mp3PRO Codec

Hey all.  I'm brand new here.  Just got a hold of a program to encode my
online radio stream with the mp3PRO codec.  It's great; in XMMS it
sounds like a normal 48kbps stream, but if you load it into their
Windows plugin in Winamp, it sounds more like about 128kbps stereo!  But
no increase in bandwidth usage.

So my question is, is there anyone developing a plugin for xmms?

I read in the xmms forums that it is believed that this can't be done
because mp3PRO charges for the use of the codec EVEN with free players;
but if that's the case, why is there a free Winamp plugin?  Who pays for
that?

Anyone working on it?  What should I expect?  This is definitely
something that has to be supported.

Thanks,
Robbie