Windows users can play back Ogg Vorbis files on the desktop using WinAmp.

The next who dies is Vorbis, the single-minded, pitiless, utterly unshakable Omnian Exquisitor.

Theora and Vorbis are both free of such restrictions.

Of course none of this addresses my main complaint about Ogg Vorbis -the iPod problem.

Gizmodo wrote an open letter to Apple almost three years ago asking them to support Ogg Vorbis.

None has plans to release music in the format, mainly because Vorbis has no built-in antipiracy mechanisms.

Support for Ogg Vorbis audio has waxed and waned over the years since digital music hit the mainstream.

Montgomery, who lives in Boston, recently released the first official version of Vorbis after a yearlong beta test.

And then Brutha sees Vorbis, hunched on the sand, too paralysed with fear to have even started the journey.

Wired News predicted a surge in interest around Ogg Vorbis following recent patent lawsuits over use of the MP3 format.

Whereupon Brutha, true to his own nature, offers companionship to Vorbis, and they set out to cross the desert together.

But with the launch of the FSF's web campaign, the time may be ripe for Ogg Vorbis to truly shine.

It's an educational primer for playing Ogg Vorbis audio files and Ogg Theora video files on Mac and Windows desktops.

'But Vorbis died a hundred years ago!'

Last week I looked into Ogg Vorbis and in the process discovered a Mac-only format conversion program by the name of Max.

There have been a few attempts at Ogg Vorbis QuickTime plugins in the past, but most of them seem to have been abandoned.