Couldn't open Lame_enc.dll

[terrella]

Hello!

I use Audacity 1.3.10 beta(unicode)
on Windows XP Pro, but can't create MP3 Files with the Lame encoder file.
I've downloaded the Lame library and installed it, but when trying to locate the file
I receive an error message:
"Couldn't open Lame_enc.dll".
It should be noted that I've successfully installed and located the FFmpeg library,
so I can open and export WMA files.
Thank you for your assistance.
terrella

[steve]

Firstly you should update to Audacity 1.3.11 - not because of this issue but because there is a bug in 1.3.10 which will cause problems later on.

Now to your question -
Have you had any previous version of Audacity installed on this computer? In particular, have you had Audacity 1.2.6 installed?
Do you know what ZIP files are and how to extract them?

[steve]

terrella reports that upgrading to Audacity 1.3.11 fixed the problem.

[gcsmithbmc]

I had the same problem with "Couldn't open MP3 Library". I tried numerous times
to install the Lame_enc.dll including running it from the download site, saving it
and running it from my computer, all to no avail. Then I tried downloading the
zip file that's also available - I downloaded and extracted and still had the problem.
However, I noticed that the zipped files went into the following folder:
C:Program FilesLame for Audacitylibmp3lame-3.98.2.

I noticed that the date and size of the lame_enc.dll differs from the version that's
installed when using the download link. So I guess there is a problem with the
lame_enc.dll that's installed if you click the download link directly and either install
or save to disk and install.

I renamed C:Program FilesLame for Audacitylame_enc.dll to lame_enc.dll.old,
moved C:Program FilesLame for Audacitylibmp3lame-3.98.2lame_enc.dll to
C:Program FilesLame for Audacitylame_enc.dll and that worked. I guess I
could just have easlily have changed the program to point to
C:Program FilesLame for Audacitylibmp3lame-3.98.2lame_enc.dll.

This was very frustrating. I know this is all freeware and therefore no one
is making a lot of money on this. However, it would be great if Audacity
could either ship with a compatible version of the lame mp3 encoder or
if a native mp3 encoder could be shipped.

By the way, Audacity is a truly remarkable product. Especially for free.
I paid around $250.00 for Cool Edit Pro and most (if not all) of the features
that I use in Cool Edit are available in Audacity.

I hope this helps.

Garland Smith

[steve]

Thanks for your comments gcsmithbmc. I'm not sure what the difference is between the ZIP version and the EXE version, but as you say, they are different. I always recommend that people use the ZIP version as that always seems to work even in the (relatively rare) case when the EXE does not work. For the vast majority of users the EXE version works first time (and it has worked every time I've tried it), but it appears there are a significant number of users for whom the EXE file does not work but the ZIP file does. I'm still trying to get clarification on what the difference is and why the EXE file does not use the same version as is found in the ZIP file.

Unfortunately it is not possible to ship Audacity with Lame included due to legal constraints. In some countries (including the USA) it is illegal to distribute compiled binaries of LAME, its libraries, or programs which are derivative works of LAME.