Doomworld Forums - Legalities of using midis/mp3s in WADs

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MajorRawne
Member

Posts: 444
Registered: 04-10

Hi everyone, I'm slightly confused about what music we are and aren't allowed to use in WADs. I've just been playing the superb Unloved, and notice that it uses plenty of mp3s that are copyrighted. I thought this wasn't allowed to be uploaded. Sorry for this total noobish question, but how do I actually know what I can and can't use?

10-29-11 21:18 #

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GreyGhost
a ghost... only grey

Posts: 5700
Registered: 01-08

In an ideal world, wad authors and uploaders always obtain permission for the content they submit to the archive. In the real world, that often doesn't happen and it's unreasonable to expect Ty to police other people's copyrights - so what I think happens in practice (provided the wad doesn't include toxic content from Disney and the like) is Ty assumes the submitter has obtained the necessary permissions but removes the wad if a copyright holder complains.

tl;dr version - obtain permission if you can and if you haven't, don't act surprised when your wad disappears.

10-30-11 15:18 #

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printz
CRAZY DUMB ZEALOT

Posts: 6838
Registered: 06-06

Regarding MP3s, see this post at ZDoom. Specifically this:

(Randy said)

(Technically, you also need to be paying a MP3 fee, too, if you distribute wads with MP3s.)

http://i.imgur.com/i7Vsp.png
MP3 is patented. I'm just quoting that part of a post so you can watch out. OGG on the other hand doesn't have patents.

Last edited by printz on 10-30-11 at 16:10

10-30-11 16:02 #

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Mr. Chris
The term is "prehensile"

Posts: 3663
Registered: 07-02

It's best not to out of bandwidth's sake, unless the song is 1) part of the WAD/megawad and 2) A separate download.

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11-02-11 15:03 #

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kristus
Megablast!

Posts: 9682
Registered: 07-00

Mr. Chris said:
It's best not to out of bandwidth's sake, unless the song is 1) part of the WAD/megawad and 2) A separate download.

Bandwidth became a non issue at least 7 years ago.

11-02-11 15:51 #

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hex11
Senior Member

Posts: 1481
Registered: 09-09

It will always be an issue. I get slow load times on images in /newstuff reviews, even though I'm on cable modem. Once bandwidth increases by orders of magnitude, so will wastage. There's some kind of universal law at play, I'm sure. ;)

11-02-11 18:29 #