Why is mp3 CD ripping Pro only?

[purplegreendave]

I used winamp many years ago, and it was perfect, until I started to amass huge amounts of CDs, at which point mediamonkey became a better option for me, with the option of using the LAME encoder.
Why is it, that this isn't an option for Winamp?
The reason I ask is that the Android app is looking very tempting, however it seems a significant portion of its functionality is sidelined with the desktop client

[DrO]

simple answer is down to licensing related to the mp3 format (from what i understand) as to why it is only possible to rip to mp3 files with the pro version of the client.

-daz

[purplegreendave]

There should/could be some way of integrating the LAME encoder though, it's open source, and the accepted (advised) workaround for ripping cd's with MediaMonkey's free version.

[DrO]

well licensing is licensing and Winamp/Nullsoft is just doing what is right and absorbing the cost of it just isn't ideal for them to, hence it being a pro feature. if there is a work around to get the pro features working for free then we really can't be suggesting that on the official forums for Winamp

-daz

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by purplegreendave

There should/could be some way of integrating the LAME encoder though, it's open source, and the accepted (advised) workaround for ripping cd's with MediaMonkey's free version.

There is an huge company, called Fraunhofer/Thompson, which owns all rights for MP3.

Yeah, MP3 licenses are expensive, very expensive.

Sure LAME is free, but lame is no encoder, hehe.

You can see, that most applications in the web never ship the lame dll file directly, most of them provide a separate download link or simply only support the dll.
The reason for that is cheating a bit, for smaller companies this may works, but for bigger companies, that cheat doesn't work. When a large company like AOL provides MP3 encoding, they must license it.

If you think, that these huge, money eating companies like Fraunhofer are too expensive and that software patents are evil then you should use and spread free formats, like FLAC or Ogg Vorbis.

[Bilbo9955]

Originally Posted by Koopa

You can see, that most applications in the web never ship the lame dll file directly, most of them provide a separate download link or simply only support the dll.

There are MANY companies that "simply only support the dll." which the user must download on their own. You would not be supplying it, only only providing a generic interface to a dll.

I think winamp is really to annoy users enough to force them to buy the upgrade.

[javajeff]

Windows Media Player, iTunes, foobar 2000 all rip to mp3 for free. For ripping to mp3 and lame, I recommend dbpoweramp.

[MrSinatra]

dbpoweramp restricts a lot of features if you use the free ver.

why would anyone rip with winamp anyway? use EAC and lame, its free, accurate, fast, fully featured, etc...

i think winamp COULD, if they wanted to, let you rip to mp3 if you DL'd lame separately, but they need the license to do shoutcast, so i think they decided to make it something you had to buy if you wanted it, and that seems fair enough to me, given that EAC and other free options exist.

[javajeff]

I bought dbpoweramp years ago, and it has been an excellent buy.