Peter Gervai wrote:
"Available but not useable legally" is
probably not acceptable, so mp3 is
out of question no matter how popular it is: you either paid the licence for
your encoder [and probably decoder too!] or you're screwed. (Yes, exceptions
may apply but it means that the format is not *generally* available.) Same
problem I guess with RealMedia: I do not remember having an available
(legal, free) un*x encoder around.
I'm not so sure about mp3. Certainly there are parties who *claim* it
is not usable legally, but the software is in fact generally available
for all operating systems, and to my knowledge there have been no
lawsuits attempting to put an end to its availability (and certainly no
successful ones). The decoder at the very least is almost certainly
legally okay, and widely available in players like winamp and xmms, and
even the encoders, like LAME, are rather common and have not received
legal threats.
-Mark