dh003i's Journal: OggVorbis support on "MP3-player" firmware?

Idea

• Ogg is a great file-format. IMO, its much better than MP3 and WMA, both from my personal experience and from studies I've read. It provides better quality at lower bitrates. It sounds more like real music. Best of all, its better for the kind of music that I love: Classical.

  That's not to say I don't like all kinds of other music -- I love Morris Day and Wilson Picket, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, and Shania Twain and Celine Dion. In short, I like a whole array of different types of music, almost everything, even a little country (I even like Johnny Cash). But the vast majority of music I like -- if only because there's so much of it -- and the music I can listen to again and again, is Classical, particularly Beethoven. And Ogg is particularly good at Classical, whereas MP3 and WMA tend to screw it up.

  Despite Ogg's virtues, it has one critical flaw which prevents me from using it in practicality: it isn't suppoerted by my MP3-player, the RioVolt SP100. I've asked SonicBlue (makers of RioVolt) to consider adding Ogg-support, but they've (predictably) not responded to me. This thing cost me some 150 bucks, and I'm not going to spend another some hundred bucks to get another one that supports Ogg (if there even is an MP3-player that supports Ogg).

  So what I suggest is that the folks at OggVorbis work on making a firm-ware upgrade which allows RioVolt (the most popular MP3-players) to play Ogg files. Any comments?

Responses from Companies

• Frontier Labs
  Dear Sir,

  We are pleased to inform you that we are working on Ogg Vorbis for the NEX
  II/IIe and our upcoming new player NEX ia. Expected release date for the
  Ogg Vorbis firmware for NEX II/IIe is 2nd qtr, 2003.

  Thank you.

  Customer Support
  Frontier Labs.

  Evolution Technologies
  Evolution Technologies, Inc. is committed to support our consumers music appetite. We
  will support the formats that are consistent with both their desires and good
  business practices. While we have not ruled out supporting "open source"
  formats, we must first evaluate the acceptance levels with the buying public so that
  our organization can justify the expense of developing a new compatible CODEC. When
  the demand is sufficient, we will support the technology

  Jesse Meyer
  Director of Business Development
  Evolution Technologies Inc.
  919.544.3777
  http://www.nowevolution.com
  'Evolution Through Technology'