[Consortium] Wider scope for linuxaudio.org: home audio

[Daniel James]

Hi Andreas,

> There exists a rapidly growing market of digital home audio
> devices. That is a huge market and it makes sense to help Linux to
> grow there.
>
> While the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum to some extent includes
> audio devices it has somewhat different objectives.
>
> I therefore would like to suggest to add "home audio" to the scope
> of LinuxAudio.org.

Of course, there's nothing to stop members collaborating on 'home 
audio' projects. The first clause of the policy is:

'The aim of the Linuxaudio.org consortium is to promote and enable the 
use of Linux kernel based systems for professional audio use.'

http://www.linuxaudio.org/en/policy.html

Now, if you are a product designer or software engineer, creating a 
home audio device for the consumer market, then arguably the design 
and integration process counts as professional use.

With libre software, there is no firm line between programs that 
professionals use and programs that amateurs (in the best sense of 
the word) use, since the usual barriers to entry don't exist - except 
perhaps in application scope and complexity. And content creators 
also need playback tools. 

Do you think there are any specific projects that should be members of 
linuxaudio.org in order to better address the 'home audio' market? We 
already have members working in relevant areas, including ALSA, 
Gstreamer, MandrakeSoft and Xiph.org. An embedded system developer, 
maybe?

Cheers

Daniel