Audacity Forum

When pointing to the correct directory, I get the following error message: Could not open MP3 encoding library!
I've tried all the tips in the forum and wiki - deleting all copies of the lame dll and deleting/modifying the audacity config file. I've also started from scratch and removed everything relating to Audacity and Lame and re-installed fresh but with no luck.

It's as someone else pointed out that Audacity sees and recognizes the dll but will not 'take it'.

I'd appreciate any guidance.
Thanks
Chad

Cpowell wrote:When pointing to the correct directory, I get the following error message: Could not open MP3 encoding library!
I've tried all the tips in the forum and wiki - deleting all copies of the lame dll and deleting/modifying the audacity config file. I've also started from scratch and removed everything relating to Audacity and Lame and re-installed fresh but with no luck.

It's as someone else pointed out that Audacity sees and recognizes the dll but will not 'take it'.
Chad

Have you read:
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 16&t=12082

and tried the no manifest dll?


Gale

Yes, I've been following that thread.
I've done everything listed there and the wiki pages concerning this.

What is interesting is after I remove everything from the audacity.cfg file except "NewPrefsInitialized=1", after I open Audacity to try the MP3 export, close it again, and open the config file, it has only the following for the MP3 path:
[MP3]
MP3LibPath=

Could it have something to do with the registry keys? Can I somehow remove all previous Audacity registry keys and start from scratch?
Here's what I have that may be of interest in HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacityAudacity
PrefsVersion-REG_SZ-1.1.1r1
Version-REG_SZ-1.2.5

Here's what I have that may be of interest in HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacityAudacityMP3
MP3LibPath-REG_SZ-C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)lame_enc.dll

Thanks for your help

I just removed all the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacity registry keys, removed all other traces of Audacity, did a fresh install of the 'standard' lame dll with no luck. I removed that dll, changed the config file as recommended, and tried it again with the 'no manifest' dll with no luck either.

I'm running out of ideas for someone who isn't a developer.

Cpowell wrote:Yes, I've been following that thread.
I've done everything listed there and the wiki pages concerning this.
What is interesting is after I remove everything from the audacity.cfg file except "NewPrefsInitialized=1", after I open Audacity to try the MP3 export, close it again, and open the config file, it has only the following for the MP3 path:
[MP3]
MP3LibPath=

It depends what you mean by "try the MP3 export". We can't follow your steps unless you describe them exactly 1, 2, 3.... and report exactly the errors you receive.

For LAME in 1.3.8 you don't need to go into Preferences. MP3 export should work if lame_enc.dll is in the same folder as the Beta executable audacity.exe. If you then exited Audacity, removed everything from the audacity.cfg file except "NewPrefsInitialized=1", launched Audacity, generated a tone, clicked File > Export and chose MP3, the export should work. If at that point you exited Audacity you would see the following in audacity.cfg :

[Export]
Format=MP3
Path=C:
[MP3]
MP3LibPath=

Cpowell wrote:Could it have something to do with the registry keys? Can I somehow remove all previous Audacity registry keys and start from scratch?
Here's what I have that may be of interest in HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacityAudacity
PrefsVersion-REG_SZ-1.1.1r1
Version-REG_SZ-1.2.5

Here's what I have that may be of interest in HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacityAudacityMP3
MP3LibPath-REG_SZ-C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)lame_enc.dll

If you have removed everything from the audacity.cfg file except "NewPrefsInitialized=1", launched Audacity and been asked to choose the language, then from that point on, any old paths in the registry for a 1.2 version of Audacity will be ignored. You can point 1.2 to the same version of lame_enc.dll inside the 1.3.8 installation folder that 1.3.8 is using. That won't per se stop lame_enc.dll working in 1.3.8.

Cpowell wrote:I just removed all the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacity registry keys, removed all other traces of Audacity, did a fresh install of the 'standard' lame dll with no luck. I removed that dll, changed the config file as recommended, and tried it again with the 'no manifest' dll with no luck either.

See above - the 1.2 registry keys are no longer relevant if you have initialized the audacity.cfg file. The only versions of lame_enc.dll you should use with 1.3.8 are the one linked to in the LAME FAQ or the "no_manifest" alternative.

Once again, "no luck" as a description of what happens when you use the "no_manifest" dll is useless to us in solving any problem there might be. Please say "1,2,3" what you do and report the exact errors received.

If you really aren't doing anything wrong, it isn't easy to suggest anything else given we cannot reproduce your problem. You would have to install Visual Studio, run a debug build of Audacity and follow all the calls to see what was happening. That's how a user pointed us to the solution of the "no_manifest" lame_enc.dll, which hitherto solved the very rare occasions when the advertised "lame_enc.dll" really is not recognised by Audacity.

Barring that, you would have to either export MP3 from Audacity at the command line (that requires you to install "LAME for Audacity" as per the FAQ, then choose "(external program)" when you export); or export as WAV and convert to MP3 elsewhere (for example in iTunes). The command line encoder uses LAME.exe, not lame_enc.dll.


Gale

Thanks for your reply. I'll try to be more clear.BTW I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2
The following are the steps I've tried before and tried again just now.
1. Removed audacity program using Add/Remove Programs in Windows Control Panel
2. Removed any copies of previous lame_enc.dll files
3. Revised the audacity.cfg file to have only "NewPrefsInitialized=1"
3. Installed Audacity 1.3.8 from the executable audacity-win-unicode-1.3.8.exe into C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)
4. Installed the Lame files from the executable Lame_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe into C:Program FilesLame for Audacity
5. Started Audacity, selected English, pressed the record button and then stop
6. File-Export-Metadata popup I hit OK
7. Export file window-choose My Documents-name the file-choose MP3-click save
8. Locate Lame window-click Browse-clicked the lame_enc.dll file in the C:Program FilesLame for Audacity folder-click OK
9. Get Message: Could not open MP3 encoding library.
10. Closed out Audacity
11. Removed previous Lame v3.98.2 for Audacity files using Add/Remove Programs in Windows Control Panel
12. Checked for any other lame_enc.dll files-none found
13. Revised the audacity.cfg file to have only "NewPrefsInitialized=1"
14. Installed the lame_enc_no_manifest file into C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode) where the audacity.exe resides
15. Started Audacity, selected English, pressed the record button and then stop
16. File-Export-Metadata popup I hit OK
17. Export file window-choose My Documents-name the file-choose MP3-click save
18. Locate Lame window-click Browse-clicked the lame_enc.dll no manifest file in the C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode) folder-click OK
9. Get Message: Could not open MP3 encoding library.

I've tried this process (using the 'standard' lame_enc.dll file - not the no manifest file) with the following versions of Audacity and all result in the same message "Could not open MP3 encoding library."
1.3.9
1.3.8
1.2.6
1.2.5
I previously was running version 1.2.5 and exporting to MP3 with no problems but now I get the message stated above.
During the time since Audacity was exporting MP3s with version 1.2.5 and now when it does not work, I have:
-updated my BIOS
-updated my chipset driver
-changed & then removed the registry keys at HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacity
-used CCleaner to clean registry files and then re-merged the back-ups after having some other difficulties
-removed/installed various versions of Audacity and Lame files as stated above

Thanks again for your help

Thanks, Cpowell for all the steps. Doesn't seem there is much we can do here without having the machine to debug it, but if you can bear it, could you also try uninstalling LAME for Audacity, exiting Audacity, re-initialising .cfg, then putting lame_enc.dll from the attached zip into the Audacity installation folder and trying to export?

This dll is the previous LAME v3.97, has no manifest and we don't know where it came from, but it was reported to be recognised by the previous 1.3.7 Beta but to crash it after export completed. We used this dll to fix 1.3.8 so it does not crash on finishing export. If it works in 1.3.8 on your machine it will give us something to go on. It is perfectly usable, except that LAME 3.97 tends to cause warbling distortions unless you use bit rates in excess of 192 kbps.

Thanks for your help.



Gale

Gale,
Here are the steps I followed:
1. Uninstalled Lame for Audacity
2. Revised the audacity.cfg file to have only "NewPrefsInitialized=1"
3. Uninstalled Audacity 1.2.6
4. Installed Audacity 1.3.8
5. Installed Lame v3.97 into folder C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)
6. Started Audacity, selected English, imported a .wav file
7. File-Export-Metadata popup I hit OK
8. Export file window-choose My Documents-name the file-choose MP3-click save
9. MP3 exported OK!!!

That's great but what does this mean? I'm up for trying the Visual Studio debug if you're willing to walk me through it.
It would be my first time diving into this stuff but I'm willing and eager to learn. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade but l like learning new things.

Thanks for your help.

Cpowell wrote:Gale,
Here are the steps I followed:
1. Uninstalled Lame for Audacity
2. Revised the audacity.cfg file to have only "NewPrefsInitialized=1"
3. Uninstalled Audacity 1.2.6
4. Installed Audacity 1.3.8
5. Installed Lame v3.97 into folder C:Program FilesAudacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)
6. Started Audacity, selected English, imported a .wav file
7. File-Export-Metadata popup I hit OK
8. Export file window-choose My Documents-name the file-choose MP3-click save
9. MP3 exported OK!!!

That's great but what does this mean?

It probably means we never really tweaked lame_enc.dll sufficiently to work on all machines. There are many copies of this particular lame_enc.dll in circulation, so probably more than a few users who used it in Audacity 1.2 and now use it in 1.3.8 without realising it's not the current v3.98.

Cpowell wrote:I'm up for trying the Visual Studio debug if you're willing to walk me through it.
It would be my first time diving into this stuff but I'm willing and eager to learn. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade but l like learning new things.

We appreciate the offer. Let's see if we can manage without first, but we may take you up on it.


Thanks


Gale

FWIW, the same exact thing happened to me. I installed 1.3.9 on a fresh install of Window XP and had the same issue. This solution (installing 3.97) resolved it.