mp3 decoding fees

Hi,

Is there any way not having to pay the license fee for mp3 decoding on windows. On mac it’s possible to use the QuickTimeAudioFormat because pretty much every mac user has QT installed. But Windows users don’t (i’m assuming a QT installation is required?)
Is there something that uses the windows media player or similar?

Are there any ways to avoid these fees legally? Freeware/GPL mp3 decoders are also subject to these royalties.

Thanks
cosmo

info: http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html

With tracktion we didn’t include any mp3 encoding, but made it clear that if the user was to get their own copy of lame.dll and put it in a convenient location, then it would use that…

I heard somewhere recently that the mp3 patent is due to expire in the next couple of years though (?)

Wiki mentions “MP3 may be patent free in the US by December of 2012”

hmm, ok, i was hoping to find an out of the box solution.
thanks.