as the years roll by the quality of mp3 encoding will never change. :-)

rabeach
as the years roll by the quality of mp3 encoding will never change. :-)

What I don't understand is this: If there is no difference in quality, then why didn't Cakewalk simply include LAME as the standard way of doing MP3?

They'd have to pay a large bulk royalty maybe?

Hi:
I just export and use ITunes for mp3.  The ITunes mp3 encoder is very good I think.  Little more work, but the mp3 always sound just like the original 24 bit 48K wawe file.
dan
 

There have been many threads on this...and I find it crazy that Cake and other DAW's require
more $$$ for MP3, especially these days.  Producer should come with it included.  

I have far cheaper programs that have it included, and many of the other DAW's also have
it included, no additional charge.  Another of the many "We dropped the Cake" snafu's....IMHO..

I have other programs to use so I just pull the Wave in and MP3 it back out again...

If I had paid $50 for X2a P I probably wouldn't care about the additional charge...but
when you've paid $500 and spent countless more on other things.....then it becomes
a "thorn" in my foot...but, as I always say, that's just me...especially when there are several
programs out there that do it for free...

(it's not about the $20 boys, sorry to bust your bubble...and you can say it's all about licensing
till you're blue in the face...I ain't buyin' that either)

I paid for the mp3 license from Cakewalk a few years ago and it's showing that it IS a lame encoder. Works nicely by the way. ;)

FWIW, here is a description of the license requirements.
http://lame.sourceforge.net/license.txt
 
That seems to imply that there should be no charge as long as Cakewalk acknowledges LAME.

Sonar MP3 encoder IS lame - fwiw I bought my licence with 8.5 and it has run on every version since. Why look at going external when for a measly $20 you can keep it in the box, so to speak :)

cparmerlee
FWIW, here is a description of the license requirements.
http://lame.sourceforge.net/license.txt
 
That seems to imply that there should be no charge as long as Cakewalk acknowledges LAME.

no it does not and no they can not.
 edit...
http://mp3licensing.com/licensees/index.asp

 

rabeach

cparmerlee
FWIW, here is a description of the license requirements.
http://lame.sourceforge.net/license.txt
 
That seems to imply that there should be no charge as long as Cakewalk acknowledges LAME.

no it does not and no they can not.
 edit...
http://mp3licensing.com/licensees/index.asp

I don't get your point.  So Cakewalk is licensed for MP3.  That doesn't mean anything with regard to the LAME software, as I understand it.  The LAME license says:
 

LAME
Can I use LAME in my commercial program?

Yes, you can, under the restrictions of the LGPL. The easiest way to do this is to:

1. Link to LAME as separate library (libmp3lame.a on unix or lame_enc.dll on windows)

2. Fully acknowledge that you are using LAME, and give a link to our web site, www.mp3dev.org

3. If you make modifications to LAME, you *must* release these modifications back to the LAME project, under the LGPL.

That says nothing about any fees, as long as you acknowledge LAME and agree to place any mods into the open domain.

Also I would note that SONAR includes the MP3 DECODER at no charge (allowing you to import MP3.) So why do they charge for the encoder?
==========
 
On edit, the MP3 licensing site indicates a fee of $2.50 per encoder (and $.075 per decoder) for the use of MP3 patents.  That's a far cry from $20.  I don't believe Cakewalk should incur any royalties for including LAME.  Considering how commonplace MP3 is in music production, it seems pretty excessive to make the users go to the trouble of making a separate $20 purchase for a $2.50 items, but evidently that is what their marketing people decided to do.
 
And don't make the mistake I made, which was to purchase the encoder.  That's the wrong product.  You have to purchase a different thing that just enables the feature, so now I have to waste my time and Cakewalk's time fixing that mistake.  Surely everybody has better things to be doing for want of $2.50 and customer satisfaction.