Tuesday, May 16, 2017

MP3s as a litmus test for good journalism

The MP3 format was invented by a German group in the early 90s.  They patented it, and licensed it out to companies.  This is the reason many open source programs force you to download MP3 libraries separately.

The last patents for mp3 expire this year (2017).  Now anyone can use it without having to worry about licenses.  The group that created it announced they would stop licensing it (since they can't) and suggested people move to AAC (since they still own patents on that).

The result is news organizations running stories with headlines like "MP3 is Dead".  This presents and interesting look into which sources are reliable sources for tech news, and which use hyperbolic headlines for the sake of clicks. 

I went to Google News and searched for recent articles that mentioned 'MP3'.  Some of these were pretty obvious, but some were surprising.  To be fair, some are technically correct, in saying the creator declared it dead, vs saying it actually is dead, but merely parroting a press release is still going under the 'Bad' category.  The BBC was close, but I put it in good because it didn't feel clickbaity to me, feel free to disagree.

Finally, I won't pretend like this single example is some end all test for who you should and shouldn't trust, it's just and interesting source of some empirical data.

Bad

NPR: The MP3 Is Officially Dead, According To Its Creators
The Atlantic: The End of the MP3
Gizmodo: Developers of the MP3 Have Officially Killed It
The Register: MP3 'died' and nobody noticed
Quartz: Say goodbye to the iconic MP3
CNBC: The MP3 is dead, say creators after terminating licensing
The Telegraph: Creators of the MP3 declare it dead
Tech Radar: RIP MP3 - the sound file that changed the world is declared dead

Good

Washington Post: Your MP3s are going to be just fine
Mashable: The MP3 isn't dead yet, but it's now on its last digital legs
Vice: The MP3 Is Not Dead
CNET: MP3 isn't dead, it's just sleeping
BBC: It might be time to say goodbye to the MP3 - so let's look back at its life

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