Let’s make that very clear: MP3 and AAC are free for any user (not company) to take advantage of.
“Yes, absolutely. I mean the reason why the free software people didn’t like MP3 was because it was tied to royalties and Fraunhofer, whereas OGG was completely open source, anybody could use it anyone could contribute to it.”
The MP3 and other formats are based on some psychoacoustic assumptions that I was told last year were at least mildly off the mark.
“Any psychoacoustic assumption is a generalization, because we’re all walking around with two sets of ears and one brain, and psychoacoustics are all based on aggregate data populations. And in some cases, weird populations. So like 20Hz to 20kHz — the frequency range for ‘normal’ hearing, is based on research done on New York City schoolchildren. My colleague Mara Mills has written about that.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
