Exporting as MP3 or WAV

[keicraw]

When I try to export a file the only option I get for file type is xml. This didn't occur in my previous version of Audacity. Is my download faulty?

[steve]

Which version of Audacity?
What exactly are you doing to Export (step-by-step)?

[keicraw]

My bad! I guess I should learn the software a little bit better before I post to the forum. I now realize that when I was selecting 'export' the first panel to show up was the Metadeta editor and the 'save' button saves the info in the editor, not the recording file. To my astonishment, when I clicked 'OK' I was led to the 'export file page' with the file type options clearly available. This version is 1.3.8 and my previous version gave the file type option directly from the 'export' button and hence my confusion.
Problem solved.

[waxcylinder]

keicraw,

you can (and probably should) reset your Audacity preferences so the metadata editor dialog is suppressed on export. I can't tell you exactly how to find as I am doing a Timed Recording at the moment so the Preferences dialogs are not available to me.

It is not a good default - but apparently it was set that way to circumvent an odd bug that the developers coudn't figure out and fix at the time.

WC

[steve]

you can (and probably should) reset your Audacity preferences so the metadata editor dialog is suppressed on export. I can't tell you exactly how to find as I am doing a Timed Recording at the moment so the Preferences dialogs are not available to me.

Edit menu > Preferences > Import/Export > "Show metadata editor prior to export step".

[keicraw]

WC:
Thanks for the tip. I found the preferences under 'Edit' and deselected the metadata option. Now the way is clear.

[brownfaeces]

Why thank you for the answer to the question I was just about to post about.