At Fri, 8 Dec 2006 13:35:11 +1100,
Andrew Reilly wrote:
> 
> If I could find something open-source that would play Real Audio
> streams,

Those are the ones I avoid.

The whole point of those formats is that you won't find true open-source
software that'll decode them -- the whole concept of open-source is
antithetical to their raison d'etre.  There's really no hope of ever
managing to fit that round peg into any square hole.  They don't want
you to, and they're not going to let you no matter how easily you might
think you can succeed.

Besides, I don't care to support the fools who choose to waste money
buying expensive proprietary software (which is also often encumbered
with draconian licensing restrictions which reach far beyond the basic
purposes of the software) to encode their broadcasts in proprietary
formats.  Not even when there's no advertising being funneled at me.

(Our venerable Canadian Broadcasting Corporation being one of the
biggest such fools -- only producers who stick to their guns and really
force the issue are able to provide even MP3s, let alone content in any
truly IP-free format, such as OGG.  Upper management, and at least half
the middle managers, at the CBC all need to be taken out and shot at
dawn before they're able to deliver a final death blow to the whole
corporation.)

If you really do want to listen to RealAudio streams then why don't you
just use their software and do so?  Apparently it runs fine under Linux
emulation on NetBSD -- or of course you could run it on any one of the
native platforms it supports too.


> I could retire the old physical radio that I have, which
> consumes one of the analog inputs to my sound card, and still
> listen to the local radio in the mornings (ABC Radio National
> fwiw).

Why would you get rid of a perfectly good radio receiver that does the
right job in the right way for your purposes?

Why not add another audio card?  Or else why not get a second set of
cheap speakers for the receiver?

Just because you can support digital audio in your environment doesn't
mean all your audio has to be digitized.  Your apparently singular goal
of listening _local_ radio as it is broadcast screams out for the use of
a plain old radio receiver.

-- 
						Greg A. Woods

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