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Last update: 2024-02-03

Providing really hard to
find pieces of software
since 2003-12-03

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2024-02-03:

Abandonware updates

A new year arrives, so I come back here with some updates that have been abandoned by their own authors (in most cases here: FhG)

It has been more than 25 years since Fraunhofer released MP3enc (do you feel old yet?). As they probably do not care anymore, I added full licensed versions of it (v 3.0 and 3.1) to the MP3enc page, courtesy of the great F.O.S.I. guys.

I also created a page for FhG MP3 producer - the source of all those pirated FhG ACM codecs that were floating around in the late 90s which helped MP3 explode in popularity. Again, 25+ years old programs that I suppose FhG already forgot.

I uploaded to the CoolEdit filters page the two FhG MP3 encoder filters because... why not?

Since I was already neck-deep in Fraunhofer stuff, I added another ACM codec version to the respective page: v3.3

And as we're talking about ACM codecs: I added a new page featuring QDesign's i-Media and ACM MP2 encoders.


2023-12-12:

The 20 years celebration!!

SO you thought ReallyRareWares was dead? Not at all! I'm here again to provide you one of our traditional holidays update and, a little bit late, celebrate 20 years providing really hard to
find pieces of software!

The main attraction of this update is the super obscure NTT DualSpeech voice codec (thanks to William Hobbs).

Besides, I updated the Fobar2000 page with a few older versions and each version's release dates, both thanks to Benjamin Pahlke. Also, all new releases from version 1.5 up to 2.0.
Additionally, I moved all Foobar2000 v0 versions to another page because the main one was becoming too unwieldy.

See you all in 2024. Or whenever I collect enough goodies to justify another update...


2020-10-23:

The holidays update

To close this year, a nice little update to wrap up 2020 and hope for a better 2021: the Liquid Audio encoders and players, what we had to put up with to enjoy a little AAC in the late nineties.

Big thanks to Max Telkov for contributing these! See you all in 2021.


2020-10-20:

Another bunch of goodies

An update with several goodies provided by Martin Wagner and other lovely visitors of ReallyRareWares!

  • Electronic Cosmo MP3 encoder (thanks to Stefan)
  • EAQUAL objective audio quality measurement tool (thanks to Martin Wagner)
  • WinMusic audio player for Win3.1
  • Several Gogo versions (thanks to Martin Wagner)
  • Tag and Wapet taggers (thanks to includemeout)
  • Psytel AACenc Public Evaluation Versions (thanks to Martin Wagner)
Also, I added information about each lossless compressor's performance, with plans to soon add several formats missing from the list. My so-called "limited tests" consist of compressing Bob Dylan's album The Times They Are A-Changin' and comparing how each compressor performs.

2020-08-20:

Another quarantine update

It seems the quarantines here in Brazil will never end (5th month already), so here are a few updates to try and keep spirits high:

  • Sony SonicStage
  • ACM Station ACM codec frontend
  • EncSpot 0.9 (thanks to includemeout)
  • A handful of very early Apollo versions
  • Nullsoft DOSamp 0.7 + DOSamp Extender
  • CoolEdit 1.30A

2020-06-19:

Just another update

An update with an assortment of new goodies, most of them contributed by the lovely RRW visitors:

  • Shorten lossless compressor and mkwACT (thanks to Marco Pontello)
  • MP3 Jukebox - a featureful player for Win 3.1 (thanks to Arthurro Ludvicco)
  • MixMP3 line-in recorder (thanks to Zachary Jelesoff)
  • Real Jukebox Plus (thanks (?) to Richard Birch)
  • More versions of Nero AAC Encoder (thanks to Martin Wagner)
  • YAMP 3.2 (thanks to Daniel Kozar)
  • Other versions of Blade for Mac OS Classic

2020-05-16:

Special Mac OS Classic update

I came across an impressive cache of vintage Mac OS audio software, so I decided to dedicate this update to the early days of audio encoding on the Macintosh. Check these out:

  • MPecker/MPegger/N2MP3 encoders
  • MPEGAudioCreator - the CD ripper that became AudioCatalyst
  • AudioActive player
  • Older versions of AudioCatalyst
  • Iomega RecordIt
  • Two full versions of Emagic Zap lossless compressor

2020-04-25:

The quarantine update

Time for another update, to entertain the RRW fans during these hard quarantine days. This is what I got for you:

  • A whole new page dedicated to FhG codecs - for ACM and QT
  • nyaochi's ACMENC ACM codec frontend
  • Another version of Nero AAC Encoder, contributed by Michael Leimer
  • Better text and another Musearc version for its page
  • Super old Apollo 9, contributed by Daniel Kozar
  • K-Jöfol 0.5, also contributed by Daniel Kozar
I also updated several screenshots, trying to show how the programs looked in real-world usage and not just "out of the box".

2020-04-12:

Special Easter/Coronavirus/Zachary update

Long time RRW contributor Zachary Jelesoff dusted off his old storage media and contributed lots of rare exhibitions for our museum, so this update is dedicated to his honor.

And these are the updates:

  • MicroHof MP3 Player
  • Thirteen Apollo versions!
  • CoolEdit 1.53
  • LAME 3.97 for DOS
Also, I added to the SoundVQ page a mail exchange (also provided by Zachary) between Yamaha and K-Jöfol developer Christophe Thibault that demonstrates Yamaha's short-sightedness promoting their own format...


Please check older news here.


© Roberto Amorim. This is a sister site of RareWares