LAME error message help

[pzkpfwvi]

Just got new computer to replace 5-year old Celeron M laptop running Win XP. Now running Win 7 Pro on an HP HDX-18T. Down loaded Audacity 1.3.11. Downloaded LAME 3.98.4 and extracted lame_enc.dll

Audacity fired up an played my existing WAV files just fine. Tried to export one as an MP3. Stepped through the process, pointed Audacity to the directory where the lame_enc.dll was located, hit OK and got the following error message...

"Could not open MP3 encoding library"

Where is this "MP3 encoding library" to be found? Is it part of LAME? Where can I get it? And once I have it, where/how should it installed?

Thanks, JP

P.S. I have used Audacity 1.2.6 for the past two years to digitize over 100 33rpm LPs. It's GREAT. Now I need to work on the over 300 78s in my collection.

[waxcylinder]

For 78's you may find this tutorial in the 1.3 manual useful: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Reco ... pm_records

I would recommend you to upgrade to the latest Audacity 1.3.12 - you should find it alot better than the now ancient 1.2 series: http://audacityteam.org/download/

WC

[steve]

LAME is the "MP3 encoding library".

I would highly recommend that you upgrade Audacity to version 1.3.12 which you can get from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

The instructions for installing Lame are here: http://audacityteam.org/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3

If you're lucky and you follow the installations steps exactly, there's a good chance that this will fix the problem. If it doesn't please describe what step you have trouble with.

Unfortunately the Lame download page seems to be down at the moment, so you may need to wait a couple of hours, or 'till tomorrow, to download LAME.

[steve]

[Update] Just received a message:

Please note, the "LAME download page" links below are not currently working. Please download the version of LAME you require from here http://www.gaclrecords.org.uk/audacity.html

[pzkpfwvi]

Gentlemen, thank you for your responses, but did you REALLY read what I wrote???... I'm NOT having trouble with version 1.2.6

I am running Audacity 1.3.12 on my NEW laptop, NOT 1.2.6 (that version is on my OLD laptop)

I successfully downloaded LAME 3.98.4. It was a compressed (ZIP) file. Win 7 Pro (64-bit) can extract the individual files from a ZIP file directly without resorting to Win-ZIP or other proprietary software specifically designed for that taask.

Therefore, if lame_enc.dll IS the MP3 encoder library, why can't it be opened by Audacity?

Are there any special LAME installation steps required beyond extracting the lame_enc.dll and pointing Audacity to its location?

Thank you

[steve]

You have posted in the Audacity 1.2.x part of the forum.
You then wrote that you "Down loaded Audacity 1.3.11".
You now say that you are running Audacity 1.3.12.
You can check the exact version by looking in Audacity "Help menu > About Audacity". I can then move this topic to the appropriate forum board to avoid further confusion.

Where did you download Lame 3.98.4 from? Is it a build that has been specifically made for Audacity? In order to link correctly to the Lame library the Lame dll needs to be a compatible build for Audacity. If Lame 3.98.4 is not working, try the 3.98.3 build from the link supplied in my previous post.

[pzkpfwvi]

Follow-up LAME Error Message

Status: Problem resolved

Details: Yesterday (02-12) when I went to download LAME, the “buanzo” website was down… and stayed down for a while (just my luck). So I googled “LAME” for other sources. Website “rarewares.org” offered various flavors of LAME. Since I am running Win 7 Pro 64-bit, I selected LAME 3.98.4 for Win 64-bit systems. It didn’t work, and gave the error message mentioned above.

Today (02-13) the “buanzo” website was up. I downloaded and installed LAME 3.98.3. Everything now works fine. Moral of the story, use the correct version of LAME.

Errata: In my original post, I indicated I was using Audacity 1.3.11… My apologies, that was a typo. I was using Audacity 1.3.12. Audacity version 1.2.6 was mentioned solely for historical continuity.

Comments concerning bit rates of MP3s: When I first began using Audacity 1.2.6 two years ago, I selected 192K Fixed Bit Rate as the best compromise between file size and audio quality. This decision was reached after much Internet research on the subject.

With Audacity 1.3.12, I selected Variable Bit Rate #2 (170K to 210K) as my default standard. In theory I get a slight increase in audio quality for a slight increase in file size. Using Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” as a test case, Audacity 1.2.6 yielded a 6.27GB 192K FBR file; Audacity 1.3.12 yielded a 6.80GB VBR#2 file.

For an 8.52% increase in file size, I get an unknown increase in quality. My ears, hammered by helicopters and gunfire some 40 years ago can’t tell the difference, but the techie in me likes it. And with two hard drives in the HDX-18t (#1 is a Seagate 500GB Hybrid (can’t say enough good things about it); #2 is a Western Digital 640GB devoted to archiving AUP and WAV files), I have enough space (for the moment).

Aside to Steve (the monitor): Thanks for your help, and move this post to whatever you decide is the appropriate forum.

Thanks, JP

[steve]

Thanks for the follow-up JP.

I've moved the topic to the 1.3 part of the forum.

I think that Variable Bit Rate #2 (170K to 210K) should give the same results as "Preset: Standard", and the result with stereo music should be very reasonable (a lot better than many MP3s available on the Internet).