Unofficial WMP10 XP MP3 Codec L3CODECP.ACM 3.3.2.44 for WMP 7/8/9
by miko


Unofficial Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003 Media Player 10.0 (WMP10) XP:
http://www.mdgx.com/wmp.htm#WMP10
Fraunhofer MP3 Professional Codec L3CODECP.ACM 3.3.2.44 for Windows Media
Player 7.0 (WMP70), 7.1 (WMP71), 8.0 (WMP8) + 9.0 (WMP9):
http://www.mdgx.com/wmp.htm#L3C
Direct download [231 KB, English]:
http://www.mdgx.com/files/L3C.EXE
This ReadMe Guide:
http://www.mdgx.com/files/l3codecp.php
also available as plain text (ASCII):
http://www.mdgx.com/files/L3CODECP.TXT
More info:
http://www.msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2004/09/04/12994.aspx
MSFN Forum:
http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=38261

Tested only with Windows 98 SE, Windows XP SP2 + WMP9.
NOT tested, but should work also with:
- Windows 98 (First Edition = FE), 98 SP1, ME, 2000, XP + 2003.
- WMP70, WMP71 + WMP8 (installed by Windows XP Pre-SP2).
May or may not work with WMP11, because WMP11 installs a newer (but BUGgy!)
version of L3CODECP.ACM 3.4.0.0 .

REQUIRES WMP71 or newer already installed:
http://www.mdgx.com/wmp.htm#MP7

How to uninstall:
Start button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> highlight
"L3C: Unofficial WMP10 XP MP3 Codec" -> click Add/Remove button.

WMP should NOT download automatically an inferior (older) version even if the
"Download codecs automatically" setting is enabled.

Following L3CODECP.ACM MP3 variable bit rates are set up for encoding and can
be selected from the 4 "Audio quality" settings in WMP9 [WMP10 apparently
doesn't do 160 kBps :(]:
 64 kBps @ 22.050 Hz = Low Rate
128 kBps @ 44.100 Hz = Medium Rate
160 kBps @ 44.100 Hz = Medium High Rate
192 kBps @ 44.100 Hz = High Rate

All encoding is "joint stereo" by default, and canNOT be changed.

How to add more MP3 encoding rates into the registry [may or may not work]:
http://www.mdgx.com/xp1.htm#WME

Album title, song name, artist etc can be downloaded and added to ID3 tags
automatically.

Files will be named inline with the downloaded info and your selection of
settings in WMP9 -> Tools -> Options -> Copy Music -> Copy music to this
location -> "File Name".

MP3s will be placed in folders named by album in "My Music" inside "My
Documents" folder by default.
However, you can change this in WMP9 -> Tools -> Options -> Copy Music -> Copy
music to this location -> "Change".

Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) can be enabled as follows:
1. Your CD/DVD drive(s) and sound card should be properly connected.
2. In Control Panel -> Multimedia Properties -> CD Music tab -> select the
correct CD/DVD from the drop down list -> check the "Enable digital CD audio
for this CD-ROM device" box.
3. In WMP9 -> Tools -> Options -> Devices -> select your CD/DVD -> click
Properties button -> fine tune your CD/DVD playback + copying.
For DAE you should probably select "Digital" and "Use error correction".

This codec should be picked up by any DirectShow/NetShow aware program/game
that uses codecs/filters to encode/decode/play/record audio/video, unless
another similar codec is installed by such programs/games [free(ware)
examples]:
- Exact Audio Copy (EAC):
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
- VirtualDub:
http://www.virtualdub.org/
- AudioGrabber:
http://www.audiograbber.org/
- Lame:
http://lame.sourceforge.net/

Enjoy.