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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Extremetech, Welcome to my world: And yes, WMA is still better than AAC

Jason Cross of ExtremeTech discovered recently what it's like to be me. Just like me. Perhaps preturbingly like me. "Apple fans are well known – some would even say notorious – for their vigorous defense of all things Apple. When I wrote my previous opinion piece about the perils of iTunes and iPod, while at the same time praising WMA and its approach to digital music, I knew I would get letters. Lots and lots of letters. Many of them were angry gibberish, and some were actually coherent and well-made arguments in Apple's defense. The majority of them 'corrected' me on what they thought were factual errors in my article, using new 'facts' that were, in reality, commonly held misconceptions."

Ah yes. "Facts that are, in reality, commonly held misconceptions." Long-time Nexus readers will know that I've been discussing this little phenomena for years. I call it "common knowledge": Information that isn't true, but many people believe it to be true. The Mac community is particularly guilty of this.

The rest of this article is a classic re-hash of the WMA vs. AAC arguments I've been making for months, which is annoying but appreciated in a weird bit of Catch-22. He even whips out the WMA licensing terms, as I have, reiterated the BS about AAC being "free and open," the BS about iTunes using AAC, and so on. It's all so familiar, you know, if you know me.

Anyway, thanks Jason, for aping me. At the very least you're confirming what I already knew (and, ahem, have written about). But the more people who come around to the truth, the better. And maybe, together, we'll put a dent in the illogical (and untrue) beliefs people have about Apple and audio technologies.

[ Posted at 7:40 AM | Permalink ]