next »

[JacekH]

I've read many posts about licensing and I think that it could be nice to "collect" all these licensing questions in one FAQ section or a sticky post at this forum.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm a single developer (one person company ). Some scenarios:

1. I'm developing cheap applications, call it shareware products (price is 40 EUR). It can e.g. play and record audio files using MME or ASIO driver. I need to buy both BASS and BASS ASIO - 120 EUR for a packet. Because it can play mp3 I have to buy (http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html) 1.25 / 5 USD per unit (a single software copy I sold). Because it's a quite specific software I think I could sell less than 100 copies per year. Final costs (per year) 625 USD + 120 EUR. Do I have to pay for other BASS add-ons if I use them in those products? If I plan to add AAC streaming to them I need to buy (http://www.vialicensing.com/Licensing/AAC_fees.cfm) 0.98 USD per unit, what adds 98 USD to my calculation. Right?

2. I'm developing a pro software suit (much more than shareware price range). It contains many modules (each can be used as a single application) and they need to have audio playback capability (no recording), PCM, mp2, mp3, streaming AAC+. As I understand all codecs fees are calculated in the same way but BASS licensing changes. And here I'm not sure: do I need single commercial license or unlimited one? The problem is that mentioned modules can be used independently. I think also about another solution: an independent player module used by other modules. What license should I buy?

Regards,
Jacek

[radio42]

Regarding BASS, BASSASIO etc. license:
---------------------------------------
You would need a license for the following modules (if they are used):
- BASS
- BASSASIO
- BASS.NET
As far as I know all other add-ons are free.

Shareware-License: must be an individual, must sell for no more than 40 Euro.
Single-Commercial: Single product
Unlimited-Commercial: unlimited products
Please see the details in the respective products  license agreement!!!

So in your 2nd case it sounds like you would need an "Unlimited-Commercial" license.


Regarding MP3 and AAC license:
-------------------------------
MP3 decoding:
- you might use the 'bass_free' version (which uses the WMP decoder for MP3s internally) - in this case no MP3 license is required for decoding.
- if you plan to use the build-in MP3 decoder as provided by standard BASS, you need a MP3 decoding license!
MP3 encoding:
- if you are using an already licensed encoder (like FhG), no additional encoding license is needed (the customer must buy the encoder).
- if you are using any other MP3 encoder (e.g. LAME) you need an encoding license!

MP3 in general:
In addition to the MP3 license cost you indicated, there is an annual minimum license fee. Here are the details from Thomson:
- $0.75 per decoder; or
- $2.50 per codec (encode+decode).
Royalties are reported and paid on a calendar quarter basis.
There is an annual minimum royalty (AMR) of $15,000.00 due every Jan. 1, against which the above running royalties are credited during the same calendar year.
For smaller companies they offer to reduce the AMR to $5,000.00, with double the per unit royalties.
Alternatively, for very low volumes, they also have one-time payment, or “batch” licenses, for either $15,000 or $5,000, with no annual recurring fees, and no time limit in which to sell/distribute a maximum number of licensed units, at twice the per-unit royalty of the above-mentioned AMR licenses. So, for instance, if you took the $15K batch license, for codec units, this would permit you to deploy 3,000 licensed codec units. For the $5K batch license, you would have a license for 500 codec units.
For Patents + Fraunhofer (FhG) software, the terms are the same, except the codec rate which is $5/unit for the $15k annual minimum, and $10/unit for the $5k annual minimum, and double that if you took a batch license which includes the FhG software.

AAC decoding:
- if you are shipping/using the BASS_AAC add-on, you need a decoding license.
AAC encoding:
- if you are using an already licensed encoder (like Winamp or Nero), no additional encoding license is needed.
- if you are using any other encoder (e.g. FAAC) you also need an encoding license

AAC in general:
VIA makes a difference between 'Consumer PC Software' and 'Professional PC Software'.
Consumer: your customers are end users not making money with your software (e.g. private users).
Professional: your customers might make any money with your software (e.g. companies)
So it depends to whom YOU are selling your software (in your case it might be a professional PC software).
In addition to the following prices, there is an initial setup fee of $1,000.00 to be payed to VIA!
Consumer decoder only: $0.48 per sold product
Consumer decoder+encoder: $0.98 per sold product
Professional decoder only: $5.00 per sold product
Professional decoder+encoder: $50.00 per sold product
Royalties are reported and paid on a calendar quarter basis.


Summary MP3/AAC license:
The absolute minimum you can get to is the following:
MP3: $5,000.00 for the one-time "batch" license for a maximum of 500 codec units.
AAC: $1,000.00 initial setup plus $0.98 or $50.00 per decoder+encoder unit.

[JacekH]

Thank you. It looks bad Selling small applications (like shareware ones) without any big plans for making a lot money seems to be irrational. 5.000 USD is a minimum for mp3 where I can sell maybe 10, 20, maybe 50, or even 100 copies for 40 USD, paying taxes, other costs etc. Finally I don't earn anything paying about 1.000 USD for the "business" (in the best case when selling 100 copies). Well, I could use BASS mp3-free version but I don't like the solution. Maybe I should sell my apps with NERO or WinAMP and use their codecs?

Regards,
Jacek

[radio42]

Just to be clear: NERO or WinAMP can be used for the AAC encoding - but they cannot be used for MP3 decoding.
So I guess that doesn't really help.
But what is so bad in using the "BASS mp3-free version"?

[JacekH]

> what is so bad in using the "BASS mp3-free version"?

Well, nothing bad about BASS of course. Just personal taste I don't like products where I need to buy/download/search any additional components to make it work properly. You're reading that the product can "play mp2, mp3, AAC .... " and so on, "but you have to buy the additional license, without it the software can do nothing"...

Regards,
Jacek

[yps]

Common pratice:

1. Ship the special "mp3-free" BASS.DLL radio42 mentioned. It's in the "mp3-free" folder in the BASS archive, and it works exactly like the ordinary BASS - however, it does not contain its own MP3 decoder. Instead, the licensed codec installed in Windows (DirectShow) is used. But you or your users won't notice, because it's all handled transparently in the background. You do not even need to change your code, just replace the BASS.DLL file.

Note that on some systems (1 out of 100 or less, in my experience), the mp3-free version is problematic, e.g. when the DirectShow MP3 codec is missing (Windows 2000 clean install!) or broken (the one that comes with BPM Studio). In that case, you should advise your users to (re-)install the latest version of Windows Media Player which will re-install a proper codec.

2. Regarding AAC, just do not distribute any problematic add-ons with your application. The user will still be able to download and install the add-ons on his own, checking all license and patent requirements first, of course Actually there's much more to consider than just the patent fees. For example, the BASS_AAC add-on is based on FAAD2 and thus GPL'ed (by the way, where can I get its source code?), so it may not be used, not even dynamically linked, with a closed-source software.

[Ian @ un4seen]

1. Ship the special "mp3-free" BASS.DLL radio42 mentioned. It's in the "mp3-free" folder in the BASS archive, and it works exactly like the ordinary BASS - however, it does not contain its own MP3 decoder. Instead, the licensed codec installed in Windows (DirectShow) is used. But you or your users won't notice, because it's all handled transparently in the background. You do not even need to change your code, just replace the BASS.DLL file.

Note that on some systems (1 out of 100 or less, in my experience), the mp3-free version is problematic, e.g. when the DirectShow MP3 codec is missing (Windows 2000 clean install!) or broken (the one that comes with BPM Studio). In that case, you should advise your users to (re-)install the latest version of Windows Media Player which will re-install a proper codec.

It isn't actually a DirectShow codec (it's ACM), but the rest of what you say still stands

2. Regarding AAC, just do not distribute any problematic add-ons with your application. The user will still be able to download and install the add-ons on his own, checking all license and patent requirements first, of course Actually there's much more to consider than just the patent fees. For example, the BASS_AAC add-on is based on FAAD2 and thus GPL'ed (by the way, where can I get its source code?), so it may not be used, not even dynamically linked, with a closed-source software.

FAAD2 can be licensed commercially too, from Nero (see the FAAD2 or BASS_AAC "readme" for the email address). Regarding source code, I guess you're referring to BASS_AAC? It used to be up on the Maresweb site, but that seems to be gone now. I can email it to you if you want.

[syntonetic]

FAAD2 can be licensed commercially too, from Nero (see the FAAD2 or BASS_AAC "readme" for the email address). Regarding source code, I guess you're referring to BASS_AAC? It used to be up on the Maresweb site, but that seems to be gone now. I can email it to you if you want.

Has anyone experience with getting a commercial or LGPL license from Nero for the bass_aac add-on? What is the expense?
They don't seem to respond on the email address given in the readme file.

Thanks in advance

b.r.
Soren