Latest Beta, Lion, and MP3 Export via LAME Encoder?

[kparish]

I'm seriously thinking of upgrading from Mac OS Snow Leopard to Lion and want to make sure that Audacity 1.3.x Beta is solid and able to export to MP3 using the LAME encoder as my 1.2.5 setup of Audacity has been able to do. Can anyone give me their experience in this? Thanks.

[kozikowski]

You're using 1.2.5 under Snow Leopard? Successfully?
Koz

[kparish]

Yes, I am using Audacity 1.2.5 very successfully on an Intel-based MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v. 10.6.8) and have been for quite awhile.

[bgravato]

Yes, I am using Audacity 1.2.5 very successfully on an Intel-based MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v. 10.6.8) and have been for quite awhile.

I'd say you've been lucky.

Audacity 1.2.x is ancient and no longer being developed. It's know for having lots of issues in recent system, namely OS-X Leopard (10.5) and later.

Audacity 1.3.13 is the recommended version for Leopard/Snow Leopard.

I have no problem exporting mp3's using lame and audacity 1.3.13 on a macbook pro running snow leopard.

You can have both versions (1.2.5 and 1.3.13) installed on your mac (install to a different folder), but you can only run one at a time. Audacity projects saved in 1.2.x can be opened in 1.3.x but not the other way around.

So far I think there hasn't been any report about 1.3.13 working any differently in Lion than in previous OS-X versions. So it should be safe to upgrade. Even on Snow Leopard I'd recommend upgrading to 1.3.13. Not only should be more stable but it also adds a lot new and interesting features.

[kparish]

Yes, I am using Audacity 1.2.5 very successfully on an Intel-based MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v. 10.6.8) and have been for quite awhile.

I'd say you've been lucky. ...

I have no problem exporting mp3's using lame and audacity 1.3.13 on a macbook pro running snow leopard. ...

So far I think there hasn't been any report about 1.3.13 working any differently in Lion than in previous OS-X versions. So it should be safe to upgrade.

Perhaps I'm the happy exception, but as I said, I've had nothing but success with 1.2.5 and Snow Leopard. I'm not really concerned about Snow Leopard though. What I very much need to hear is someone who has actual experience running the latest beta of Audacity (apparently 1.3.13) under Lion and their experience in manipulating sound files and then outputting them to MP3 using the LAME encoder. Please, anyone with this experience, give me your feedback. Thank you.

[kparish]

Alright, answering my own post after taking a chance and upgrading to Lion over the weekend here's the outcome:

Now on OS X Lion and the latest Audacity Beta and LAME encoder I am happy to report that all went as smoothly as could have been hoped for. No glitches, problems, hiccups, errors or, well, you get the idea. As far as I can tell, the latest Audacity beta works brilliantly in manipulating sound files (an mp3 incoming from Mac iTunes) and then being output to mp3 via LAME encoder.

[bgravato]

Glad to hear that. Thanks for the feedback kparish.

Be aware of one thing: editing mp3 should be avoided. Mp3 is a lossy format. This means that damage is done to the audio in orther to achieve compression. Every time you open an mp3 it is decompressed into raw audio, then when you export it again as mp3 it is again (re)compressed and extra damage is added once more. The more you decode and reencode an mp3 the more damage will be added on each time.

So if possible always work on lossless formats such as WAV, FLAC, or AIFF. Only use mp3 export as the final step after all editing is done, and always keep an uncompressed (and undamaged) copy of the audio.

The mp3 damage is unreparable, that means that converting from mp3 to wav before editing doesn't make any difference... the damage is already done and can't be recovered.

That said, if the source material is only available on mp3, well... you can't do much about it. The higher the bitrate the less damage is done (and the bigger the files will be of course).