Pandora's Movie/mp3 Player - Firmware

[midna25]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

 

[dflemstr]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

+1, the reason for not including proprietary things is NOT that we are FSF freaks who hate everything proprietary that has ever existed.

It's because it actually is illegal in some countries to own codecs you do not have the license for, and lawyers would come knocking on OpenPandora Ltd.'s door and sue the sh*t out of them if they were to distribute codecs without paying the license.

Also, the installation of an MP3 player will be this easy:
1. You go to a web page, for example the Pandora File Archive
2. You search for "music player"
3. You download the music player (it will be in a *.pnd file)
4. You drop the music player onto your SD card
5. You use the music player, that now should have appeared on your applications menu.

 

[femngi]

+1, the reason for not including proprietary things is NOT that we are FSF freaks who hate everything proprietary that has ever existed.

It's because it actually is illegal in some countries to own codecs you do not have the license for, and lawyers would come knocking on OpenPandora Ltd.'s door and sue the sh*t out of them if they were to distribute codecs without paying the license.

Also, the installation of an MP3 player will be this easy:
1. You go to a web page, for example the Pandora File Archive
2. You search for "music player"
3. You download the music player (it will be in a *.pnd file)
4. You drop the music player onto your SD card
5. You use the music player, that now should have appeared on your applications menu.

I didn't suggest it come with. "shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media"" would obviously be a link to the PND package online. Give it a legal disclaimer and a "you're a naughty boy for using proprietary formats" if you want to.
As for

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Yes, let's intentionally make everything difficult to use so we can all be elitist in our obscurity.

 

[God Ginrai]

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Yes, let's intentionally make everything difficult to use so we can all be elitist in our obscurity.

It's not being elitist. What's so hard about downloading a file?

-God Ginrai

 

[midna25]

+1, the reason for not including proprietary things is NOT that we are FSF freaks who hate everything proprietary that has ever existed.

It's because it actually is illegal in some countries to own codecs you do not have the license for, and lawyers would come knocking on OpenPandora Ltd.'s door and sue the sh*t out of them if they were to distribute codecs without paying the license.

Also, the installation of an MP3 player will be this easy:
1. You go to a web page, for example the Pandora File Archive
2. You search for "music player"
3. You download the music player (it will be in a *.pnd file)
4. You drop the music player onto your SD card
5. You use the music player, that now should have appeared on your applications menu.

I didn't suggest it come with. "shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media"" would obviously be a link to the PND package online. Give it a legal disclaimer and a "you're a naughty boy for using proprietary formats" if you want to.
As for

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Yes, let's intentionally make everything difficult to use so we can all be elitist in our obscurity.

1st reply:
Yeah. Sure. That would work. How about we also do this. Have a shortcut on the desktop that leads to download links for tons of warez and roms. We wouldn't be including them, so it wouldn't count, right. Right?

2nd reply:
...
So it makes you an elitist to spend one minute browsing the Pandora file archive now?

 

[femngi]

1st reply:
Yeah. Sure. That would work. How about we also do this. Have a shortcut on the desktop that leads to download links for tons of warez and roms. We wouldn't be including them, so it wouldn't count, right. Right?

2nd reply:
...
So it makes you an elitist to spend one minute browsing the Pandora file archive now?

Since when did I condone warez, ROMS or doing anything illegal? Many linux distros will now have a restricted-extras package or equivalent. How would linking to such a package be illegal? I would not knowingly condone OP doing anything even approaching a legal grey area.

Also you know what the biggest complaint I have seen about DS flash cards and the like is? That you often have to go online to download the firmware. Most people buying a console expect it to 'just work' and like it or not but the pandora is going to have to operate in a commercial sphere. OP must be aware of this and although they might not want to purchase an MP3 license themselves there is no reason to obstruct their customers from legally obtaining one.

 

[God Ginrai]

1st reply:
Yeah. Sure. That would work. How about we also do this. Have a shortcut on the desktop that leads to download links for tons of warez and roms. We wouldn't be including them, so it wouldn't count, right. Right?

2nd reply:
...
So it makes you an elitist to spend one minute browsing the Pandora file archive now?

Since when did I condone warez, ROMS or doing anything illegal? Many linux distros will now have a restricted-extras package or equivalent. How would linking to such a package be illegal? I would not knowingly condone OP doing anything even approaching a legal grey area.

Also you know what the biggest complaint I have seen about DS flash cards and the like is? That you often have to go online to download the firmware. Most people buying a console expect it to 'just work' and like it or not but the pandora is going to have to operate in a commercial sphere. OP must be aware of this and although they might not want to purchase an MP3 license themselves there is no reason to obstruct their customers from legally obtaining one.

You were suggesting a link that linked to where they could download something that is technically illegal for them to have, so it's basically the same thing. Or at least, that's how I understood your post; I'm sure that's how midna25 understood it as well.

-God Ginrai

 

[midna25]

1st reply:
Yeah. Sure. That would work. How about we also do this. Have a shortcut on the desktop that leads to download links for tons of warez and roms. We wouldn't be including them, so it wouldn't count, right. Right?

2nd reply:
...
So it makes you an elitist to spend one minute browsing the Pandora file archive now?

Since when did I condone warez, ROMS or doing anything illegal? Many linux distros will now have a restricted-extras package or equivalent. How would linking to such a package be illegal? I would not knowingly condone OP doing anything even approaching a legal grey area.

Also you know what the biggest complaint I have seen about DS flash cards and the like is? That you often have to go online to download the firmware. Most people buying a console expect it to 'just work' and like it or not but the pandora is going to have to operate in a commercial sphere. OP must be aware of this and although they might not want to purchase an MP3 license themselves there is no reason to obstruct their customers from legally obtaining one.

A one minute search of the file archive is an "obstruction"?

And I take it that these complaints have all been coming from users of "da r4". The average R4 user is a 10 year olds who weren't even aware they'd have to download anything to be able to use their hardware. The Pandora is in a different part of the handheld market alltogether. Most (if not all) Pandora users will be perfectly capable of preforming a simple download using Firefox.

 

[El Jefe]

Wow, that's a bold claim; I'll hold you to that once I've gdb'd my way through all of the applications shipping on the Pandora

Yah, I was smirking a bit when I read that There's not a single piece of software in the world that has no bugs. I mean, there's stable software and there's not so stable software... but even the most stable software still has bugs if you're creative enough to find them.

I highly doubt this will be that stable considering it's a conglomerate of tons of open source softwares. I mean, I'm sure it will be very usable and very capable... but I wouldn't hold my breath for something highly stable unless you have a bunch of testers working out all those edge cases and so on. In fact, I'm sure that people will find at least one or two serious bugs in this thing once it hits prime time. Certainly no big deal for a device like this, but I would bet on it happening.

not a single piece....
my hello world program in java in intro to comp sci didn't have any bugs...

 

[valhalla]

+1, the reason for not including proprietary things is NOT that we are FSF freaks who hate everything proprietary that has ever existed.

It's because it actually is illegal in some countries to own codecs you do not have the license for, and lawyers would come knocking on OpenPandora Ltd.'s door and sue the sh*t out of them if they were to distribute codecs without paying the license.

Actually, the patent holders for MP3 allow people to use their codec in a software product for free, so the audio player that will be available in the pandora archives will be perfectly lawful. What they require money for, is an hardware device that is able to play mp3 files, even if it's just via a preinstalled piece of software. The openmoko people stumbled upon this when they accidentally left an mp3 player in their system images. This is why I believe it's way safer not to mention mp3s in anything that is shipped with the hardware.

The video codecs are another matter, and probably illegal even in software, at least in some countries.

 

[valhalla]

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Yes, let's intentionally make everything difficult to use so we can all be elitist in our obscurity.

It's not that we are making things difficult, it's the patent holders that are making this difficult for us.

Anyway: pandora is not getting every game preinstalled, so people already have to install stuff; why installing a media player should be harder than installing a game?

 

[DrCJBoduma]

Probably wrong, but didn't the GP2x ship with a divx and mp3 media player?

 

[Nation.A.List]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Anagram of midna25 = arse

 

[Pleng]

Probably wrong, but didn't the GP2x ship with a divx and mp3 media player?

Maybe they paid the licence fees? Or maybe they didn't bother as they are a (Korean?) company and therefore it would seem are a lot harder to sue.

 

[WizardStan]

not a single piece....
my hello world program in java in intro to comp sci didn't have any bugs...

It was written in Java. That's a big enough bug right there

 

[God Ginrai]

Probably wrong, but didn't the GP2x ship with a divx and mp3 media player?

There's a lot of things that GPH got away with because they didn't care about it. I don't remember if licensing was one of them.

-God Ginrai

 

[midna25]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Anagram of midna25 = arse

Synonym of Nation.A.List = someone who never passed 3rd Grade English class

I'll leave it at that.

 

[dflemstr]

Synonym of Nation.A.List = someone who never passed 3rd Grade English class

I'll leave it at that.

I know a 6-year-old who's never passed a 3rd grade english class... oh no, she's gotta be Nation.A.List!

 

[Nation.A.List]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Anagram of midna25 = arse

Synonym of Nation.A.List = someone who never passed 3rd Grade English class

I'll leave it at that.

I will not.

(midna25 = arse) = artistic licence

"you don't deserve a Pandora" = arrogance beyond belief.

 

[God Ginrai]

Back on topic, I strongly support having a shortcut on the desktop called "Install MP3s/restricted media" or whatever, not everyone buying a Pandora is likely to be a huge nerd or give a shit about proprietary media formats. The dedication to OS is great and all but the product should accommodate the user, not the other way around

If you don't know how to install a simple mp3 or divx player and want it to come with, you don't deserve a Pandora.

Anagram of midna25 = arse

Synonym of Nation.A.List = someone who never passed 3rd Grade English class

I'll leave it at that.

I will not.

(midna25 = arse) = artistic licence

"you don't deserve a Pandora" = arrogance beyond belief.

Great way to show maturity. You're the one that started the name calling. (Not that midna25 was right in saying that people don't deserve a pandora, but he was making a point. You were just name-calling) Btw, you obviously don't know what "anagram" means.

-God Ginrai