Z:gnu-www-ja-why-audio-format-matters--6402e8-The most important issue here/en

The most important issue here is not about the fees, it's about the freedom to communicate and to develop communications tools. Distribution formats such as MP3 are the containers of information exchange on the Internet. Imagine for a moment that someone had a patent on the modulated vibration of air molecules: you would need a license just to hold a conversation or play guitar for an audience. Fortunately, our government has long held that old, familiar methods of communication, like vibrating air molecules or writing symbols on pieces of paper, are not patentable: no one can own them, they are free for everyone to use. But until those same liberties are extended to newer, less familiar methods (like particular standards for representing sounds via digital encoding), we who generate audio works must take care what format we use &mdash; and require our listeners to use.