Dolby has updated its audio streaming standard, MPEG AAC, with the release of Version 4.
The company is offering an easy upgrade from MPEG 2 AAC, and a licensing model based on size of customer, rather than usage, and an annual cap on payments. (Here are the licensing terms.)
Also the AAC patent license treats PC devices as a separate class of products, meriting cheaper license fees from non-PC devices.
This is in marked contrast to the MPEG-LA, owner of the new MPEG 4 standard for video streaming, which is seeking a clip each time a stream is played, to the dismay of video streaming software makers and content providers.