Re: Adding Web Audio API Spec to W3C Repository

Hi, Philip-

I just have a high-level comment here...

Philip Jägenstedt wrote (on 6/10/11 3:49 AM):
>
> It was quite some time since I looked at
> <http://chromium.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/samples/audio/specification/specification.html>,
> so I hope this is still the correct version to look at. My gut reaction
> to this spec has always been "too big" and "you ain't gonna need it".
> However, it's hard to argue with something that's being implemented
> without having a better proposal, so I've stayed silent.
>
> About https://wiki.mozilla.org/MediaStreamAPI then...
>
> This looks quite promising to me, and I'm looking forward to seeing a
> proof-of-concept implementation. Since implementing HTML5 multitrack,
> video conferencing and adaptive streaming will require quite a bit of
> internal media framework plumbing, it would be good if the Audio API
> maps more directly to the concepts used there, which is the Stream
> object. So, roc's proposal certainly feels more native to and integrated
> with the rest of the HTML media stack, which was of course the main
> objective, so that's no surprise.

I don't disagree with this, but I do want to note that what feels "more 
native" to a Web developer might feel very unnatural to an audio 
engineer.  The informal feedback I've heard from sound designers was 
that Chris Rogers' spec felt very natural to them.

It looks like the vaporware convergence between traditional media 
devices (TV, radio, and music industries) and the Web is actually 
starting to take some concrete steps forward (I credit the release of 
Duke Nukem Forever), and we need to consider broader audiences with 
different skills than simply traditional Web developers.

That said, we shouldn't sacrifice new functionality to older paradigms 
if we can find a better way forward.  So, I look forward to Mozilla's 
proposal, so we can take it down to technical details.  For my part, I 
will continue to try to bring traditional audio and media engineers into 
the conversation... any introductions would be gratefully received.

Regards-
-Doug Schepers
W3C Staff Contact, SVG, WebApps, Web Events, and Audio WGs

Received on Friday, 10 June 2011 16:59:31 UTC