Virtualdub : mp3 compression limited to 56 Kbps

I am a big fan of VirtualDub. While my systems usually have the LAME encoder installed, this system (laptop, not mine) didn't. So, when I opened up the VirtualDub audio compression panel, I found that the maximum compression for the mp3 codec was limited to 56 Kbps. With the advent of VideoLAN etc., I've tried to keep separate codec installations to a minimum. So rather than installing a separate codec to get this sorted, I did some pottering about on google and came across a pretty straight forward solution, outlined as follows:

1. Download and install Windows Media Player 10. (This problem can occur even if you already have Windows Media Player 10 installed.)
2. Go to Start -> Run and type regedit and click OK.
3. Using the panel on the left, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> CurrentVersion -> Drivers32.
4. In the right hand panel, look for msacm.l3acm. Assuming that your windows installation resides on the C: drive, the current value should be something like C:\WINDOWS\system32\l3codeca.acm.
5. Double click on msacm.l3acm and change C:\WINDOWS\system32\l3codeca.acm to C:\WINDOWS\system32\l3codecp.acm; i.e. change l3codeca to l3codecp and click OK. [For the curious, a = advanced, p = professional].
6. Restart VirtualDub and you should find that the audio compression panel now has options to compress at rates upto 320 Kbps.

Hope this helps!