What encoder does the Cakewalk MP3 Activation activate?

I purchased the activation (and ran it) but am still getting the Lame parameters window (I have been using Lame for several years).

Isn't the fee for the Fraunhofer encoder license?

thomasabarnes

You can contact Cakewalk to get the x64 version of the MP3 Activator. 

Thank You...I will do that right now!

oops - duplicate!

I nicely integrated interface for the free LAME open source encoder.

They also provide and have done for years the full set of instructions for enabling the encoder yourself including a bunch of .reg files that make it happen.

It only requres that you read the information that has been supplied with each and every version of Cakewalk's SONAR. If like many of us you prefer the shortcut and don't want to be bothered with all that then you can buy the activation off them.

See you can't sell LAME but if you have a proprietary way of interfacing with it, you can sell that.

It's a once only activation which will work for future versions. If you have Cakewalk Audio Pro 9 then it's included and allows you to get the 64 bit equivalent free.

I belive that cakewlak have a license to distribute their own version. the encoder library is named TTSlame.dll and that's why we pay for it.

mudgel


I belive that cakewlak have a license to distribute their own version. the encoder library is named TTSlame.dll and that's why we pay for it.

I'd love to see a reference that LAME have done a dual licence option on their code, as far as I was aware it's just available under the LGPL (Lesser General Public Licence)
The lgpl is a 'libre / copyleft' licence (certainly the version installed on my machine (with the official mp3 pack from Cakewalk) is) These licences stipulate that when you redistribute a complied version of the code you must also make available the source code so that the end use is free to make changes and complie their own version (this is the freedom that is enshrined by the GNU/GPL licence model.
 
Cake used to host the source code for their edit of LAME on their site but it's been vanished for sometime now.
 
If they don't have a comercial licence opt out for distributing LAME they are, in effect, downloading cars!
 
Child  

While open source, the fact is that LAME has technically never been a free thing. Fraunhofer and RCA have an MP3 technology patent portfolio that in practical terms, makes it almost impossible to distribute an encoder (LAME or otherwise) without committing a patent violation. So, if you're in a country (like the good ol USA) that allows enforcement of those patent restrictions, and you distribute an encoder commercially, Fraunhofer could get a cease and desist order and sue for damages. On the other hand, if you're in China, you can thumb your nose at them all day long. I think that's where the idea open-source=free has come from. Every country has different patent and copyright laws, so the requirements for example in Germany can be different than in Britain, and both can be different than the USA.

Fraunhofer licenses through mp3licensing.com, and if you look there, you'll find that Cakewalk is on the list of licensed companies. So Cakewalk is paying a $5 or less royalty to Fraunhofer for each LAME activation they sell. They pocket the rest of the $19, and give you the capability to export mp3 from within the application.