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Steve Marvell wrote: > > Is there really an issue with PLAYING mp3s? Yes. The "technology" is patented (at least in the US), and there is a license fee to pay for any software that decodes MP3 format music. It is less than the fee for codec's, but it is still payable. Adds about 1 USD to the price of anything that plays MP3s in the US, which these days can be a significant proportion of the purchase price (on say a 20USD music player). As such free implementations of MP3 players are not includes on "free of charge" operating systems in the US, since generally the authors can't afford to give that much money away per copy. This is how patents infringe on writing free software, and why Neil rants about them every so often here. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html