no mp3 audio?

[jrh1]

My .aup file plays fine. I downloaded the LAME encoder and exported my .aup to .mp3, but when I try to play it in WMP or iTunes, it looks like it's plaing, but there's no audio. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[steve]

Upgrade to Audacity 1.3.12 http://audacityteam.org/download/
and install Lame according to these instructions http://audacityteam.org/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3
If Exported MP3 files still do not play, try exporting a WAV file and see if that plays.

[kozikowski]

My .aup file plays fine.

Your Audacity Project plays fine. The AUP file is the data manager for many other files that make up a Project. Don't try to email an AUP file to anybody. It's not a music file.

Any suggestions?

If you open the MP3 in Audacity and try to play it there, does that work?

You should download and use Audacity 1.3.12.

http://audacityteam.org/download/

Audacity 1.2 is very old and can have problems with newer computers. Audacity 1.2 Projects will open in Audacity 1.3 and you can have both versions on your machine safely. Just don't try to use both at once. Re-download a new lame from the same place you got the program. The lame versions are different.

Koz

[jrh1]

Thank you for speedy responses.

Yes, I can play the mp3 file in Audacity. Will that help you answer my question as to why the mp3 file is silent in WMP and iTunes?

If I upgrade to Audacity 1.3.12, will that generate mp3 files that will play audibly in WMP and iTunes?

Thank you again. I have a small collection (~200) of old 45 rpm records that I had despaired of ever being able to hear again. My wife found me a USB record player for Christmas--I was thrilled! I mostly listen to music via iTunes these days, so I thought if I could use this USB player to record .aup files and then convert them to mp3's, I could make a library of them and be able to hear them all again.

Even if I can't make that happen, I already have the ability to hear them again in Audacity via the .aup files, so I am not complaining. But if there's a way to integrate them into an mp3 library so I can go to one source to listen to whatever music I want, that would be my preference. Sorry for the long explanation, but I thought maybe if you knew what I wanted to do and why, you might know of a way to help me get there.

[kozikowski]

the ability to hear them again in Audacity via the .aup files

Projects. The AUP files are the managers for Projects. It's dangerous to refer to them as if they were the whole show. It's like trying to mail just the table of contents of a book to someone expecting them to receive the whole book.

Whichever version you use -- and it's strongly recommended to use 1.3.12, in case you didn't catch that yet -- you should go into the preferences and change to 44100, 16-bit (not 32-floating) Stereo (not mono). That's the same sound standard that Music CDs use. Restart Audacity to make sure the settings stick.

I would not convert to MP3 for my archive. MP3 is a delivery/internet format and it sacrifices musical quality in favor of download ease. Export each disk as Microsoft WAV and make backups of that for archive. From that perfect quality music WAV file you can create all the other crappy compressed formats you want.

Picture 1.png (8.48 KiB) Viewed 1088 times

Windows Media is a compressed format, too, by the way, so don't expect that to be a good archive, either.
Koz

[steve]

Yes, I can play the mp3 file in Audacity. Will that help you answer my question as to why the mp3 file is silent in WMP and iTunes?

It tells us that the MP3 files are being correctly exported, but they are not playing in iTunes or Windows Media Player.
I don't use iTunes, but Windows Media Player only supports a limited range of audio formats natively. For other formats WMP requires external codecs to be installed on the computer. The most likely scenario is that you have exported audio that has a sample rate that WMP cannot handle correctly.

As Koz wrote, you can set the default sample rate in Audacity to 44100 Hz in Preferences (this is the out-of-the-box default setting and is recommended).
In certain circumstances the sample rate in the project can change from the default setting (most commonly if you import a file with a different sample rate into an empty project). The actual sample rate for the project is displayed in the lower left corner of the main Audacity window.

Before you export your file, check the sample rate (in the lower left corner of the main Audacity window) and if necessary change it to 44100.

I would disagree with Koz regarding the "bit format". It is generally best to keep that set to "32-bit (float)" in Preferences. Exporting to MP3 will convert that automatically so there is no need to change that setting in Preferences.

My wife found me a USB record player for Christmas--I was thrilled! I mostly listen to music via iTunes these days, so I thought if I could use this USB player to record .aup files and then convert them to mp3's

The other possibility is that WMP and iTunes do not play at all while your USB player is connected to the computer. This is why I asked if WMP/iTunes will play WAV files.
If iTunes and WMP are not playing anything while the USB player is connected you will need to reset the default playback device in the Windows Control Panel.
If the problem persists and you want instructions for how to reset the default playback device, please let us know:
a) If iTunes / WMP will play WAV files (or any other known to be good audio files).
b) Which version of Windows you are using.