loheslath wrote:
If I call Lame.exe in my .Net application (to convert wav to mp3), am I exposed to license penalties?
Depends on your purpose. For personal use, this is not a problem (and even if it was, how would anyone know?) For commercial use of the output, probably technically a violation, but again, how would anyone know? For distributing a software package that includes lame.exe, you're in trouble though, as it's both a violation and discoverable.
On the LAME theme, apparently it's possible to compile an ACM codec from the LAME sources which would be cleaner than calling out to a standalone .exe
In a few years the patents will all, thankfully, have expired: the last one listed here will be gone in December 2017. Seems to me that in a little over a year it might be possible to distribute a basic mp3 encoder without encumbrance, but it wouldn't be able to support VBR or surround (I'm not a patent expert though, so don't take my word for it).
There is a Vorbis ACM codec available at free-codecs.com, although it's ancient and has a 0.0.x version number which isn't terribly confidence-inspiring.