the option to set 
file associations according to my preferences. And even if you overlook it 
in the install, WinAmps' Options>Preferences allows you to change 
associations at any time. It hardly be more transparent than that.

WinAmp is not evil. Microsoft, on the other hand, has made it almost 
impossible to write a plug-in for Windows Media Player that supports 
aacPlus streams. In my opinion, this is gross abuse of their monopoly power.

Bob Orban