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Importing so a PC can listen to the file.
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:03 am
by pstoren
I have some radio bits that my husband did that he edited. When we export them into a wav file, you can't read them on a pc and we think it's critical when he sends them out that you can hear them on a pc. What do we need to do? It won't let us export them as an mp3 file, which is what I thought needed to be done.
Thanks so much. I'm an audio novice...just a graphic designer trying to help the spouse.
Re: Importing so a PC can listen to the file.
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:22 am
by steve
Go to the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences".
In the "Uncompressed Export Format" dropdown, choose WAV (Microsoft 16-bit PCM)
Then before you (or he) Exports the WAV file, Set the project rate to 44100Hz (see the "Project Rate" box in the bottom left corner of the main Audacity window).
When a WAV is exported it will now be in 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV format which is compatible with just about anything.
To Export MP3's you need to install LAME. Note that MP3's are much smaller than WAV files (good for e-mail or web sites, but are slightly lower quality. See here:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... stallation
For making Audio CD's you should Export as WAV rather than as MP3.
Re: Importing so a PC can listen to the file.
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:32 am
by kozikowski
Multiple Problems.
While the a clip is on the edit time line, look to the left and see what the numbers are. Ideally, they'll be something like this...
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/Audacity1_playback.jpg
48000, Stereo, 16-bit.
Another good one is 44100, 16-bit, Stereo. WAV files exported with those specifications should drop into almost any computer in the world, not just any Windows machine.
No doubt you noticed that the system complained at you when you tried to Export As MP3. That's because you failed to install the "lame" software package. Long story why you need to do that, but has to do with licensing agreements.
http://audacityteam.org/help/faq?s=inst ... m=lame-mp3
It's frighteningly easy to get the wrong one, so you need to be clear what kind of computer you have and which Audacity. This is the step where you might find you have the wrong Audacity, even though it's been working fine.
Newer Intel Macs use Audacity 1.2.5, not 1.2.6.
Koz
