Open Source Software

If not for MP3 downloads what would all of us have done? The iPod would never have been created. The MP3 format was first created by engineers at a German company Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft and is probably one of the most loved things in the world. To convert songs into MP3 format they have to be encoded which compresses the size of the song which causes a loss in audio quality. (but who cares?) To encode songs in an MP3 format you will need an encoder. The best ones available right now are:

Musicmatch Jukebox: The Fraunhofer Codec is the codec invented by the people mentioned above and is used by a number of software including Musicmatch Jukebox. It is one of the oldest and well known MP3 utilities and the basic version is available for free.  It is a much slower than the new ones available on the net and the sound quality isn’t all that good at lower bitrates.

CDex: This software uses the LAME codec which is hugely popular these days and it is a free ripper and encoder. It is very simple to use and quite fast. It also has some nice new features like track name retrieval etc.

AudioCatalyst: This software uses a codec called the Xing encoder which isn’t available for free. Audio Catalyst however has a reasonably good trial version available. It covers almost all functions that you would need and it has easily accessible functions. It has a nice GUI though the sound quality doesn’t match up to some others available. It comes with the Xing MP3 player which is a rather fancy looking thing.

There are some good MP3 encoders available on the net for free so there really is no need to buy one if you’re only looking for the encoding function. If you’re looking for more functions then it is another matter.

The Open Source Initiative is an association that has taken up the task of promoting open-source software as an ideology and a practice.This revolutionary organization was created in February 1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond. It happened around the same time when Netscape Communications Corporation, published the source code for its main brand and product Netscape Communicator product as free software. This happened because Microsoft’s monopolizing tactics with the Internet Explorer had created really stiff competition for Netscape and their profit margins were dipping. All these factors are often considered the reasons behind the formation of the Open Source Initiative.

The terminology- ‘open source initiative’ was at one point also used by the ObjectWeb consortium to differentiate Read the rest of this entry »

Open source software is computer software which is distributed or is made available under a license that meets the Open source definition. This definition allows users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it. It is often developed collaboratively whereby many people contribute to the development and testing of the software source code.

The Open Source Definition is used by the Open Source Initiative to determine whether or not a software license should be considered open source. The definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

Under the Open Source Definition, licenses must meet ten conditions to qualify as open source licenses. Below is a copy of the definition, with unauthorized explanatory additions.

The conditions are as follows:

1. Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold. (This was intended to expand sharing and use of the software on a legal basis.)
2. Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable. (Without source code, making changes or modifications can be impossible.)
3. Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)
4. Integrity of The Author’s Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no one can be locked out.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
7. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.