Audacity doesn't complete conversion to MP3

[Gale Andrews]

Did you reboot after uninstalling VDownloader?

Gale said :

"Also you could try using FFmpeg to export as MP3 instead. There are two different ways to do that. If you want to try and need help, please ask."

OK then thanks. How do I do that please?

Install Audacity using the instructions at http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... tml#ffdown .

When you export, choose "Custom FFmpeg Export". Click "Options...".

In the list underneath the "Show All Formats" button, click MP3. Don't change any options in the boxes to right, because they don't have any effect. Click OK. Type your file name as usual, but add ".mp3" (without quotes) after the end of your file name. You can enter metadata as usual, but the tags will be ID3v1 instead of ID3v2 (if that matters to you).

This gives you a variable bit rate file of about 200 kbps for stereo and less for mono.

If you want to configure bit rate behaviour, force ID3v2 tags and other options, you would have to export using (external program) and type an appropriate command. See: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ex ... ogram.html .



Gale

[Paulinee43]

Look, I'm sorry Gale, but I just don't understand all this terminology and I feel as if I'm groping in the dark here. As I've said before, I can get it to work; even though I have to recover the project each time and that's good enough for me. To keep installing the program over and over and tweaking it here and there, when I don't know what I'm doing and why, I'm just not comfortable with. I'll probably finish up with something that doesn't work at all. So..thank you for trying and for all your suggestions. They are much appreciated, but I will just potter along as I am. Thanks again.

Regards, Pauline.

[steve]

They are much appreciated, but I will just potter along as I am.

I'm sorry that we've not been able to resolve this issue for you. There seems to be some sort of unusual conflict going on with your computer and we've not been able to pin down what or where it is.

Even if we are not able to "fix" the problem, we may be able to help you to "potter along" a bit more comfortably.
A couple of (simple) questions that will help:
1) Did you find that exporting as WAV and as OGG worked reliably every time?
2) If you look in "Edit > Preferences > Libraries", what does it say on that screen? I'm interested in the version numbers of Lame and FFmpeg (if installed).

[Paulinee43]

I have not exported to .Wav, but I found the export to OGG very successful.

This is a screenshot of the versions of Lame and FFmpeg in the Audacity Library

[Gale Andrews]

Look, I'm sorry Gale, but I just don't understand all this terminology

You already have FFmpeg according to your latest image.

It would be irresponsible of me not to point out the differences when using "Custom FFmpeg Export" to export MP3, but if you don't care about those differences it's almost as simple as normal MP3 export.

1. When you export, look in "Save as type" and change it from "MP3 Files" to "Custom FFmpeg Export".
2. Click the "Options..." button.
3. As I said, select "MP3" in the list under the "Show All Formats" button.
4. Click OK.
5. Type your file name but add .mp3 to the end of the file name.
6. Save.

Next time you export the MP3, the only thing you need to do is type the file name, and add .mp3 to the end then press Save.

I think there is a good chance MP3 export would work that way, but of course it's your choice.

Did you reboot after uninstalling VDownloader? If not, please do so.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

They are much appreciated, but I will just potter along as I am.

I'm sorry that we've not been able to resolve this issue for you.

No need to be. This is not an Audacity bug or problem.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I have not exported to .Wav, but I found the export to OGG very successful.

Then this is further evidence that this is a problem with some other program or codec you added to do with MP3.

Do you need MP3 as the finished product? Can we help you convert from OGG to MP3 after exporting OGG from Audacity?


Gale

[waxcylinder]

Do you need MP3 as the finished product? Can we help you convert from OGG to MP3 after exporting OGG from Audacity?

What player are you producing these MP3s for Pauline?

I'm thinking similar to Gale, but getting you to export WAV files and convert those outside Audacity to whatever format is best for your player.

WC

[steve]

Update: I see there have been several other posts since I started typing, so this post may no longer be needed, but in case it is useful, here it is:

This is a screenshot

Super, thanks.

I have not exported to .Wav, but I found the export to OGG very successful.

Thanks again. If you have time, could you try a few WAV exports - it may help us to diagnose the cause of the problem, and even if it does not help your particular case it may help us to help others,

The suggestion that Gale was making was that MP3s can be exported using FFmpeg rather than Lame. I can see from your screenshot that you have FFmpeg installed, so this will be very easy for you to try, and (fingers crossed) may enable you to export as MP3 without the crashing problem.
All that you need to do to use FFmpeg rather than Lame is to:
1) Start as if you are going to export in the normal way, but then in the Export dialogue (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fi ... ialog.html) select "Custom FFmpeg Export". Then click the "Options" button.
2) You should now see an options screen that look horrendously complicated Don't worry, we only need to make one setting here and we only need to do it once. In the left column below the "Show All Formats", find the option for "mp3" and select it. Then click the OK button.

You are now set up to export MP3s with FFmpeg.
There is one other little quirk to exporting with FFmpeg - because FFmpeg can export a whole range of file types, it does not automatically add the ".mp3" to the end of the file name, so when you enter the file name in the Export dialogue you need to add .mp3 to the file name. For example, if you would previously have typed the name "this is it", you will now enter the file name "this is it.mp3" (without the quotation marks).

The next time you go to export, FFmpeg will already be set up. You don't need to set it up each time, just check that "Custom FFmpeg Export" is selected and remember to add ".mp3" to the file name.

Does that work for you?

[steve]

I'm sorry that we've not been able to resolve this issue for you.

No need to be. This is not an Audacity bug or problem.

I agree that this does not appear to be an Audacity bug (most likely a conflict with another codec is my guess), but I can appreciate how frustrating this must be for Paulinee43 and we like to help where we can. (I'd guess that most of the problems on this forum are not really Audacity problems).