*****************************************************************************
*                                                                           *
*              	              mp3HD Codec V1.5.0                            *
*              	             (Evaluation Version)                           *
*              	                                                            *
*              	         (c) 2007 - 2010 Technicolor S.A.                   *
*              	        (c) 1996 - 2010 Fraunhofer IIS                      *
*              	             All rights reserved.                           *
*                                                                           *
*       This software and/or program is protected by copyright law and      *
*        international treaties. Any reproduction or distribution of        *
*       this software and/or program, or any portion of it, may result      *
*       in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted      *
*                 to the maximum extent possible under law.                 *
*                                                                           *
*****************************************************************************

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Origin
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Website: http://www.all4mp3.com
Contact: info@all4mp3.com

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Software package
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This package contains the following software:

- mp3HD Command-Line Encoder:   mp3hdEncoder.exe
- mp3HD Command-Line Decoder:   mp3hdDecoder.exe
- Winamp Decoder Plug-Ins:
  Winamp 5.5 and above:         in_mp3hd.dll

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System requirements
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Minimum requirements for the use of the software are:

- Windows 2000/Windows XP
- At least Pentium III 1 Ghz or higher
- At least 128 MB memory
- At least 30MB of available hard-disk space
- Winamp V5.5 or higher plus stereo soundcard for playback

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The mp3HD Format (Some Terminology)
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mp3HD is a new scalable format for high-quality lossless compression
of audio signals.  It guarantees bit-exact reproduction of the
original PCM samples at state-of-the-art compression ratios.  As for
all lossless compression formats, the compression ratio and resulting
data rate depends on the compressed content.  As a rule of thumb, the
mp3HD codec can compress WAV files to about 30% to 60% of their
original size for typical audio content.  Typically, smaller data
rates are needed to encode classical music or audio books, while Rock
and Pop music requires larger data rates.

mp3HD has been designed with the explicit target to be as compatible
as possible to the ubiquitous MP3 format.  As a consequence, the mp3HD
format uses advanced compression algorithms and a special bit stream
format in order to be compatible to most of the available MP3 players.
Therefore mp3HD is both a lossless format for the reproduction of the
original PCM samples and a standard MP3 file that play's on your MP3
player.

The mp3HD Format supports tagging the files with meta data according
to ID3 Version 1.0, 1.1, 2.3 and 2.4. That is, you can use many
existing tools to add ID3 tags to your mp3HD content, and to manage
and organize your audio collection.

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mp3HD Command-Line Encoder
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This program encodes WAV audio files to mp3HD files.  The WAV audio
files have to contain plain PCM samples in mono or stereo with a
resolution of 16 bit per sample.  The sample rate is restricted to one
out of 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, or 48 kHz.

It is in the nature of lossless audio compression that the resulting
bit rate is inherently defined by the audio content.  Consequently,
the bit rate of the mp3HD file cannot be specified.  However, the
target bit rate for the backwards-compatible MP3 bit stream already
has to be specified at the time of encoding the mp3HD file.  You can
select both variable bit rate (VBR) mode at several qualities or
constant bit rate (CBR) mode for the resulting MP3 via the
command-line argument "-mode".

For CBR mode you can further define the data rate for the resulting
MP3 file.  The range of possible bit rates is constrained as follows:

  Stereo signals:
   - sample rate of 32   kHz:  80000 - 320000 bit/s
   - sample rate of 44.1 kHz:  96000 - 320000 bit/s
   - sample rate of 48   kHz: 112000 - 320000 bit/s

  Mono signals:
   - sample rate of 32   kHz:  40000 - 320000 bit/s
   - sample rate of 44.1 kHz:  56000 - 320000 bit/s
   - sample rate of 48   kHz:  56000 - 320000 bit/s

To add existing ID3 meta data to the mp3HD file use the command-line 
arguments "-id3in" to pass an existing ID3 (Ver. 2.3 or 2.4) meta data 
file to the mp3HD encoder. For example, the file can be an existing mp3
file that includes the desired ID3 tag information. 

Alternatively, you can use the following command-line arguments to set
the ID3 meta data directly:

   -Title "[title string]" 
   -Artist "[artist string]"  
   -Album "[album string]"
   -Track "[track number]" 
   -Length "[length in ms]"   
   -Year "[year string]"
   -Genre "[content type]" 
   -Encoder "[encoded by ..]"
   -Encoder_Settings "[encoder name and settings]"
   -pic "[jpegFile]"

The "-id3in" command-line argument can't be used in combination 
with the other ID3 command-line arguments.       

To call the mp3HD command-line encoder simply open a command prompt
and enter "mp3hdEncoder".  If called without arguments, the encoder
outputs a list of possible command-line arguments and encoding
options.

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mp3HD Command-Line Decoder
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This program decodes mp3 and mp3HD files to WAV audio files.  The output 
files contain bit-exactly the same PCM samples as the originally encoded 
WAV files.

Note that the mp3HD decoder cannot reconstruct any side information,
i.e. additional chunks besides the actual audio data, that may have
been contained in the original WAV file.  Therefore, you may observe
differences if you compare the decoded WAV file with the original WAV
file on the file level.

To call the command-line decoder simply open a command prompt and
enter "mp3hdDecoder".  If called without arguments, the decoder
outputs a list of possible command-line arguments and decoding
options.

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mp3HD Winamp Decoder
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If you have a Winamp player installed, the mp3HD format can be added
to the audio formats supported by the player.  By default, the mp3HD
Winamp Decoder plugin decodes mp3HD files in mp3HD quality, i.e. the
high-quality original PCM samples are played.

You may configure the plugin to play mp3 quality instead of mp3HD quality
by default.  In addition, you can activate in the settings dialog to
display a window in which you can switch between mp3 quality and mp3HD
quality in real time while decoding an mp3HD file. 

We recommend to use Winamp version 5.5 or above. The new version of 
the Winamp player can be downloaded at http://www.winamp.com. 

To install the Winamp decoder plug-in copy the "in_mp3hd.dll" file to
your local Winamp plug-in folder. Typically, the directory of the Winamp 
plug-in folder is "C:\Program Files\Winamp\plugin".

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FAQ
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** What are PCM samples?

   The acronym PCM stands for pulse code modulation.  In most digital
   workflows, PCM samples describe the raw digital audio signals
   either right after conversion from the analog domain or before
   conversion to the analog domain.

   PCM samples are not compressed like e.g. MP3 files.  Therefore,
   they offer in principle the best possible sound quality for a given
   sample rate and resolution.  As an example, a CD stores audio as
   PCM samples with a rate of 44100 samples per second (and channel)
   and a resolution of 16 bit per sample.  This gives a bit rate of
   1411.2 kbit/s.

** Can I use the mp3HD Codec to rip my audio CDs?

   To rip mp3HD files from your audio CDs you need an audio CD 
   grabber tool with external Encoder support. For example you can use
   the Exact Audio Copy CD grabber. The current version of Exact Audio 
   Copy can be downloaded at 
   http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/resources/download/. 
   
   You can include the mp3HD encoder into the Exact Audio Copy grabber 
   by performing the following steps:
         
         - Open the "Compression options" from the "EAC" menu 
         - Go to the "External Compression" tab
         - Enable the "Use external program for compression" option
         - Set "Parameter passing scheme" to "User Defined Encoder"
         - Write ".mp3" into the "Use file extension" field
         - Type the link to your mp3hdEncoder.exe file into the
           "Program, including Path, used for compression" field 
         - Insert the following text into the Additional command-line option field:
            -if %s -of %d -br %r000 -Artist "%a" -Album "%g" -Title "%t" -Year "%y" 
            -Track "%n" -Genre "%m" 
         - Select the desired bit rate in the "Bit rate" field.
         - Uncheck the "Add ID3 tag" option
   
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Version History & Release Notes
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V1.4.0  First public release of the mp3HD Codec
V1.4.1  First public release for Mac OS
        Bug Fix: Winamp pause button didn't work for standard mp3 files
V1.4.2  Command-line argument changes in the mp3hdEncoder
        Minor bug fixes
V1.5.0  Faster En- and Decoding
				Decoding of plain mp3 files
				Original File Length support for plain mp3 files
				Some minor bug fixes
				Encoding of very short input signals
				Automatic resynchronization to the mp3HD stream on errors
				Redesign of the mp3HD Winamp quality switch
				Changed the default ID3 tag version of the mp3HD Encoder to 2.4
				Automatically adds ID3v1 tags to the end of the file