Why Ogg Frog?
Music exists to bring us joy, not to serve the corporation.
When I tell people what I'm up to, they often reply "Why not just use Grip?" Don't get me wrong: Grip is a good program, but it doesn't solve the problem I aim to solve with Ogg Frog. The Free Software community has done a great deal of work towards the solution; I hope to take the last step needed to bring Free Software and Free audio formats to the music-listening public.
By inventing the phonograph, Thomas Edison transformed music into big business. Some of the biggest companies in the world are in the music business, such as Sony, Time Warner, Apple and Microsoft. There is a lot of money to be made selling music, or the software or players we use to listen to it.
The problem is that these companies don't really serve the interests of the public with the music products they sell. By selling us copy-protected CDs, and undocumented or patented media file formats, the big media companies aim to lock in their customers in order to extract the greatest possible profit.
Is this why we make music? I say no! We make music to bring ourselves joy, to feel our sorrow, to proclaim our love, and to inflame our passions.
Music doesn't exist to make a profit.
Powerful companies offer us products to bring music to the computer desktop: Microsoft with Windows Media Player, and Apple with iTunes. It's clear that they didn't bring us music to serve our needs, or to serve the interests of music, but to make themselves a buck: their music players use patented, undocumented, and copy-protected media formats.
That the media companies exist to serve their own interests is evidenced by Apple's refusal to share the copy-protection scheme used by the iTunes music store with other music player manufacturers. If you want to listen to youur iTunes downloads on a portable player, you must listen on an Apple iPod.
The Free Software community has made great strides in freeing Music from its corporate shackles, but the war is not yet won. The Ogg Vorbis format was invented to provide a Free alternative to the patent-encumbered MP3 and AAC, as well as the undocumented WMA. Reusable Free Software components such as libogg and libparanoia enable ripping CDs and encoding them to Free formats, but two important pieces are missing: software with an easy-to-use user interface, and high-quality, reliable, Free media software that runs on the platforms most music fans actually use.
Free Software for Non-Free Platforms?
Many feel we should write Free Software only for Free platforms such as GNU/Linux and BSD. They argue that users will then make the switch to Free platforms so they can use such Free Software. But will music fans switch from Windows or the Mac OS to GNU/Linux just to gain the use of Free music software? Rippit argues they won't, as long as the non-free platforms come with with bundled media software.
I argue that we must bring Free Music Software to Mac OS and Windows, to bring Free Software's message to those who wouldn't otherwise hear it. Ogg Frog will be a cross-platform program, with support for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in its first release, with other platforms to follow.
The first Free Software I ever used ran on the very non-Free SunOS. Along with the source code to Emacs came The GNU Manifesto. Rippit took the Manifesto's message to heart: I believe Free Software is the right kind of software, and I aim to use it to make Music Free as well.
-- Rippit the Ogg Frog rippit@oggfrog.com
What the Bold Print Giveth, the Fine Print Taketh Away
Copyright © 2005 Michael D. Crawford.
Ogg Frog, Rippit, Rippit the Ogg Frog, the Frog logo and the Circle Flowers logo are trademarks of Michael D. Crawford. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
So there.