I’m not quite sure, could well be. From what I researched a few years ago the MP3 spec is a bit difficult to decipher as its developed by about 12 parties, some of which contribute their algorithms for free, some which don’t. I also seem to remember that it may be possible to create a free MP3 reader algorithm that doesn’t encroach the licensed code but it may not be able to read every MP3 format or tag, it depends on which parts of the spec it uses and who contributed them.
@aybe
There are 3 different ways to play MP3’s using JUCE. Firstly as discussed in this thread using the self contained MP3AudioFormat class which you’ll need to enable by setting the JUCE_USE_MP3AUDIOFORMAT flag in the Introjucer or similar. If you’re on Windows then the WindowsMediaAudioFormat will use the codecs provided by the OS and the system APIs to decode. Similarly on OSX the CoreAudioFormat uses the AudioToolbox framework to natively decode any format the OS can by default (including MP4).
Linux is really the only place you may need the MP3AudioFormat and then you’ll have to look into the licensing. Just out of curiosity has anyone benchmarked the MP3AudioFormat agains the native decoders? It would be interesting to see if there is any noticeable differences. Personally I try to steer clear of MP3 these days, its not as good quality as OGG or MP4 and takes longer to decode.
All we need now is an MP4 decoder for Windows!