The music tracks are available as .wma files in the deployed content folder. These can be played directly in Windows.
Is there a point in offering a soundtrack with mp3 versions on Steam also?
I am wondering why music tracks aren’t in the form of .xnb files…
We use the OS-provided media players where they are available, and we give the media player a handle to the file for playback. With some OS-provided media players, a custom file format could be possible with extra work on our side, but not all OS-provided media players allow this, for example the media players on iOS and Android. The XNB file provides the relative path to the WMA, M4A or OGG file.
As for distributing music in MP3 format, we don’t provide MP3 encoded music because distributing files in MP3 format incurs licensing fees. The formats we generate (WMA, M4A and OGG) have no such restrictions on distribution of encoded files. While we don’t stop you distributing MP3 files, we would not recommend it.
Most people won’t go digging into the game’s content to hunt out songs, so providing a separate soundtrack download would still be a good idea if you were wanting to provide the soundtrack to users.
Huh. I’m wondering why it seems to be standard on Steam to offer MP3 soundtracks now. With the licensing/royalties issue it does not seem to be worth the trouble.
Most people ignore the licensing. While I haven’t heard of anyone being chased up for licensing fees, I wouldn’t risk it when there are alternatives that aren’t encumbered.
OK. Well the Steam music player seems to require MP3.
If we sell less than 5000 copies of the soundtrack DLC (almost certain) then they don’t demand payment.
Valve may have an agreement in place for MP3 playback, but that is separate to MP3 distribution. Licensing can get confusing.