Found this on usenet: August 13, 2001 E-Business Inventors Release Free Alternative To MP3 Music, but Cost Is High By MEI FONG Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Christopher Montgomery wants to be the Linus Torvalds of music, the creator of a piece of free software that has the sweeping impact of Mr. Torvalds's Linux operating system. He soon may begin finding out if that is his destiny as his program is finally released to the public. But the cost of Mr. Montgomery's three-year effort has been high. It has broken up his marriage, kept him jobless and eaten away at his savings. Mr. Montgomery's program has a mouthful of a name: Ogg Vorbis. He created it as a free alternative to the MP3 software that is used to make computer music files out of CD disks. While most MP3 buffs assume that MP3 software is free, since they typically don't have to pay for it, makers of such programs as the popular Music Match CD "ripping" software must pay royalties starting at $15,000 to the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany and Thomson Multimedia, which invented the MP3 system. And musicians who sell their songs in MP3 format are supposed to pay royalties as well. That rankles Mr. Montgomery, a burly, shy 29-year-old steeped in the hacker ethic of the free software movement that gave the world Linux and other programs. " 'Crusader' is too strong a word," he says in describing himself. "If 'crusader' is 10 and 'couch potato' is one, put me at a seven." Mr. Montgomery, who lives and works in a hacker friend's Victorian house in this Boston suburb, has been spending 60-hour weeks coordinating the work of the volunteers creating Ogg Vorbis. Preview versions of the program have circulated widely; Monday, the completed version is being made available for free downloading at www.vorbis.com. Someone can use Ogg Vorbis to create MP3-like files from a music CD, and also to play them back. Many MP3 playing programs, like WinAmp, offer special "plug-ins" to allow them to also play Ogg Vorbis files along with traditional MP3s. Like MP3 software itself, Ogg Vorbis is completely legal. It's the passing around of copyrighted music files that is a legal problem, as shown in the Napster case, not the software used to create the files in the first place. But why bother with new digital music software to begin with? Because compared with MP3, says Mr. Montgomery, his software is not only free, it also produces better-sounding music and takes up less space on computers. An average Ogg Vorbis music file uses about 38% less hard-drive space than an average MP3 file. Many people in the music-compression field agree that Ogg Vorbis music sounds better, although nonaudiophiles would probably be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Vincent Falco, creator of the popular music file-sharing program BearShare, says that when measured against MP3, Vorbis "gives better dynamic range" in addition to taking up less space. Whatever advantage Ogg Vorbis may have over MP3 in audio quality, it lacks when it comes to a pithy name. Mr. Montgomery explains that "Vorbis" is the name of a villain in a science-fiction novel by Terry Pratchett, while "Ogg" is a popular tactic in an online game called "Netrek." The Ogg maneuver, says Mr. Montgomery, is "a kamikaze attack to achieve what you want without any consideration of the circumstances." That definition, though, also applies to the outsized role that the Ogg Vorbis project has played in his life. Born to a blue-collar family in Ohio, Mr. Montgomery got a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. After graduate school in Japan, he free-lanced as a computer programmer for five years, writing free audio-compression software in his spare time. In 1998, after reading about the MP3 licensing practices, Mr. Montgomery decided to resurrect an audio program he had begun while an MIT student. That code became the technical basis for Ogg Vorbis. The guiding philosophy of the effort, though, was Mr. Montgomery's belief that hackers like himself have been responsible for online innovation. "We are the ones who developed the Net, not Microsoft," he says. "I thought, 'I must use my powers for good!' " Eventually, the project attracted about seven other volunteers around the globe. Mr. Montgomery says his two-year marriage fell apart because of the time he spent on the project; he says he'll "eat, sleep, dream about the code" for weeks at a time. He has been slowly eating away at a $65,000 windfall he made last year from working at a dot-com called FastEngines. To pay the bills, he does occasional consulting gigs. He also lives frugally: He works on a fold-up table from Staples in a room with green shag carpet and jars full of Siamese fighting fish that he is trying to interbreed. While more than 100,000 people downloaded test versions of the software just last month alone, that's nothing compared with the scores of millions now using various MP3 programs. That means Mr. Montgomery has a long way to go to reach his goal of "mainstream acceptance." As he sees it, the big companies working in online music, such as Fraunhofer and Microsoft Corp., are abandoning current-generation MP3 software in favor of newer systems that stress copyright protection and other business matters at the expense of the users. Ogg Vorbis will emerge as a user-friendly alternative, he believes. There is, of course, also the prospect of gaining some of Mr. Torvalds's fame. "Being a celebrity isn't half bad," he says. -- GCP --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:> Found this on usenet: > > August 13, 2001 > > > E-Business > Inventors Release Free Alternative To MP3 Music, but Cost Is High > By MEI FONG > Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL > > > SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Christopher Montgomery wants to be the Linus > Torvalds of music [...]Way to go, Monty! Not a perfect article, but pretty decent, and surely good publicity. If only they hadn't confused RC2 with "final release"... Interesting, also, to learn a little more about Monty, who I previously knew next to nothing about. Craig --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
> >Dear Monty; In my humble experience, journalists always work from a (mental) script. They know what sort of story they want to tell, and they look for details that re-enforce it, and they tend to ignore those that don't. That's how you can give a 1/2 hour interview and have one little off hand remark be the only thing that appears in print. A warning sign is (like in your interview) when they keep returning to a topic that appears irrelevant. They're probably trying to get a quote or fact to support the story they've already written in their heads. Sounds like her script for you was something like "driven genius pursues dream to the exclusion of all else." I am sorry if the results were painful, but it could have been a lot worse. Regards Marshall Eubanks Multicast Technologies> >On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 12:19:52PM -0700, Benjamin Flanders wrote: >> --- Craig Dickson <crdic@yahoo.com> wrote: >> > Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote: >> > >> > > Found this on usenet: >> > > >> > > August 13, 2001 >> > > >> > > >> > > E-Business >> > > Inventors Release Free Alternative To MP3 Music, >> > but Cost Is High >> > > By MEI FONG >> > > Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL >> > > >> > > >> > > SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Christopher Montgomery wants >> > to be the Linus >> > > Torvalds of music [...] >> > >> > Way to go, Monty! >> > >> Way to go??? >> I would say "What the hell are you thinking?". Love >> and family are the meaning of life, not a better >> sounding audio file. > >Forgive in advance, but this is a personal matter, so I'm dropping my >professionalism for a second. > >Benjamin: You're a idiot. Thank you for believing this little bit of >drivel from the WSJ. > >You're also forgiven because you had no idea you were being an >idiot. I can understand how a paper with the reputation of the WSJ >would have instant credibility, but there are a number of fabricated >facts in the story, and my divorce being because of Ogg is one of >them. > >The reporter (Mei Fong, feel free to write her and bitch) spent a good >piece of our Ogg interview asking about my divorce (huh?), and I made >it clear that Dana and I just never learned how to get along. It was >one of theose relationships where we loved each other greatly, but >living together was constant Hell. Ogg had nothign to do with it. > >When the reporter didn't get the answer she wanted from *me*, she >tracked down my ex-wife and interviewed *her* about it. Dana (my >wife) called me to warn me about it because it was clear the reporter was >after a specific answer to her questions. Dana didn't give the answer >she wanted either. > >So, the reporter just printed it anyway. > >I called her to complain, and she had the nerve to think that I owed >the WSJ for the huge favor of publicity. You might say any publicity >is good publicity, but I don't buy that crap. > >For those counting: I also don't work on 'fold up tables from >Staples'. I have a good desk. She saw the desk. She decided to >ignore that too. It didn't fit the story. She was going for the >'obsessed, antisocial, destitute programmer' angle whether I fit or not. > >'kept me jobless'. If I'm getting paid to work, that counts as a job, >dammit. Is Xiph.Org somehow not considered serious enough by WSJ >standards to be a job? > >Fume. I expected more integrity from WSJ. > >Monty > >--- >8 ---- >List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ >Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ >To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org'>containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed.>Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered. > >Marshall Eubanks tme@21rst-century.com --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
Well...I did not have time to read this mailing list recently, so this article was quite a surprise...in a way, more than the RC2 release. I also felt this article caricaturising Monty as a kind of 'anti-social geek who failed in a marriage.' However, as I have already read quite a lot of his opinions here, I just laughed at it. Just a 'geek' cannot write them. ...Then, I came across the replays of Monty himself. About a divorce, I think it's quite common recently and that it is quite classical a Christian attitude to regard it as a social sigma or a 'failure' (if you prefer a 'modern' word). My personal opinion about this thread is just that it is nice to see hackers are also human beings like me (Ben, a "dedicated artist" wouldn't have defended his love to a woman over his love to a format, in my opinon ;-)). The difference is that I am an ordinary citizen who doesn't even worth a gossip. This is the world of capitalism and information where Every celebrity has to learn how to deal with mass media. Then, again, way to go, Monty. ;-) ---- xiphmont@xiph.org (Monty) wrote:> And the article really wasn't that bad; a few things in it just seriously > rubbed me the wrong way. Anyway, I'm mostly over the WSJ, really :-) > > It's true, the Vorbis aspects were good. A little scattershot, but > positive about the software (even if it's creator is a bit of a crank > :-) > > Monty___________________________________________________________________ To get your own FREE ZDNet Onebox - FREE voicemail, email, and fax, all in one place - sign up today at http://www.zdnetonebox.com --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
Kristoff Bonne (kristoff.bonne@skypro.be) wrote :> Greetings, > > I guess this is not the most exact place for this discussion; so I'll give > just one more reply in this thread.[ rest snipped ] Just my opinion : I think the journalist wanted to say: "The author worked really, really, really hard on ogg/vorbis, so it _must_ be very very good." just my two cents ... -- David Balazic -------------- "Be excellent to each other." - Bill & Ted - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.