A free MP3 encoder for the Classic OS. Works like a charm.

Download: <http://www.mediafire.com/?2huaer315eegear> (542 kb) v1.4

BladeEnc is a free, cross-platform, console-based MP3 encoder, based
on the ISO reference code. It is mostly intended for high quality
encoding in high bitrates.

First download is for Mac OS Classic v1.3
Second download is v1.4 Mac OS 7.5.3 to 9
Third download is for Mac OS X (PowerPC only).

The original website is archived at the [Wayback Machine][1].

About 1997 Fraunhofer IIS was fooled into "selling" the codec to a
student in Australia.
We all know the outcome.
This is how Karheinz Brandenburg, the "father" of MP3 recalls the
story:

> "There were more and more people using this technology to store
> music on their hard discs. The idea was [originally] that encoders
> would be much more expensive. ... In, I think it was '97, some
> Australian student bought professional grade ? from our point of
> view ? encoding software for MP3 from a small company in Germany. He
> paid with a stolen credit card number from Taiwan. He looked at the
> software, found that we had used some Microsoft internal application
> programming interface ... racked everything up into an archive and
> wired some Swedish side, [and] put that to a U.S. university FTP
> site together with a read-me file saying, 'This is freeware thanks
> to Fraunhofer.'
>  "He gave away our business model. We were completely not amused. We
> tried to hunt him down. We told everybody, 'This is stolen software
> so don't distribute it,' but still the business model to have
> expensive encoders and cheap decoders [was] done. From that time on,
> we reduced the cost for encoders. There was a company, Music Match,
> which allowed people early on to take a CD's music, read it into the
> computer and then have their own music jukebox on that. And they
> were legal, they paid for the patent fees so that was fine.
>  "When we found out that people used our technology to do
> unauthorized distribution of music over the Net ? that was not our
> intention, very clearly. I have to say, I don't say that everything
> the music industry does is correct or good, but still I think we
> should have respect for the work of the artists and everybody
> involved and it's only fair that they get paid for it.
>  "It was in '97 when I got the impression that the avalanche was
> rolling and no one could stop it anymore. But even then I still
> sometimes have the feeling like is this all a dream or is it real,
> so it's clearly beyond the dreams of earlier times."

I wonder what the Swedish site was, any guesses? ![Smile][2]

Compatibility
Architecture: PPC

MacOS 7.5.3 or later
PowerMac
1.7 MB of free RAM

 * BladeEnc overwrites files with the same name as the output file
 * Input file names must be less than 28 characters
 * Cannot specify output file (mp3) name, though the original
   BladeEnc supports that
 * Poor support for raw PCM encoding options
 * BladeEnc will try to encode any kind of file thinking they are RAW
   samples (if the file isn't in AIFF or WAV format)
 * Don't set BladeEnc's memory allocation below 1700 kB or it will
   crash

  [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20091212183712/http://www.helsinki.fi/~pkamppur/bladeencmac.html
  [2]: http://macintoshgarden.org/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Roving/smile.png (Smile)