The Android media stack will be the new open-source OpenCore, supplied by PacketVideo. It will allow streaming media embedded in Web pages--would you expect anything less from the folks who own YouTube?--and has a wide range of decoders and encoders, according to PacketVideo CTO Osama Alshaykh. Read on for geekiness and then English translations.

Audio decoders: MP3, AAC-LC level 2, HE-AAC v1/2 Level 2, AMR-NB 8Khz
Video decoders: MPEG4 Simple Profile 0 and 0b, H.263 Baseline 0 Level 10 and 45 and Profile 3 level 10 and 45, H.264/AVC Baseline
Streaming: 3GPP, H.245, H.223, RTP, RTSP
Containers: 3GPP, WAV with PCM A-law and µ-law, id3 up to v2.4
Encoding: Progressive baseline JPEG, AVC/H.264, AMR

A Windows Media codec pack will come as an add-on, non-free binary, Alshaykh said. And speaking of non-free, while OpenCore is free, eventually someone will have to pay the MPEG license holders if they use the code. That could be phone manufacturers or carriers, he said.

In English, this means that your Droid-o-phone will play both MP3 and iTunes (but not iTunes protected purchased) music. It'll play videos using formats common to both ordinary cell phones and the iPod/iPhone. It'll stream everything the iPhone can, and then some. It will record both audio and video, potentially at very high quality. And it might also support Windows Media if a phone manufacturer decides to spring for the add-on.

The OpenCore platform allows developers to snap in both open-source components and closed-source binary components, Alsheykh said, so Android won't be stuck in an open-only world. It will support the OpenMAX API set providing a standardized platform for developers to access hardware like nVidia graphics accelerators. And it will be open to the whole Linux community - so if developers on, say, Nokia's Internet tablet or Motorola's Ming phone want to use OpenCore, they're welcome to.

"We would love it if the Linux community adopted our solution," Alshaykh said.