code: public String encode(byte aBuffer[]) {
          ByteArrayOutputStream   outStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
          ByteArrayInputStream    inStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(aBuffer);
          String retVal = null;
          try {
              encode(inStream, outStream);
              // explicit ascii->unicode conversion
              retVal = outStream.toString("8859_1");
          } catch (Exception IOException) {
              // This should never happen.
              throw new Error("CharacterEncoder.encode internal error");
          }
          return (retVal);
      }
docs: A 'streamless' version of encode that simply takes a buffer of
  bytes and returns a string containing the encoded buffer.