Export to MP3 feature not working

[Hiphopopotamus]

Hiya,

I've been ripping vinyl and have already got over 200 Audacity projects sitting here waiting to be exported. When I export to WAV, it works just fine and I'm getting just what I want. When I export to mp3 however, it just gives me an mp3 file that's 108 bytes in size and obviously doesn't work. I've absolutely no idea what's causing this and I'm new to Audacity so can't tell whether this is a common issue or not. I've not been able to find anything about it on the forums. Please help!!!

[kozikowski]

<<<When I export to WAV, it works just fine >>>

That's a good thing. We would urge you to Export all your Projects as WAV files and make safety backups of them. Audacity Projects are large, complicated, and brittle. There is a really good chance that you're going to touch some of them and they're not going to open. You can't back up or move a Project.

A very common complaint on the forum: "I went back to one of my older Projects and it won't open any more. I really need that project to open. Can you help me?"

Probably not. If any of the thousands of files in a project becomes corrupted, then the show is damaged and may be lost.

MP3 and most other compressed audio file formats damages the original. If you don't have the high quality capture WAV files to go back to, the damage is permanent. Periodically, an advance is made in audio compression technology (Apple AAC in their iPods) and it's good to have the uncompressed work available. If all you have is the MP3 files, the new format will have its own damage plus the MP3 damage.

Koz

[Hiphopopotamus]

Well I tried logging onto my Windows 7 install to give it a try in the Audacity I have installed there. I've been doing it all in XP as I had already set all levels and settings at a place I was happy with before I installed Windows 7. When I tried to edit the Audacity projects in Windows 7, it wasn't having any of it. It was giving me 'file was not found' errors every time I tried to make an adjustment to the project- presumably because of all the bloody permissions. Anyway, the export to MP3 function work from Audacity in Windows 7 so what I'm now doing is going through and doing my editing and WAV exporting in XP. Then I'll go back to Windows 7 afterwards and export them all to MP3. A long winded way around it and certainly not a fix- but I'm not too fussed after all the time I've spent ripping these!!

As for what you were saying kozikowski, I only made these rips within the last month or so. I wouldn't dare then leaving them sitting on the hard disk for ages before doing anything with them for the exact fear of them corrupting. Once I've got them in WAVs, they'll be backed up and put away for whenever they may next be needed and the MP3s will be for general playback purposes.

[kozikowski]

<<<When I tried to edit the Audacity projects in Windows 7, it wasn't having any of it. It was giving me 'file was not found' errors every time I tried to make an adjustment to the project- presumably because of all the bloody permissions.>>.

Nope. You can't move Audacity projects. The Files, Order, Locations, Folder Names and Directory Structure are all burned into the AUP project manager. Change, rename, or delete anything anywhere and the Project stops dead. Yet another reason to get your work out of the Project and into high-quality, stand-alone WAV files as soon as possible.

To be surgically accurate, you can move audacity Projects. You can completely rearrange the folders and directories ... or change operating systems, but then you have to open up your AUP file in NotePad and rewrite it to reflect the new reality -- where you put everything.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg
(Magnify so you can see it. This is a really simple project based on my six second piano solo. Do you see the directories in there? aliasfile='/Users/koz/Desktop...')

I know people who have written those successfully. I think there are three. On Earth.

Koz