Adobe did a great thing with PDF files for images... free reader, true multi-platform support, etc. But MP3 is lossy, and I find RealPlayer to be really annoying, manipulative, and predatory (constant attempts to get you to upgrade, placing itself in your S-tray and startup, attempts to harvest your email address, etc.). In contrast, Adobe's Acrobat and Apple's Quicktime solutions are well-behaved. I have excluded WAV (PC-centric and non-streaming) and AU (Mac/Unix centric), and other formats. Lastly, the "publishing" aspect of PDF format tends to "lock" the file and discourage casual modification. I would then propose that someone create/support a file format that: (1) supports but doesn't insist on compression, (2) is "friendly" (Quicktime, Acrobat, et. al.), (3) is multi-platform in nature, (4) supports streaming, and (5) discourages casual source editing via the reader application.
-- musicator, Sep 28 2003

OpenOffice http://www.openoffice.org/
Free office suite, with decent PDF export functionality. [-alx, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

is this Lawsuit bait or what? I remember dropping a friend off at a club where gay men could have a great time (he discribed it to me) and as he was leaving the car I told him 'I wish there was a place like this for striaght people' The Record labels are doomed, my friend. There will be, if not already are, clubs that are exclusive enough sharing music and concert dates to cause they only function of record labels (advertising) to be obsolete.
-- Zimmy, Sep 28 2003


I don't think any file format is "centric" to an OS. All that is required is for someone to write a client.

I really hate .pdf's. They're Adobe's only real turkey product.

[Zimmy], what'n heck are you rattling on about?
-- bristolz, Sep 28 2003


I think he's referring to Casual Source Editing Gaydar being descriminatory.
-- thumbwax, Sep 28 2003


// Adobe did a great thing with PDF files for images... //

No they didn't. PDF sucks goats.
-- waugsqueke, Sep 28 2003


PDF is only 'locked' in the sense that it's simply difficult to get back the original document structure, since all the format says is put this text here and that text there - there's plenty of programs will strip the text out for you, and if they can strip the text out, they can change it. I don't think there's any structure equivalent for sound, unless you're going from MIDI files(or sound tracker, remember them?) to MP3. As far as I can tell, OggVorbis is better quality than MP3 and is a fully open standard. They can be played on any platform (winamp handles them nicely), but does insist on compression (you can put it up to super high quality, if you really want huge files). Beyond that, digitally signing files would stop 'casual' editing. But you couldn't really stop people stripping the signature or replacing it with their own signature - you'd simply be able to see whether the file was a bone-fide original or not. As for being friendly, it's down to the player really, not much the format itself can do about that.
-- Rcomian, Sep 28 2003


I wonder about the term "lossy". A typo for "lousy"? Or a neologism connotating a format prone to loss of data?
-- bungston, Sep 28 2003


PDF is good because it's a standard for documents to be exchanged, and it's fairly versatile (for embedding equations and images particularly). PDF is bad because you have to pay (lots) to get a decent writer, which kind of defies the idea of having a standard in the first place. I wouldn't call it great, but I wouldn't say anything about its fellating habits either. (If there's a better option, please let me know.)
-- Detly, Sep 28 2003


"Lossy" is a standard term referring to compression schemes that lose data as they work, i.e. lossy compression reduces a file by permanently eliminating certain information.

PDF is bad because the PDF client has such a horrid user model. This has always baffled me because the design, the interaction model, of Adobe's other applications is top notch.
-- bristolz, Sep 28 2003


I have a 10-page Adobe Acrobat file called TIMER.PDF. When I want to measure exactly 30 minutes, I send it to the printer.
-- phundug, Sep 29 2003


The .wav format contains a number of sub-variants, some of which can support streaming. The only extent to which it's OS-centric is the fact that a single file extension ".wav" can hold many different formats internally, and Windows supports more of then than other OSs.
-- supercat, Sep 29 2003


"PDF is bad because you have to pay (lots) to get a decent writer"

OpenOffice [see link] now has a very capable PDF export function as standard. Not that I'd use it if I had the choice, but needs must...
-- -alx, Sep 29 2003


Actually, new versions of OpenOffice.org have many nice features not found in MS Office. I use it, although I also have Office.
-- -----, May 11 2005


I work with acrobat everyday. Anyway... Adobe just bought macromedia..which means acrobat will eventually be able to play flash files i.e. sound files as well. Ta da. About to be baked in 3... 2... (not to say it isn't a great idea)
-- SpocksEyebrow, May 11 2005



random, halfbakery