intro sentence @ www.rockbox.org - suggestion

[RowaN]

Just a thought about the first sentence on www.rockbox.org ...

"Rockbox is an open source firmware for mp3 players"

Perhaps it should be this instead?
"Rockbox is an open source firmware for MP3 players"

Or perhaps, better still, this..
"Rockbox is an open source operating system for portable jukeboxes"

Not sure about portable jukeboxes actually.. what are "the kids" calling them these days? DAPs (with acronym tag)? Not sure about operating system either.. what do you guys suggest?

[GodEater]

.. what do you guys suggest?

The one that's already there obviously

[RowaN]

Any non hilarious replies would be welcome too. I keep seeing all these SVN commits to the manual.. I just figured lets get wording right on the website too. Or at least discuss it.

[Llorean]

Could you point out what you think is actually "wrong" about the current description that justifies saying we need to "get wording right?"

While MP3 can be capitalized, it's hardly a proper noun or an acronym. I think the current description is quite adequate and friendly. You shouldn't simply dismiss GodEater's response because of how he phrased it, he apparently is happy with the current wording too.

[wintermute23]

Well, it's part of an acronym. It stands for "Motion Picture".

I'm in favour of keeping it the way it is. "MP3 player" is better understood than "digital jukebox" or "DAP". And the capitalisation is of minimal importance. I suspect that "MP3" is more correct than "mp3", I don't think that there's anything to be gained by changing it.

On the other hand, if someone can come up with a good reason, I'm very willing to change my mind. Not that I have any influence

[Strife89]

...what are "the kids" calling them these days? DAPs (with acronym tag)?

Where I live, I always hear "MP3 player" or "iPod". It drives me nuts. (They're DAPs, people!)

[RowaN]

I suspect that "MP3" is more correct than "mp3", I don't think that there's anything to be gained by changing it.

THE sentence WILL gain CORRECTNESS? See how annoying that is, when capitalisation is used incorrectly?

Could you point out what you think is actually "wrong" about the current description that justifies saying we need to "get wording right?"

I did - just the mp3 vs MP3 thing. As for the the other points, I'm not saying its wrong, I'm just asking if its right or if anyone has an opinion.

[Llorean]

First, an acronym is when the letters form a word. If it's an acronym, then there is a word mp3 that can be used anyway. Note I did not say it isn't an abbreviation.

Second, could someone cite me a source that says it needs to be capitalized? In common parlance it's a noun used for a type of file. Even as it originated as an abbreviation for mpeg layer 3, these days it is merely a term more or less in its own right.

[bluebrother]

THE sentence WILL gain CORRECTNESS? See how annoying that is, when capitalisation is used incorrectly?

There is a huge difference if a sentence is capitalized wrongly and "natural" words in it and acronyms. While it can be harder to read it's only _one_ "word" in the sentence and not half of them like in your example.

Besides, there are also people coming here and asking for simply "mp4" meaning DAP which is much more wrong (as mpeg4 isn't a single codec like mp3 is -- oh, and shouldn't we call it "MPEG I Layer 3"?). "Codec" is also an artificial word coming from an acronym which doesn't get special capitalization but as it originally comes from "Encoder / Decoder" shouldn't it be "CoDec" or similar?

[RowaN]

Thanks for your opinions guys, colourful as ever.

[wintermute23]

THE sentence WILL gain CORRECTNESS? See how annoying that is, when capitalisation is used incorrectly?

Actually, I'd say that demonstrates how annoying it is when capitals are overused. Compare, for example: "We spoke to the man from Unicef about aids."

I would say that is far less annoying, even though it's equally wrong.

First, an acronym is when the letters form a word. If it's an acronym, then there is a word mp3 that can be used anyway. Note I did not say it isn't an abbreviation.

Ah, OK. I'm used to a looser definition of "acronym". Though if you're going to be that precise with the language, you ought to use "initialism" rather than "abbreviation"

[Llorean]

Well it's not just the initials, though. It's MPEG-1 layer 3. Since we only use the M, P, and 3 from it, it's an abbreviation.

[yapper]

A simple google search for 'mp3' indicates MP3 is a more common abbreviation than mp3.

[Llorean]

What does how common it is have to do with whether it's correct to write it as "mp3" or not?

MPEG4-ASP files are usually referred to as "avi" files and that's incredibly incorrect.

Now, whether we should change it to the common usage is a different matter, but my question, still unanswered, is a request for evidence that this is actually incorrect, rather than just uncommon.

[yapper]

My previous post was merely an observation, not an indication of correctness (or not).

However, the MPEG home page (http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/) refers to MP3, which might be considered an endorsement for that version of the abbreviation.

IMHO, both versions are understood widely.