“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderWait, people thought mp3 was dead because of that announcement?! O_o I feel like people have lost touch with the history and the entire reason many Linux distros do not distribute mp3 codecs! Some of these writers/editors really need to spend each day reading at least one headline from that day in 2016, 2015 .. all the way back to 1999. MP3 is now more free/libre, or at least when it comes to encoding/decoding. Patents are one of the reasons…
This is a great piece and deserves to be revisited from time to time - it shows how much journalism is actually just PR for for-profit companies. The most insane thing about this is that none of the patents specify enough detail to actually implement MP3 - the official specifications are behind lock and key, and can no longer be purchased for any price. Unless they leak from someone who had a license, the public will never get to see…
It was absurd trickery and PR spin trying to change "MP3 is now unencumbered by patents, enjoy!" into "MP3 is dead."
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 803
- Total comments
- 376
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-16 | “MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better storyFirst breakout · Best thread | imartin2k | 650 | 290 |
| 2020-02-18 | “MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story (2017) | susam | 28 | 14 |
| 2021-05-25 | “MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story (2017) | Tomte | 2 | 0 |
| 2023-10-11 | "MP3 is dead" missed the real, much better story (2017)Latest 20+ point return | Tomte | 123 | 72 |