SF 7.0 now wants me to register for mp3

bzan wrote on 2/13/2025, 3:41 AM

I have used SF 7 for years because its best for close editing (I am a podcaster and radio journalist). Suddenly now, when I want to save a file as an MP3, I am told that my MP3 limit has been reached, and I have to register. I tried, but the online registration doesn't work. It's a now-dormant Sony link. I have the SN and upgrade code from SF5. Win 11 PC. What's the solution?

Comments

SP. wrote on 2/13/2025, 3:58 AM

@bzan Export as WAV and use another tool, for example the free XMedia Recode.

Years ago you had to pay license fees to use the Fraunhofer MP3 encoder, so for each activation Sony had to pay a fee. This is the way these old softwares had to be programmed. The patent only ran out in 2017.

bzan wrote on 2/13/2025, 4:08 AM

Thanks, that's what I thought of doing if a fix was impossible. Strange though, that this hadn't happened before now. My alternative software is Audacity. Lots of very good tools and effects, but nowhere as good as SF for tight editing, as said.

bzan wrote on 2/13/2025, 4:13 AM

I just tested my SF 7 installation on the old XP PC I use for audio work. No problem there. Weird. BTW, is there any way to (re)register SF offline? Maybe by reinstalling?

SP. wrote on 2/13/2025, 5:56 AM

@bzan If you remember your old Sony customer account e-mail address and password, you should be able to login at Magix.com and download an installer from your Magix customer account. I believe Magix updated those to be able to contact the Magix servers instead of the Sony servers.

Maybe this will also unlock the MP3 feature again.

bzan wrote on 2/14/2025, 12:22 AM

I tried, but it didn't work.