Apple previews QuickTime 6

Today Apple previewed QuickTime 6 to attendees at the QuickTime Live conference in Los Angeles. Apple says that QuickTime 6 is ready to go, but will hold off shipping until MPEG-4 video licensing issues are resolved. According to the press release, Apple is opposed to any kind of licensing fees for transmitting content, preferring instead to restrict fees to codec publishers. Here is a brief look at the new features in QuickTime 6:

• Apple-developed video codec for encoding and decoding MPEG-4 video content
• Support for Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), the next generation audio format
• Support for CELP, the MPEG-4 speech codec for reproduction of natural speech
• Adherence to the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) 1.0 specification
• MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 playback, ideal for content creators who wish to preview and share work throughout the production process;
• Flash 5 support
• DVC Pro (PAL) support
• Updated user interface with a new, easy-to-use "Favorites" interface and easier access to QuickTime content; and
• skip protection enhancements.

Apple also showed the new QuickTime Broadcaster, which will give any user the ability to transmit their own QuickTime streams over the Internet.