I've been reading the updates about the audio format related issues, and I thought I'd mention that WebM (which I think uses vorbis audio in a different container than ogg) is supported in IE and Safari via plugin, and natively in Chrome and Firefox. So I think WebM audio tracks should be usable by all browsers of consequence so you don't need a bunch of formats.
True, but installing plugins is still a big hurdle. Our front page has the line "Just like Flash, but no plugins necessary" - kind of hard to keep saying that if you need plugins for audio.
Develop games in your browser. Powerful, performant & highly capable.
But its not just audio, its video as well, and Utube is using it for their html5 playback.
It would essentially kill two birds with one stone.
If we ask users to install a plugin to hear sounds, I'm sure 90%+ won't even bother.
It's way too early to tell how things are going to play out, but there's no reason not to keep it as an option. Especially since its looking to be the best choice for video in Html5, even if it is a "forced sale".
It's been long proven on the internet that the vast majority of people won't install plugins. Even using flash for sound would be a better option because at least everyone would already have it, not that I think that route should be taken either.