New version of Wii Photo Channel won't play MP3s

taliosfalcon

Mblackwell wrote: »

jonxp wrote: »

Saddler wrote: »

Htown wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Yeah, it's a removed feature, but they added a feature at the same time, so it's just... baffling.

I'm telling you guys.

Apple.

But what are you suggesting? ITunes channel?

Gah, you just doomed it to never happen.

I hate you.

EDIT: Also, it's a feature replacement not removal. Puzzling, but your net result is the same. Perhaps AAC licensing fees are cheaper than MP3 fees for a feature that is only there as a token gesture. If I were Nintendo, I would definitely go with the cheaper tech for something like this.

AAC is an open format, so there is no fee (MP3 is not).

If only they'd gone with an open format that doesn't suck, like Ogg

Duki

Maybe they couldn't be arsed paying for ridiculous mp3 patents anymore?

Nintendo to go open source confirmed.

Cullen

Sul wrote: »

Weird.

I am 1 of maybe 9 people who benefit from this since my library is 320 AAC.

Hah me too. In fact I thought it was a right pain in the arse having to convert my AACs to MP3s for Excite Truck. Maybe this is my fault!

steejee

I knew this feature existed but had never used it ever.

What I'd love to see is the ability to stream from your PC over wireless ala the 360, video or music. I loathe iTunes, so I'd not exactly be too excited about something like that.

Ohtsam

I never even knew that the wii even could play mp3s

LewieP

Fucking hell, how could this possibly be about licensing?

It's 2007 for God's sake. CD burners are legal now, MP3 players are not 'frowned' upon by those in power, surely collective groupthink has gotten past this milestone?

UncleSporky

TAYREL_713 wrote: »

Is there a way to convert MP3s to AAC?

The same way you convert anything to anything else:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=convert+mp3+to+aac

ben0207

Tenner says it's licensing, and nothing to do with Apple. They already have the ATV on the market, no need for someone else's box to do AAC playback. Unless the rumours are true about the ATV getting the chop. Hmmm....




Also: Ohtsam, your sig is a crime against colour coordination and is actually offensive to my eyes.

acidlacedpenguin

Nintendo iPod killer confirmed. It uses aac.

Peewi

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

Peewi wrote: »

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

I guess it's not that big of a deal, really. I've only used the feature once or twice, because it isn't particularly..well.. useful. You can only play one song at a time, and it just loops indefinitely. No point beyond having your own song in the background for a slide show. That is it's only purpose, after all.

Actualy you can have it play through all the music on the SD card during a slideshow. I've done it a couple of times.

How?

I haven't used it in a long time, but I remember there being a "play all" function where you choose music during a slideshow.
I at least remember it as very simple and impossible to miss.

jonxp

LewieP wrote: »

Fucking hell, how could this possibly be about licensing?

It's 2007 for God's sake. CD burners are legal now, MP3 players are not 'frowned' upon by those in power, surely collective groupthink has gotten past this milestone?

The ability to play MP3s costs money if you're a commercial company.* Nintendo has removed the license fee they pay for each Wii they sell by doing this. This means more profits for them by changing the way a very rarely used feature works. Licensing is still a big deal. It costs $20 per device to play DVDs. Almost all media technologies have some amount of license fee associated with them. Welcome to the wonderful world of patents and software.


* It technically costs money for anyone to use it, but you can't sue source code, so there are open source MP3 decoders that are actually infringing on patents.