Why Publishing Mp3 Can Cost You A Fortune
By Louis Allport, Sat Dec 10th

This was news to me. It might be news to you too:

MP3 is NOT free to use if you're an online publisher. BUT - letme be clear - there are some opt-outs. It appears you don't haveto pay any license fees if:

It's for personal use or non commercial reasons (not generatingincome). OR - if your company revenue is below $100,000 a year.

Now, these rules might change of course. Make sure to checkthese yourself and ensure you're up to date by visitingmp3licensing.com for full details.

However, when there's alternatives I don't see why anyonepublishing audio online would want to or should publish in MP3format.

So what's the best alternative? Well - it's all about OGG.

Okay, a slightly strange name. Here are the facts:

OGG is just as high quality as MP3.

OGG is just as quick to download as MP3.

OGG is open source - this means no fees due, ever (for fulldetails on OGG visit vorbis.com).

The only current downside of OGG is that it isn't as widelysupported by audio players as MP3.

BUT - I'm convinced this will change. As more and more onlinepublishers say "No!" to paying hefty and unnecessary licensingfees, more and more audio will be published online in OGGformat, meaning more and more audio players will support OGG.

So if you're currently publishing audio online in MP3 format,what does this mean for you?

Well, my advice is to convert your audio from MP3 format to OGGformat, without delay.

Now I'll admit it can be a little bit time consuming, but onceit's done, it's done. And would you rather make a little effortto convert your audio, or pay licensing fees year after year?

So how do you convert MP3 to OGG? Easy - use an audio converter.You'll find a ton of high quality free ones by searchingdownload.com and also sourceforge.net. My personal favorite isWinLAME (awful name, great software) fromwinlame.sourceforge.net.

So use WinLAME to convert your MP3 to OGG. Pay attention tokeeping the MP3 and OGG files around the same size (I'veactually found OGG files to be slightly smaller). And thencompare the audio quality. I'll be surprised if you can find anydifference between them.

Now this conversion process might take a while. For about sixhours of audio it took my computer at least a couple of hours ofprocessing time. But I just left the computer to it and cameback when it was done. You can even leave this process runningovernight if you have a lot of audio to convert.

Now here's an extra snippet you need to pay attention to:

Some OGG audio has "Tags". Tags are extra information inside theaudio file which often includes the name of the song for example.

At this time (this will probably change) some audio players havetrouble playing OGG with "Tag" information in them. So take thetag information out. It's easy and doesn't affect the audio inany way - here's how you do it:

Download "MP3Tag" from mp3tag.de/en/. Install the software, andstart it up.

Round-Up of "Must Have" iPod Touch Games for 2008
As has been the case for the past six holidays, on Christmas morning many will find an iPod under the Christmas tree. Nowadays the number is in the millions. Whether you've just torn open a...
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
All of us here at iPod Hacks want to wish you and yours a merry Christmas and happy holidays! We certainly hope that every one of our readers found an iPod, an iPhone, or related goodies under the...
Floola 4.1 Released
Floola 4.1 has just been released. Floola is an application to efficiently manage your iPod or your Motorola mobile phone (any model that supports iTunes) under Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Video...
2G iPod Touch Notably Faster than the iPhone
Ever seem like an App Store game runs faster (or slower) on your friend's iPhone or iPod touch as compared to your own? We have seen mention of this phenomenon and it always puzzled us. Internally,...
Firmware 2.2 Released for iPhone and iPod Touch
Apple has released firmware version 2.2 for the iPhone and iPod touch. The update can be found through iTunes' software update.Changes in this latest firmware release according to Apple:Enhancements...
TrailRunner 1.8 (v288) Released
Hikers, joggers, and active folk in general should have a look at Berbie's TrailRunner 1.8 (v288) for Mac OS X. TrailRunner is a route planning software for all kinds of long distance sports like...
The Skinny On iPod "Father" Fadell's Exodus From Apple
We recently reported on the departure of Tony Fadell--the "father" of the iPod--from Apple Inc. At that point the how's and why's were rather vague. John Gruber of Daring Fireball sheds some light...
Floola 3.9 Released
Floola 3.9 has just been released. Floola is an application to efficiently manage your iPod or your Motorola mobile phone (any model that supports iTunes) under Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Video...
Turn Your iPhone Into A Wind Instrument With 'Ocarina'
As MacRumors reports, several days ago, iPhone developer Smule released a rather unique musical application called Ocarina [App Store]. Since its release, Ocarina has jumped to the 3rd most popular...
iPhone More Reliable Than Blackberry, Treo
As TUAW reports, SquareTrade, an independent warranty provider has released a report that shows the iPhone to be more reliable than either the Palm Treo or BlackBerry devices.The report, titled...
Official iPhone Tethering Option Coming Soon From AT&T
As MobileCrunch reports, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega revealed during an interview that AT&T would "soon" be offering an official tethering option for the iPhone. Tethering is a process by...
iPod "Father" Tony Fadell Leaves Apple
Apple has recently issued a press release noting the departure of Tony Fadell, who was most directly the "man behind the iPod."Apple also announced that Tony Fadell, Apple's senior vice president of...
The iPod-O-Lantern - Happy Halloween From iPod Hacks!
It's Halloween! And here at iPod Hacks we've let the spirit of this special day take hold of us. All it took was a crisp autumn eve with leaves dancing magically on the wind, a patch of uncarved...
CoverScout 3.0.1 Released
Equinux AG has released CoverScout v3.0.1 for Mac OS X. CoverScout strives to be a one-stop-app for finding, applying, editing and printing all of the album cover art in your iTunes music library....
Google Releases 'Google Earth' For iPhone (For Free)
Google has released a free iPhone version of its excellent Google Earth application [App Store]. And having spent some time with the app, I can safely say...it's great.With just a swipe of your...
Happy 7th Birthday, iPod
It cost $399. It was 5GB in capacity (which Apple then called 1000 songs, but would now call 1250 songs...). It was shiny silver and white. It was brick-like (4.02" x 2.42" x 0.78", 0.41 lbs). ...
Apple Reports $1.14 Billion Profit For Q4 2008
As MacRumors reports across various posts, Apple announced its financial results yesterday for the 4th quarter of fiscal 2008. It was an impressive quarter for the iPod maker. Highpoints:Apple...
Cooliris "3D Wall" Photo Browser Is Now A Free iPhone App
As MacRumors' iPhone blog reports, Cooliris has released a free iPhone version [App Store] of their 3D "photo wall" browser plug-in that delivers a rather unique and ideal way of browsing images and...
iTunes Library Manager 5.2.1 Released
DougScripts.com brings us iTunes Library Manager v5.2.1 for Mac OS X. This AppleScript application facilitates multiple iTunes playlists each with their own preference seettings.For example, you can...
Xerox Printers Get iPhone Support
As Macworld UK reports, Xerox and its partners have introduced the Xerox Multi-Functional Printer suite, a software package that integrates certain Xerox printers with enterprise business systems. A...
Contexture Design's 80s Retro Cassette Tape Nano Cases
iPod nano users that pine for the 80s might want to have a look at Vancouver firm Contexture Design's retro iPod nano cases.These unique retro cases for first- and second-generation iPod nanos are...
beaTunes v1.2.15 Released
Looking to do some iPod DJing at your next party? Is finding a cluster of "matching" songs in your library proving to be a challenge? Have a look at beaTunes v1.2.15 for Mac OS X. beaTunes lets...
VoIP Arrives On The iPhone With Fring's Skype Support
As MacRumors' iPhone blog reports, Fring has released an iPhone version of their communications service today as a free App Store download [App Store].Fring allows you to chat and interact with...
Syncopation 2.1.3 Released
Sonzea LLC has released Syncopation 2.1.3 for Mac OS X. Syncopation provides a hands-free solution to keep your iTunes music collection synchronized across multiple computers running Mac OS X....
A Look At What's Wrong With The iTunes App Store
On June 9, the iTunes App Store went live and users began downloading and enjoying the fruits of many developers' labor. Apple offers an extremely robust software development kit for the iPhone...

Then just choose to "Remove All Tags" from your OGGfiles. This process takes literally two minutes but is veryimportant.

Now after you've converted and de-tagged the OGG audio, you'llneed to upload it to your server of course.

Then you'll have to change all your download links. This isfiddly, but needs to be done. For example - you would need tochange all your links from:

www.domain.com/folder/audio.mp3

To:

www.domain.com/folder/audio.ogg

Then test every download link to make sure it's workingcorrectly.

Important Note: Don't forget about the audio you've got in Zipfiles too. You'll need to recreate those Zip files with OGGaudio instead of MP3 audio and re-upload them.

If you're not sure where all the MP3 and Zip files are on yourwebsites, here's an easy way to list them:

Now, this only works on Unix-based servers (which covers Linuxservers, FreeBSD...etc - ask your web host if you're not sure)...

This is pretty advanced so don't do this if you're notcomfortable with the process. Or ask your web host to do it foryou if they're happy to do that:

You need to Telnet into your server and then type the following:

find . | grep mp3 > allmp3

Then type:

find . | grep zip > allzip

This will then give you two files on your server: allmp3 & allzip

Download these files and take a look at them in a text editor.They'll show you the path of every MP3 and Zip file on yourserver so that you can quickly and easily find which files youneed to convert to OGG. Dead handy.

Okay - so after you've converted and uploaded the audio, you'llneed to change the text around the download links. You'll needto take out any mention of "MP3" from your website.

I don't suggest replacing it with "OGG" on a sales page forexample since that will probably confuse people. Just replace"MP3" with "downloadable audio" or "high quality downloadableaudio".

And then on your download pages mention that the audio is in OGGformat which is just as high quality as MP3 and just as quick todownload. Then link to a couple of audio players that you knowfor a fact support OGG.

The audio players I personally mention are Winamp fromwinamp.com and Quintessential Player from quinnware.com.

Important Note About Winamp: As I write this only the Fullversion (not the Lite version) of Winamp supports OGGsuccessfully. So make sure to tell your visitors to download andinstall that version. It's still free though so your visitorswon't have to spend any extra money just to listen to your audio.

And that's pretty much all the steps needed to convert yourpublished audio from MP3 to OGG, which can save you a smallfortune in licensing fees without compromising audio quality orspeed of download.

About the author:Louis Allport is the creator of over thirty (and counting)unique and high quality information products selling verysuccessfully online. One of Louis' recent products reveals aproven four-step formula that can make creating best-sellingonline products a lot more predictable:http://www.createoffers.com/new/