# If MP3 is dying, what do we use?



## fredtgreco (May 16, 2017)

Has anyone else seen this?

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7800028/mp3-license-terminated-fraunhofer-iis

Does this mean that the MP3 format will eventually be obsolete? If so, what would be the optimal format to use for audio sermons?


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## Ed Walsh (May 16, 2017)

fredtgreco said:


> Does this mean that the MP3 format will eventually be obsolete?



Maybe, but it's still pretty good for voice. Here's an article that helped me a bit. But in the end, the only thing I really learned is that the original recording should be made in a _lossless_ format.

https://goo.gl/Q6yGSz


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## Semper Fidelis (May 16, 2017)

https://marco.org/2017/05/15/mp3-isnt-dead


> Very few people got it right. The others missed what happened last month:
> 
> If the longest-running patent mentioned in the aforementioned references is taken as a measure, then the MP3 technology became patent-free in the United States on 16 April 2017 when U.S. Patent 6,009,399, held by and administered by Technicolor, expired.
> 
> ...


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## Edward (May 16, 2017)

I think Mr. Fidelis got it right - the big boys are trying to push everybody to a new proprietary format so they can keep raking in the patent royalties. 

For the rest of us, I suppose, there is Ogg Vobis.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jake (May 16, 2017)

Yes, I don't know how a bunch of news sites got the memo that MP3 is dead. In fact, now is the best time to use it, because not only does everything support it, but you don't have to pay the price to use it.


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## Edward (May 16, 2017)

Jake said:


> Yes, I don't know how a bunch of news sites got the memo that MP3 is dead. In fact, now is the best time to use it, because not only does everything support it, but you don't have to pay the price to use it.



But that doesn't sell a bunch of new hardware. How can anyone make money if I can still use a 10 year old $20 MP3 player? And for that matter, if folks don't have to buy and download new music to replace the MP3s they bought to replace the music on their cassette tapes.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Logan (May 17, 2017)

Yes, the main takeaway is that the patent for MP3 has expired. So it's not dead, it's actually more alive than ever.

Fake news!

Reactions: Like 2


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## Timotheos (May 17, 2017)

fredtgreco said:


> Has anyone else seen this?
> 
> http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7800028/mp3-license-terminated-fraunhofer-iis
> 
> Does this mean that the MP3 format will eventually be obsolete? If so, what would be the optimal format to use for audio sermons?


Youtube... even for audio. You can even match PPT slides w/ the audio. I did this until we got a video camera. It is free and unlimited, best of all.


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## Semper Fidelis (May 17, 2017)

I think the bottom line here is how widespread MP3 is in terms of support across devices. Other formats may be superior but MP3 sounds great even at 32 kbps for sermons and I archive them at 64 kbps (which is what Sermon Audio offers). 

If there is ever a format in the future that supplants the ubiquitous support across devices (my recorder records directly to MP3) then I can easily use a converter to re-encode but I don't see that ever happening.

JPEG was a patented format as well and, as noted, there are more superior choices and yet I take pictures with my DSLR using JPEG and even use a program called JPEG Mini that shrinks files without any visually discernible loss in quality. I've saved over 40GB in stored files over several years using that program. I don't ever see JPG losing its foothold either.


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