$F   ______$$$______   4$     J$`  Radium presents                          4$

$F   »»»»»»»»»»»»)$$$  4$$$$$$$F   Fraunhofer MP3 codec v1.063 optimized    4$
$F  |$$$$$$$$$$$$$$U'  4$     $F   (c) Fraunhofer (additions by Radium)     4$
$F  |$$F    d$         4$     '$b                                          d$'

$k   r  a  d  i  u  m  $$     J$`                                           4$
'$b                   d$'     $F   Cracker    : igNorAMUS                   4$
'$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$'       $F   packager   : Sandor                      4$
$F   Prog Type  : External MP3 Codec (ACM)    4$
$F   Released   : Sept 6, 1998                4$
'$b  disks      : 1 x 890 kb                 d$'

J$`                                                                          4$
$F  Summary : Woohoo! Basicly this is the first external Mpeg layer-3 codec  4$
$F  released since the old Fraunhofer 1996 one. Features : Exact same sound  4$
$F  quality as Opticom Mp3 Producer Pro 2, upper rates of 256, 192, 160, &   4$
$F  128kBit/s, normal or HQ mode, 5% to 12% speed increase over Opticom MP3  4$
$F  Producer Pro (HQ modes), works with with any codec capable program like  4$
$F  Audiograbber or Soundforge and full compatibility with Win 95/98/NT.     4$
$F                                                                           4$
$F  What is an external codec? :                                             4$
$F  There are 2 types of codecs - internal and external. In 1996 Fraunhofer  4$
$F  released the first EXTERNAL Mpeg Layer-3 codec. Using that codec, *any*  4$
$F  program with codec support could make Mp3s : for example Audiograbber    4$
$F  and SoundForge. But that was the last external Layer-3 codec Fraunhofer  4$
$F  released too ... Presumably because it was too easy to pass around. ;)   4$
$F                                                                           4$
$F  Since then Fraunhofer have much improved their Mpeg Layer-3 technology   4$
$F  but now only license it for INTERNAL use in 'Opticom Mp3 Producer Pro'   4$
$F  and 'Audioactive Production Studio'. With this release IgNorAMUS has     4$
$F  taken the internal Producer Pro codec, and made it external again. At    4$
$F  the same time he made some assembly level optimizations to the code to   4$
$F  get between 5% to 12% speed increase when using 'HQ' mode. (See the      4$
$F  graph included in the release). Note that these assembly optimizations   4$
$F  do not affect the sound quality any - the output will still remain       4$
$F  exactly the same as output from Opticom Mp3 Producer Pro v2.1            4$
$F                                                                           4$
$F  Opinions : I think that Opticom MP3 Producer Pro and Audioactive Studio  4$
$F  have proven to be the best sound quality for Mp3 encoding - and this     4$
$F  'new' codec is exactly the same as those two in that aspect. Its small   4$
$F  speed advantage makes it definately the best external codec and          4$
$F  possily the best overall Layer-3 codec too.  :)                          4$
'$b                                                                         d$'

Installing :
1) unzip and run "setupl3c.exe"

Using the codec :
This codec is 'external', so its kinda like installing a system driver --
by itself it doesnt do anything -- you use it with a codec capable program.
To encode as Mp3, you go into the 'Save as' menu of your audio program
and choose the compression format you want. (choose 'Mpeg layer-3')
Here is a list of some of the programs that can use external codecs :
Audiograbber, WinDAC, Soundforge, Wavelab, Acid, CoolEditPro, Jetaudio,
MP3 compressor, MPEG Layer-3 Producer 1.1, Windows sound recorder & more.

Thank-yous :
Well done Ignoramus.. i think this represents some of the 'best' type of
cracking... getting inside a program and changing it for the better. :)
Huge thanks to Dense and GROO for their many hours of testing, comparing
and explaining. Thanks also to KrK, CBgirl, _Maad_ and Spelunk.

SUBnote: With this release it's now possible to do one-step rips at 160kBit/s.
We reccommend this rate for serious rippers, since it gives more defined
high-end and better stereo as well.

J$`                                                                          4$
$F  People we are looking for in Radium :                                    4$
$F  * t3 siteops or good Topsite HQ affils                                   4$
$F  * Software suppliers  (Meaning people that work at music stores, at      4$
$F    review magazines, at major music companies or even as beta testers.)   4$
'$b                                                                         d$'

J$`                                                                          4$
$F  Seniors : Sandor, Whouse                                                 4$
$F  Members : Drugstah, Deepz0ne, JazzMaster, Freeform, Audi0, Spelunk,      4$
$F            Pterra, Smaug, Eetfuk, Lexpure, Taurus, Zound, Stpark          4$
$F            Int69, DjSonic, MadMax, MrJoiz, Visuman, RickyJ, cdr400,       4$
$F            J@ker, Yazz, IdMud, Midiboy, IB3o3, Systmcrsh, Zenta, KrK      4$
'$b                                                                         d$'

nfo by sandor

If you want a general FAQ on Mpeg Layer-3 (MP3) you can find one at
http://www.top.net/taenus/