ipod needs to support some major formats.

I don't think that the iPod really needs any help being more popular, but i do not see a problem with adding OGG Vorbis support. WMA, on the other hand, should not be supported. WMA is a bad format both because it is made by microsoft and because it is too lossy of a compression. Supporting WMA only helps microsoft by extending their inferior format to yet another player. I have yet to see anyone that thinks WMA is better or likes WMA more than MP3 or AAC.

WMA, bad; OGG Vorbis, neutral, i don't need it.

You mean major formats apart from MP3?! I don't regard the other formats mentioned as major formats. Apart from perhaps WMA, the rest are very niche formats and no, I don't think the iPod will become any more popular if they started supporting them. Audiophiles are well catered for with Apple Lossless and AAC, and compatibility is a non-issue with the iPod supporting MP3.

How would Apple make more money by supporting these other codecs? Chances are it'll actually cost Apple money to encode and decode these formats, like they currently have to do with the MP3 format and AAC format (no it's not an Apple proprietary format).

And Apple does not need to buy favours from Microsoft by supporting WMA. Apart from being an inferior codec, it's also a proprietary Microsoft format. Why would Apple want to make it easier for Microsoft to compete in the 'digital hub' arena. Personally I think providing iTunes with the ability to convert WMA files is all the support Apple needs to give!

From the consumer point of view the more formats supported by the iPod the better but it doesn't make business sense for Apple to start licensing every format under the sun. As it is, the iPod provides great support with MP3, AIFF, WAV, AAC and Apple Lossless.

bryantm3 said:

the ipod would be a lot more popular if it supported OGG Vorbis, FLAC, and WMA.

Click to expand...

OGG Vorbis and FLAC are not 'major' formats by any stretch of the imagination, unless of course you've deluded yourself by reading too much Slashdot. Which to Apple, means it's probably not worth the work to support those formats, even if they are open source. It would be a nice bonus I guess, but MP3/AAC/Apple Lossless work just fine for most people, who don't really care what format the music is in.

WMA undoubtedly has license fees associated with it, and really isn't any better than AAC - in fact it's better optimized for low bitrates which would be a bit lame for something like the iPod. Which is why Apple will never bother with it.

Not to mention Apple doesn't seem to be having any problem with the popularity of the iPod and iPod Mini as it is. They are only now just getting close to having all of the iPod Mini orders filled. The reports of Apple's death have been greatly exaggerated...

It already supports the two major formats, MP3 and the next-generation AAC. It also supports uncompressed AIFF and now Apple Lossless, which is basically just a variable-bit-rate AIFF. There are no other major formats.

paul

OGG - 3± People Use it.
WMA - You can convert it to AAC on iTunes windows.
FLAC - Deal with it. You don't have to have the ultimate in perfect music everywhere you go, as long as you can listen to it at home.

MP3's the most popular and known format to J6Ps. Apple pushes AAC. MP3 + AAC = enough for Apple to sell truck loads of iPods. 9 out of 10 J6Ps don't know what AAC, FLAC, OGG Vorbis is.