Is it really a bug?

Before you report a bug to our engineers, please verify that the bug is really in the software and not in your configuration. Table 3.1 helps you track down the bug yourself and see if it can be fixed.

**Table 3.1:** Bug symptoms and possible causes
Symptom	Check this:
The encoder does not encode 100% of my sound file	The demo encoder is limited to 30 seconds of encoding. Afterwards, it simply stops.
When I open the encoder application from the desktop, a window opens, error messages flash by, and the window closes before I can read anything.	mp3enc is a commandline application. You need to start it from a DOS shell.
Files encoded with `-crc` cannot be played back with the decoder	In version 3.1 of the demo encoder, the CRC calculation was buggy. It has been fixed in the sold version and will be fixed in the next demo version.
The `-dual` switch does not work	Version 3.0 of this manual erroneously mentioned the -dual switch. This switch does not exist.
`could not open input file`	Have you given an input file to the encoder (see section 2.1.5)? Does the input file exist? Is it readable?
`could not open output file`	Have you given an output file to the encoder (see section 2.1.6)? Does the output directory exist and is it writeable? Does a file of the same name exist and is it deleteable?
`No parameters for this bitrate/samplerate`	Did you override any of the encoders parameters (stereo mode, samplerate)? If so, try another samplerate.
`bitrate too low/high`	MPEG Layer-3 only allows bitrates ranging from 8 kBit/s to 320 kBit/s.
The Layer-3 file sounds muffled	Try using a higher bitrate. Try using a higher bandwidth (see section 2.2.1). Try using a higher effective sample rate (see section 2.2.1)
The stereo image is destroyed.	Try using the `-no-is` switch